Field guide

Card Counting (Team Play)

How it works

Same as Category 5 but framed as advantage play. Players argue they are merely observing manufacturer’s defects without altering cards. Courts have split on whether this constitutes cheating. Same as Category 5—identifying card back asymmetries and using casino cooperation to sort deck orientation.

On the record

The Phil Ivey cases established in UK law that edge sorting constitutes cheating regardless of the player’s subjective belief about dishonesty. The UK Supreme Court overruled the traditional “Ghosh test” for dishonesty in part because of this case.

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.