Expensive week for Phil Ivey

International poker ace Phil Ivey’s GBP 7.7 million defeat by Crockfords in the UK Supreme Court edge sorting issue this week is just part of a run of bad legal fortune he faced this week.

Following separate US litigation over a similar edge sorting dispute in 2012 with the Borgata in Atlantic City he now also faces the prospect of having to pay back $10.1 million to the casino operator.

Our readers may recall that a federal judge in the case ruled that Ivey and companion player Cheng Yin Sun did not fairly comply with gambling regulations on four occasions by having a dealer at the Borgata arrange Baccarat cards so they could tell what kind of card was coming next.

Last week U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman followed his finding with a ruling that the duo must to return $10.1 million to the casino, returning both casino and Ivey-Sun to where they were before the transactions took place.

The sum includes money that Ivey won playing craps with some of the money he won at the baccarat table.

The skill vs. chance argument apparently holds little water with the judge, who opined:

“This case involves the whims of Lady Luck, who casts uncertainty on every hand, despite the house odds. Indeed, Lady Luck is like nectar to gamblers, because no one would otherwise play a game he knows he will always lose.”

He added that deciding the case involved “voiding a contract that was tainted from the beginning and breached as soon as it was executed.”

Ed Jacobs, the attorney representing Ivey, emphasised that the judge affirmed that Ivey had followed every rule of Baccarat and did not commit fraud.

“What this ruling says is a player is prohibited from combining his skill and intellect and visual acuity to beat the casino at its own game,” Jacobs said, adding Ivey will appeal the ruling.

The casino did not score as highly as it desired; Judge Hillman rejected its request that the court use a formula for calculating damages that could have seen the restitution go as high as $15.5 million.

That method, assessing how much the casino could have won had Ivey and Chen not engaged in a style of play known as edge-sorting, was deemed too speculative.

The judge also rejected a request by the Borgata that Ivey repay nearly $250,000 in comps given to him by the casino.