British Poker Awards Winner and 2014 Nominee Victoria Coren Mitchell on the Phil Ivey Case

If her historic double EPT title win is not enough reason for you, the sense and sensibility of @Victoria Coren Mitchell's writing will get you to head over to The British Poker Awards site and vote for her in all three categories in which the @Bluff Europe expert panel shortlisted her this year :)

The popular TV presenter, writer, and poker pro @Victoria Coren Mitchell was last year's winner in the Best Social Media User category in #BritishPokerAwards presented by @Bluff Europe. In 2014, the first-ever two-time EPT champion has been nominated for three awards: Poker Personality of the Year, Performance of the Year, and Best Social Media User. 

Here is Vicky Coren's take on the @Phil Ivey edge sorting affair:

The late gambling legend Amarillo Slim once bet the 1939 Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs that he could beat him at ping-pong. When the match day dawned, the old-time gambler surprised the tennis champ by unveiling the “bats” he’d brought: two cast-iron cooking skillets. Slim had been practising with the skillets for months. Riggs could barely hold them. The tennis whizz thought he’d had a big edge in the coup, but he was wrong. He paid out and learned from his mistake.

Titanic Thompson once bet a guy that he could work out how many watermelons were piled on a passing truck, by sight alone. The guy had no idea that Thompson had met the truck driver the previous day, counted the watermelons and paid him to drive past at an agreed time. The guy paid out and learned from his mistake.

Phil Ivey himself, a few years ago, lost several thousand dollars playing golf against a couple of British poker players. One of the Brits made the mistake of boasting widely that Ivey was “a golf fish”. The proud American went away, took lessons, played obsessively, then came back and (claiming he’d “hardly played”) suggested upping the stakes. He won a million dollars.

Some argued that it was cheating not to declare a changed handicap. Others replied that this was not an official match; Ivey had been taken for a mug, so he mugged his opponents in return.

Why should casinos be exempt from the traps that face all gamblers? They hustle in their own ways, after all. No windows or clocks, so we lose a sense of time. Free drinks; friendly dealers; no open declaration of their statistical advantage. If they think you’re going to lose a fortune (as they did in Ivey’s case), they will pander to your “superstitions”, whether it’s providing a Mandarin-speaking dealer or flipping cards around. It’s all about making you feel important, to ensure you keep betting your money at unfavourable odds. They make you feel “lucky” when you don’t have a chance.

Ivey interfered with the run of play. That is one definition of cheating; the judge accepted it and I can see why. But my heart says he was just cleverer than the house.

full article

More on RKH:

Victoria Coren in the Run for a Second EPT Title at Sanremo

Champion of Poker Victoria Coren Mitchell Wins Favorite EPT Moment

Did Phil Ivey Cheat or Outsmart the Casinos?

#TheBritishPokerAwards 

More by Victoria Coren Mitchell:

No Politics at the Poker Table?

Phil Ivey Case: The House Always Wins