Daniel Negreanu Comes to Poker Player’s Defense in Ivey-Gate Borgata Card Scandal

Written by:
Ace King
Published on:
Apr/19/2014
Daniel Negreanu Comes to Poker Player’s Defense in Ivey-Gate Borgata Card Scanda

Outspoken poker pro Daniel Negreanu has come out in support of fellow pro Phil Ivey after the Borgata Casino filed a $9.8 million suit against the so-called “Tiger Woods of Poker”.

It wasn’t the game of poker that landed Ivey in hot water with the Borgata however.  Instead is was a series of baccarat games Ivey partook in that has the casino crying foul.

The suit alleges some of the baccarat cards manufactured by Gemaco turned out to not have a perfectly symmetrical design on the back of the card. Ivey, the suit claims, was able to figure out what the first card to be dealt was based on said imperfections and this, in turn, gave him a significant advantage over the “house,” or casino.  Ivey went on to amass some $12 million.

While neither the Borgata or Ivey will comment on the matter, Negreanu has begun spouting off on his Twitter feed against the casino in a series of tweets.  Not only is Negreanu supporting Ivey, he’s also applauding the scheme, assuming of course it was a scheme to begin with based on the Borgata’s assertion.

Been reading up on poker news lately and the people running the Borgata high limit pit have to be incredibly stupid overall.

All high limit gamblers should be watching the Borgata case closely. How it's ruled will affect gamblers rights in the future.

My hat's off to any man who can get an edge on a big time casino. It's just straight baller and I have zero empathy for the big fish.

Big fish sets all the rules, oks all the rules, they need to eat it when they get beat and not be whiny biatches about it.

It's appalling to freeroll customers. Take their money if they lose but don't pay when they win? Are you for real Borgata? That's dirty.

If I agree to give a guy a shot a hole on the golf course and agree to allow him a caddie, and I lose, I'm the only person I can blame.

I've been hustled before, but the idea of not paying was never even a consideration! Borgata- you got hustled bad. Get over it already.

Suing customers who crushed your souls is a bad look. You got bent over. Might as well smile and enjoy it. ‪#Borgata

Borgata, you thought Ivey was stupid and you tried to bury him. He hustled you, smoked you, and left you feeling silly. Stand responsible!

No one in the world has empathy for Borgata in this. Stop playing victim because YOUR hustle wasn't as good as Ivey's

Ivey also has the support of noted gaming attorney I. Nelson Rose, who has provided expert testimony in similar “edge sorting” cases.

"Cheats can easily create a deck of cards they can read by buying many decks of cards with a simple pattern, like diamond shapes, and then creating a single deck where, say, only the ten-count cards have full diamonds in the corners."
But in a casino, he said, it is the responsibility of the casino to make sure everything in a game is ship-shape, not the player.

"It is up to the casino to make sure that there are no readable markings on the backs of cards," Rose said. "I remember touring the Sands Casino in Macau the month it opened and looking into the room where employees destroyed cards after a single use.

I. Nelson Rose essentially is saying that the casino needs to suck it up and deal with the fact that Ivey beat them badly.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com

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