Phil Ivey — genius at the table, and beyond it
Nicknamed the "Tiger Woods of Poker," Phil Ivey is widely considered the most complete player of his generation. He holds 11 World Series of Poker bracelets — second all-time only to Phil Hellmuth — a World Poker Tour title, more than $40 million in live tournament earnings, and a 2017 election to the Poker Hall of Fame. In the high-stakes cash games of the Full Tilt era, he was the player everyone feared.
But Ivey's place in advantage play history comes from a method used away from the poker table: edge sorting. Playing baccarat/punto banco with partner Cheung Yin "Kelly" Sun, Ivey exploited microscopic asymmetries in the patterns printed on the backs of cards — making seemingly superstitious requests (a specific card brand, a particular shuffling machine) that kept the most valuable cards identifiable by their orientation.
It won millions — and triggered two landmark court cases on where advantage play ends and cheating begins:
- Crockfords (London): roughly £7.7M was withheld. UK courts — culminating in a unanimous 2017 Supreme Court ruling — held the technique was civil "cheating."
- Borgata (Atlantic City): a U.S. federal court found he breached his duty to play fairly on ~$10.1M and ordered repayment; the case settled in 2020.
Ivey always maintained it was legitimate skill — exploiting the casino's own carelessness. The courts disagreed. His story is the definitive case study in the fine, fiercely contested line between a clever edge and crossing it.