Poker player Cheng Yin Sung has surfaced in another major lawsuit on the technique of “edge-sorting” in casino cards games—this time at the Foxwoods Casino Resort in Connecticut.
Sung has also been named as the partner of Phil Ivey in a case involving edge-sorting with the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City and another 2012 incident with Ivey at the Crockford’s casino in London. Ivey is not part of the new lawsuit with Foxwoods.
Sun and two other gamblers—Long Mei Fan and Zong Yang Li—have sued Foxwoods for $3 million stemming from money they won at mini-baccarat. Foxwoods maintains that the three cheated and has refused to pay, according to the suit.
The gamblers are seeking $1.1 million in winnings along with a $1.6 million deposit they made to cover potential losses as well as other damages.
The three have admitted to edge-sorting, which is said to give gamblers a 6.765-percent edge over the house in mini-baccarat. The technique involves spotting distinctive marks or errors in poorly manufactured cards that helps identify cards coming out of a show before they are played.
According to Sun and her associates, spotting such marks is not cheating.
“Edge-sorting is possible because some brands of playing cards are not cut symmetrically across their backs and some players are gifted with eyesight keen enough to tell the difference,” the suit says.
Ivey and Sun also used edge-sorting techniques to win $9.6 million from the Borgata. That case has resulted in a suit from the casino seeking to recover the winnings it paid out.
Sun was also accused of partnering with Ivey in an edge-sorting case at Crockfords in 2012. The casino has refused to pay $12.1 million in winnings and Ivey has sued the casino.
All of the cases may revolve around court’s deciding if edge-sorting is, in fact, illegal. Edge-sorting does not involve players touching or altering the cards, but rather asking dealers to arrange them in a certain way so the defects can be seen.
The Foxwoods suit notes that the casino could have easily thwarted the edge-sorting by simply reversing the way the cards were put into the shoe and not honoring the player’s requests.
