Part I: Card Game Cheating · TEAM PLAY AND COMMUNICATION METHODS
Edge Sorting (Advantage Play / Cheating)
How it works
Edge sorting exploits manufacturing defects in playing cards - specifically, the fact that many decks have slightly asymmetrical back patterns. When a card is rotated 180 degrees, the asymmetry makes it distinguishable from cards oriented the other way. The player asks the dealer to rotate certain cards (usually high-value cards like 7s, 8s, 9s) under the guise of superstition or luck rituals. After the shoe is played through, all high cards are oriented one way and low cards the other. An automatic shuffler preserves these orientations. The player can then identify whether face-down cards are high or low by their edge patterns, gaining an edge of about 6.5% (the figure given in the English High Court judgment in the Ivey case).
Where it appears
Baccarat (primary target), some Blackjack variants
On the record
The most famous edge sorting case involved Phil Ivey and Cheung Yin Sun, who won $9.6 million at Borgata Casino in Atlantic City and about £7.7 million at Crockfords in London in August 2012, which the casino refused to pay. Ivey admitted to edge sorting but argued it was legitimate advantage play. UK courts ruled it was cheating under civil law. The Borgata sued and won a judgment to recover the money. The 2017 UK Supreme Court ruling, Ivey v Genting, is the leading English case on edge sorting and also restated the legal test for dishonesty.
Detection & preventionADVISORY
The paid halfHow a monitoring room catches edge sorting (advantage play / cheating), and what stops it recurring, written for the desk, not the reader.
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Published as a detection reference for surveillance, compliance and gaming-operations professionals. Thresholds and tuning are set by the property. Nothing here is instruction: the method is described so it can be recognised.