One of the things that you find about people who are rich is the fact that they take money very seriously. People without money may say that if they were to get money they would be a lot more carefree with their cash but to be honest, perhaps this is why some people are rich while other people aren’t. It can be difficult to truly put yourself in the position of the rich and famous but some people are far too quick to judge when people with a lot of cash put up an argument about money.
However, it would be fair to say that most people would accept that Phil Ivey has a case to stand up for himself and his cash against a famous UK casino. The Crockfords Casino in London, which is owned by Genting is one of the most famous casinos in the country but they are about to become a lot more infamous now. This is down to the fact that Phil Ivey, the man with 9 WSOP bracelets to his name, has sued the casino to get winnings. Ivey believes that he is owed £7.8m from the casino but so far they have refused to pay up. This has seen Ivey and his legal team decide that the only action is to head to court and a suit was filed with the High Court on the 7th of May. The suit relates to winnings that Ivey earned while playing Punto Banco in the casino back in August of 2012.
Massive poker player takes on a big UK casino name
Ivey provided a £1m deposit to the casino before playing, a sum of money which has since been returned. It is believed that Crockfords have carried out a full investigation of the circumstances surrounding the win but have so far been unable to find untoward or suggestions that Ivey may have cheated to earn his money. There is no doubt that Phil Ivey is an immensely talented poker player with enough success behind him to back up his talent and he would be taking a huge risk to his reputation and future earnings if he was to indulge in any unsavoury poker activities. The fact that Punto Banco is a game based on luck as opposed to any skill makes the investigation carried out by Crockfords even stranger!
At one point, Ivey had run up losses of £500,000 but he managed to battle back and then set off on an extremely fortunate run. The fact that Ivey has such a huge bankroll at his disposal allowed him to play his way out of trouble in a way that very poker players would be able to.
In a statement released after the suit had been filed, Ivey indicated that he was very saddened at the decision made by Crockfords and that he felt that he had no choice but to do so. Like most poker players, he has earned money and lost money from Crockfords and indeed Gentings and Ivey pointed out that at any time he had losses, he honoured his commitments.
Whether Ivey is hoping that this move will cause a break from Crockfords which will see him earn money or whether he is hoping to go the full distance, there is a lot more of this story to run.