Recently, both on this site and in the poker community in general, there has been discussion about Phil Ivey and his “edge sorting” exploits at the Borgata in Atlantic City and Crockfords in London. Ivey took advantage of concessions granted to him by the casinos to rack up millions of dollars in winnings in baccarat, but that was baccarat and those winnings were taken from the casino. Question is, could someone edge sort at the poker tables?
We have detailed Phil Ivey’s use of edge sorting on this site before, but the technique merits at least a short explanation before we proceed. Many cards used by casinos are “full bleed” cards, meaning they have patterns on the back that span the entire card, from edge to edge. Ninety-nine point something percent of the time, the patterns are totally symmetrical (or imperceptibly asymmetrical); every card looks exactly the same when face-down. But once in a while, and this was the case with Ivey’s exploits, miscut decks find their way onto the casino floor. On these decks, because they are miscut, the patterns on the back are no longer symmetrical. The pattern on the left edge no longer matches the pattern on the right edge.
Ivey and his advantage player companion knew such cards were in play at the casinos. Whenever a key card was dealt, they asked the dealer to turn it 180 degrees (which he did, because Ivey is a whale). When it got put back into the deck, shuffled with an automatic shuffler (one of Ivey’s request because an automatic shuffler keeps the cards oriented the same way they were put into it), and returned to the shoe, Ivey and his partner now knew what that card was hiding on its face when it came to the top of the deck again.
The cards were essentially marked without anybody marking them.
So, could that happen in poker? The simple answer is no, especially if automatic shuffler was not used. Let’s look at some of the reasons why edge sorting would be almost impossible at the poker tables:
• Cards spin when they are dealt. Even if a card had been turned and stayed so-oriented after the shuffle would now have been rotated several times. Only someone with a really keen eye would be able to spot said card before it was dealt and even then, he would only know which one it was for a single hand. It would take a savant of “Rain Man” capabilities to even have the most remote chance to note multiple cards in a hand, and that’s if they remained turned just as he wanted them to be before the deal.
• A poker table is much bigger than a baccarat table. It is simply difficult to see tiny differences in card backs, particularly when cards are being dealt at a fast pace. Ivey and his friend were likely almost in the lap of the dealer.
• Dealers can “wash” the deck when a hand is over. While it doesn’t necessarily happen after every hand, a player can ask the dealer to wash the deck, which entails the dealer spreading all the cards randomly in a pile in front of him before scooping them up to shuffle.
• Players handle the cards. While most players don’t re-orient the cards when they get them, they very well could. Plus, when someone mucks their cards, they almost never end up back in the deck oriented exactly how they were dealt. They might get spun by the player, or simply turned by the dealer as he packs them back into the deck.
• Dealers usually cut the deck and turn the halves before shuffling, thus screwing up any cards that were turned by a player.
There are probably a few other reasons why there is no fear of edge sorting in a hand-dealt, hand-shuffled poker game, but those are the biggies. Even when all the planets align perfectly in a pit game, it is not an easy thing to do. So poker players, don’t worry. Just look out for colluders, card markers, and soft players.