Ivey also gave his response through a spokesman: “I’m obviously disappointed with this judge’s decision. As I said in court, it is not my nature to cheat and I would never do anything to risk my reputation. I am pleased that the judge acknowledged in court that I was a truthful witness.”

But as the judge said in his ruling, it didn’t matter whether Ivey believed that using edge-sorting as a winning strategy was cheating or not. “The fact that Mr. Ivey was generally convinced that he did not cheat and that the practice commanded considerable support from others was not determinative of the question of whether it amounted to cheating,” he said.

In 2012, Ivey, along with well-known “advantage player” Cheng Yin Sun, arranged to play high-stakes Punto Banco at the London casino. As part of the deal, the pair requested that Crockfords supply a specific shuffling machine, a purple deck of Gemaco playing cards, and a Mandarin-speaking Asian dealer.

In conclusion, he stated, “This is, in my view, cheating for the purpose of civil law.” The case was then dismissed with costs, with the judge stating it was “immaterial that the casino could have protected itself” simply by using correctly cut playing cards.