Negreanu, who counts Ivey as a close friend, believes the London-based casino may have done permanent damage to its reputation amongst high rollers.
“I think it’s ludicrous, I think it’s absurd, completely unfair and absolutely wrong,” he said while on break at the 2014 WSOP Asia-Pacific.
“Casinos, by nature, are designed to take advantage of people by manipulating and deceiving them into thinking they can win.
“A player gets the best of them, in the sense that he finds flaws in what they’re offering and they should go, ‘Oops, we screwed up.’ They should pay it like honourable people and then move on and address their issues.”
Negreanu: Ivey Didn't Cheat Crockfords
Ivey used a technique called edge-sorting to detect flaws in the cards and make advantageous bets in Punto Banco, a Baccarat variant.
The court ruled Ivey gave himself an advantage that the game precludes. Judge John Mitting said, in his view, that constituted cheating.
“He never did ANYTHING to manipulate the cards,” argued Negreanu.
“They agreed to every single one of stipulations. So where’s the level of responsibility in that?”
Negreanu said Crockfords may have won the case but at the risk of scaring away potential costumers.
“It sets a really bad precedent for gamblers who are going to gamble high,” he said.
“You could win a bunch of money and then all of a sudden — without doing anything that’s considering cheating — be told you’re not getting your money.
Phil Ivey Has Missed Most of WSOP APAC
Negreanu simply couldn’t conceive how the court ruled against Ivey knowing the facts.
“In every logical human being’s mind it’s an open-and-shut case but the judge ****ed him in the ass,” said an incredulous Negreanu.
A 10-time bracelet winner, Ivey has missed the every event of WSOP APAC so far because of the case, but Negreanu said he’ll rebound.
“He’ll be fine,” he said. “But I’ve talked to him and he’s not happy about it. He felt good about the case. I think if there’s an opportunity to appeal he will appeal.”
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