Quite a bit to catch up on ..

It never ends.

Readers/experienced Advantage Gamblers will remember the Phil Ivey exploits of the last 2 yrs, and we have just had the judgement from the Borgata case. Its a complex judgement, which may have ramifications for other gamblers, but, basically, Ivey was not guilty of committing a fraud, but, did breach his contract with the casino, and now probably owes the $10m (which they paid him).

Maybe Ivey will pay, maybe he goes insolvent, maybe he appeals.

On the Uk front, the Competition and Marketing Authority, is looking at potential breaches in consumer law, by the gambling industry. Bookmakers have some v bad press (for good reason), and I hope some reforms are made. It would be nice, if they also take a look at exchanges, abusing their dominant power.

https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/online-gambling

I had some correspondence re cheating machines, and the ability to stack a deck, so, the dealer wins, (wherever u cut it) .. which I found amazing.

https://www.benjoffe.com/holdem

Be careful out there ..

Phil Ivey and Crockfords

So, details ares now emerging, as to how he won the money.

For those not abreast of events, Phil Ivey is a widely recognised Top 10 poker player, and obviously has fantastic memory recall/visualisation skills.

He is a huge high-stakes gambler .. some would say, de-gen .. playing sports/craps/golf for astronomical sums of money.

This life, should make it easier to actually play v big in a casino, and .. so it came to pass.

It is said, some 10's of Billions of playing cards, are used by casinos each yr, and, its natural, the manufacturing process, is occasionally flawed, so, that some cards, are recognisable, due to a design flaw on the back.

Imperfections in the backs of the playing cards, used by Crockfords, would enable someone to vary their bets, in Punto Banco, where the amount bet, is established before the start of each hand. In this game, an 8 or 9, are exceptionally valuable to a player, raising your edge in excess of 20%.

I imagine he waited for each new hand, saw what the first card was, before it was dealt, and bet, either big or small, based on this.

Over 2-3 days, you would have to win - and the £7.8million he won, shows, how .. by betting up to £150k a hand, edges multiply .. whether they be for the house, or the player.

As Crockfords provided the cards, I don't see hes done anything wrong.

I reckon, he will get paid.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214409/The-7m-streak-luck-Mayfair-casino-thinks-good-true.html