baccarat<\/a>) tables for a high-rolling private session. Sun persuaded the dealers that Ivey was superstitious and liked certain cards \u2013 7, 8, and 9 (the most important cards in baccarat) – rotated by 180 degrees for \u2018luck\u2019. The croupier agreed to turn the cards. This is the \u2018edge sorting\u2019 element of the sting, because due to the irregularities in the card design the players could now see when these three numbers were dealt.<\/p>\n\nThey also insisted on a purple Gemaco brand deck and a Mandarin-speaking dealer (he or she would appreciate the \u2018superstition\u2019 aspect of the sting). When the pair had played through the entire shoe of cards, they asked to play it again \u2013 as it had been so lucky. The casinos both obliged.<\/p>\n\n
This enabled Ivey and Sun to spot the tiny deviations and bet accordingly. The pair had spotted a weakness and exploited it. The casino was oblivious to their bizarre demands because these two were serious high rollers and betting big. The casino expected their winning run to end. It didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n
After the 48-hour Crockfords session, Ivey was up $10 million and the casino insisted the shoe had to be changed. The casino reviewed its surveillance, checked the deck, and eventually discovered the con. A judge would later observe that: \u201cnobody at Crockfords had heard of edge-sorting before\u201d.<\/p>\n\n
It was a unique sting. In the end, both casinos sued for their money back and ultimately won. Ivey admits to edge sorting but still insists that he is innocent of cheating, stating that: he believed that edge-sorting was a \u2018legitimate advantage play technique\u2019 and \u2018legitimate gamesmanship\u2019.<\/p>\n
Advantages and Disadvantages of Edge Sorting<\/b><\/h2>\n Like any other card game technique, there is good and bad to it. Let\u2019s look at the pros first:<\/span><\/p>\n\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s not technically illegal. There are no laws against it but most casinos frown upon it, similar to card counting in blackjack.<\/span><\/li>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Players who are good at edge sorting will find themselves with a much larger advantage over the house, as much as 6% in a game like baccarat.<\/span><\/li>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>For high rollers, edge sorting is particularly beneficial. The more money being wagered, the more flexible dealers and casinos are going to be to certain requests.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAll that said, there are some definite negatives to be had. Here are the major downsides to employing edge sorting as a technique:<\/span><\/p>\n\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>It is very, very difficult to use. It\u2019s one of the hardest strategies in baccarat that there is and it takes something special to not only notice those tiny differences but to employ them within the game.<\/span><\/li>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>It takes very specific circumstances for this strategy to work. You need to be playing with a flawed deck, there has to be a shuffling machine, and you need to be close enough to the cards to see the flaws for it to work.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\u00b7<\/span> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Finally, you could not only be accused of cheating but blacklisted from casinos. It isn\u2019t illegal, so you won\u2019t get in legal trouble, but the vast majority of casinos frown upon it, won\u2019t pay you, and will ultimately blacklist you.<\/span><\/p>\n\nIs Edge Sorting a Legit Tactic or Cheating?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\nHad Ivey been counting cards, or simply exploited the bias of a wonky roulette wheel, he may have cleared his name. However, he deceived the croupier, and had the cards rotated, to spot a manufacturing flaw. In short: he cheated.<\/p>\n\n
A British High Court judge ruled that, despite what Ivey believed, cheating had taken place, arguing: \u201cIf he had surreptitiously gained access to the shoe and rearranged the cards physically himself, no one would begin to doubt that he was cheating.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cHe accomplished exactly the same result through the unwitting but directed actions of the croupier, tricking her into thinking that what she did was irrelevant. What Mr. Ivey did was to stage a carefully planned and executed sting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Ivey may have lost his court case and various appeals but a film is in the works. However, the moral of this story would certainly seem to be that edge-sorters never prosper!<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Everyone wants to beat the casino. No one wants to lose. One way players have tried to tilt the balance in their favour is via a method known as ‘edge sorting’ We are going to look at how edge sorting works and find out why casinos most definitely do not approve of this tactic. What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
How Does Edge Sorting Work in Casinos? - Casino.com<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n