19 June 2025
Last year, in August, Phil Ivey lived one of the most uncomfortable situations of his career as a professional player. He spent two days playing Baccarat at Crockford's Casino in London, ending with a profit of £7.3 millions (about €9 million/$11.5 million). So far, so good - at least for Ivey; the problems started when the casino refused to pay.
Ivey and Crockford's are on trial to clarify the whole thing, but no matter who wins the case, some believe that the casino's reputation is in bad shape and that it isn't a place where one would want to play.
"I guess their new motto should be: Play here - but if you win, we may not pay you" said Barry Greenstein.
According to the casino, Ivey detected certain imperfections in the back of the cards, exploiting this flaw. Being as it is, it wasn't Ivey who marked the cards - he never even touched them.
"Phil didn't mark any cards and did nothing wrong from his point of view. He has had both big wins and big losses. This is a little embarrassing for him - when he had big losses, the casino said nothing, but now that the situation is the opposite, they decide against paying him".
No one knows how the whole situation will unfold, but it seems that the poker community supports Ivey. Is it cheating to take advantage of poor management by the casino? On the design at the back the cards, you could deduce what kind of card it was - it seems this was a mistake to blame on the casino, and if Ivey had lost millions no one would have cared.
Barry Greenstein, though, is not afraid to call it as he sees it.
