By now, you would think casinos are used to paying Phil Ivey. The eight-time World Series of Poker champion has made millions of dollars throughout his gambling career, but at the moment he could be more than $10 million short.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ivey recently won $11.7 million playing a game called Punto Blanco at Crockfords, an upscale casino in London. The game involves no skill and is simply won and lost by the cards the dealer hands out, and Crockfords is reportedly witholding the money Ivey won on the game after he went on a massive heater.
Ivey requested that the money be deposited into his bank account, but Crockfords has only returned his original bankroll of $1.6 million. The Daily Mail reported that Phil initially lost $800,000 when he began playing the game but then he and a female companion went on a two-night hot streak. The lady with whom he was gambling reportedly had her membership revoked by another casino.
Investigators have flown to London to speak with employees from Crockfords and review surveillance cameras. Ivey and his lady friend reportedly never touched the cards, and the situation is said to have turned into an “increasingly tense stand-off” with lawyers from both sides working to sort through it.
Could Ivey and his friend have worked together to win $11.7 million at a game of chance? Unfortunately, I know nothing about Punto Blanco or cheating a casino and I only understand crazy bets like this one and this one, so I can’t say. One one hand you can see why the casino would be suspicious. On the other you have to wonder how Ivey would have pulled off such a job.
H/T Huffington Post
