A.P Heat

Sometimes I feel like I walk around with blinders on. Such is the case with the advantage play method known as collusion. This method simply means that players share information about their hands with each other. The needle always moves towards the player’s side when information can be used to improve a strategic decision. This has long been known to be the case in blackjack.

Thefactssurrounding Phil Ivey's remarkable win at baccarat at Crockfords Casino in Mayfair, and the subsequent refusal of Crockfordsto pay his winnings, has been an open secret in the game protection community over the last8 months. Finally, the secret is out and we can talk about it: Phil Ivey did, in fact, use edge sorting to beat their baccarat. Here is the story in the U.K. Daily Mail:

House of Cards Radio is an interview program hosted by poker and gambling expert Ashley Adams. In the podcast below, I discuss my new book, Advanced Advantage Play, along with several topics about advantage play.

House of Cards Radio is an interview program hosted by poker and gambling expert Ashley Adams. In the podcast below, I discuss the recent Phil Ivey -v- Crockfords lawsuit, along with several other topics in advantage play.

On April 28, the indefatigable Howard Schwartz, an institution in the Las Vegas gambling book business, interviewed me for a podcast at the Gambler's Book Club (800 S. Main Street, Las Vegas). This was his 141'st such podcast, dating back over six years. It was a lot of fun, with Howard asking some great questions.

When an advantage player looks at opportunities, two competing factors pull him in opposite directions. The first is the profitability of the opportunity, also known as expected value (EV). The greater the profitability, the more the AP wants to play the game.  In the other direction is volatility, also known as the standard deviation (SD).

My discussion of the Phil Ivey edge sorting case at Borgata starts at 28:23

In considering the accomplishment of Phil Ivey at Crockfords Casino (see this post), it is worth considering the full breadth of the problem of ill-designed cards and edge sorting. Phil Ivey did not get lucky by finding an especially rare card in a far-away location that could be sorted.

Today I was the interviewee on Casino Enterprise Management's (CEM) "Audio Edge" Internet radio broad/pod-cast. Here is the interview: