(Bloomberg) — Professional poker player Phil Ivey’s use of edge sorting to win 7.7 million pounds ($12.4 million) at a form of Baccarat was tantamount to cheating, a London judge ruled today.

Judge John Mitting, who said Ivey was an honest witness, ruled against the 38-year-old gambler’s bid to recoup money a Genting Bhd. casino had withheld. While he might not have realized it was cheating, Mitting said Ivey and a companion influenced a croupier to deal the cards in certain ways.

Ivey, a 10-time winner of the World Series of Poker tournament, won the money playing Punto Banco at Genting’s Crockfords casino in London. He argued that edge sorting was a legitimate tactic to gain an advantage over the casino.

“He gave himself an advantage which the game precludes,” Mitting said today following a week-long trial. “This is in my view cheating.”

Genting is Southeast Asia’s largest casino operator with a market capitalization of about $35 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Last year it bought a Las Vegas site, once home to the Stardust resort, for $350 million.

“We attach the greatest importance to our exemplary reputation for fair, honest and professional conduct and today’s ruling vindicates the steps we have taken in this matter,” Crockfords said in an e-mailed statement after the verdict.

2012 Game

Both sides agreed at trial that Ivey was in the casino in August 2012 and that he won the money. “The issue is whether it amounted to cheating,” Christopher Pymont, Genting’s lawyer, said in documents filed at London’s High Court.

Edge sorting is a way a card player can gain an advantage by working out the value of a card by spotting flaws or particular patterns on the back of some cards.

Ivey and a companion unfairly influenced a croupier to move and deal the cards in certain ways without her knowing what she was doing, the judge said.

Ivey cheated “by using the croupier as his innocent agent or tool,” Mitting said.

Ivey has career earnings of more than $21 million from live tournaments alone, according to his website. The judge described him as one of the “world’s finest poker players.”

Ivey describes himself as an “advantage player,” someone who is highly skilled at trying to tip the odds in his favor.

“It is not in my nature to cheat,” Ivey said through a spokesman after today’s ruling. “I believe what we did was nothing more than exploit Crockford’s failures. Clearly the judge did not agree.”

Judge Mitting turned down Ivey’s permission to appeal his verdict.

–With assistance from Kit Chellel in London.

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