The case pitting poker star Phil Ivey and Borgata Casino appear set to run for a long time. This is after Ivey’s two friends petitioned Borgata Casino to at least release half of Ivey’s winnings. Dan “Jungleman” Cates and Illya Trincher are the two renowned poker players standing with Ivey during his career-threatening predicament.
Ivey, commonly known as the “Tiger Wood of Poker,” has been embroiled in a lawsuit with Borgata Casino for some times. The Nevada-based casino sued Ivey in 2014 for having won $10 million fraudulently previously at the venue. Borgata wants Ivey to return his winning after cheating in a baccarat game to scoop the money. The illegal skill that Ivey employed is known as edge-sorting.
Borgata wasn’t able to establish Ivey’s cheating tactic until a British court charged him of the said offense. Though Ivey wasn’t jailed in Europe, his winning at Crockfords Casino in London were not given to him. The incident happened in 2012, where Ivey nearly walked away with $11 million.
Ivey has failed to commit to his pledge of returning his winnings despite the seven years that have passed. Borgata had attempted to use the court to have Ivey return the lump sum amount, but the effort failed with Ivey’s attorney arguing that such a measure would kill the client’s profession. Borgata has since devised a new method of recovering its money through some clever legal process. The Atlantic City-based casino went to a court in New Jersey and successfully secured an order to garnish his winnings. The decision to freeze Ivey’s winning has cast doubt his chances of pursuing further his poker profession.
Ivey took part in the 2019 WSOP series, where he finished eight and fell inside the money bracket. However, US Marshal seized Ivey’s $128000 to help pay his casino debt. In the case, Borgata accuses Ivey of refusing to settle the debt despite maintaining a lavish lifestyle.
In matching Dionne Warwick’s song titled That’s What Friends Are For, Cates and Trincher this week launched a legal plan to ease their friend’s misery. The two online poker players are objecting the idea of withholding Ivey’s winnings in entirety. The advocate for the parties to agree on a mechanism that will work on a 50/50 formula on Ivey’s winnings.
The entry of the two individuals in the case has also revealed that the duo backed Ivey with the $50000 buy-in in the 2019 WSOP Summer event. Cates and Trincher have already provided telephone recordings challenging the attempt to recover Ivey’s winnings.
Chesnoff & Schonfield is the legal firm that Cates and Trincher chose to help them secure Ivey’s winning s from further freeze. The Las Vegas law firm had represented Ivey in the past, so the duo went to the right legal team.
The precedence that Cates and Trincher want to begin is reminding us of Nick Marchington, whose case trended last month after reaching the Main Event finals. The duo belongs to a category of players who take part in events without a written contract. However, they have telephone log details and sworn testimony to back their objection case.
Many observers see the objection effort as an exercise in futility as Borgata will continue to capture Ivey’s winnings with the help of the US Marshal. The two poker lovers are determined to fight on. The success of the case could see Ivey return to the poker table and play with the expectation of bagging a portion of his winnings.
Ivey is arguably one of the most successful poker specialists ever to grace the planet. The ten WSOP bracelets the American has won is never a mean achievement.
