What is Edge Sorting and Should you Practice It?

Whichever brick-and-mortar casinos or top baccarat sites you visit in the world, you’ll know that players will often use tactics to help negate the house edge. While some of these practices are permitted, many are frowned up and considered as cheating by casino bosses, which may result in you being removed from a game or physical location.

There are also methods that exist in a strange grey area, with “edge sorting” offering a relevant case in point. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore this practice in more detail, while asking whether or not you should practice it when wagering at a land-based casino. Let’s get into it!

• Understand the House Edge and its Relationship with Card Edge Sorting
• Edge Sorting Explained – How Does it Work
• Edge Sorting Pros and Cons – The Argument for and Against This Practice
• Edge Sorting in Practice – Remembering the Experience of Phil Ivey
• Should You Use it? Edge Sorting in Baccarat and Other Games
• The Final Word on Edge Sorting

Understand the House Edge and its Relationship with Card Edge Sorting

Before we delve into the concept of edge sorting, we’re going to explore its premise and why it exists in the first place. Gamblers will use this and similar techniques to counter the so-called “house edge”, which is best defined as the ratio of average losses in relation to the initial wagers. This is typically expressed as a percentage, and guarantees that the house banks a profit over time and across all game verticals.

For example, games of skill such as blackjack carry only a nominal house edge. This is true across most iterations of the game, with titles such as ‘Liberal Vegas’ boasting a house edge of just 0.28% and a return-to-player (RTP) rate of 99.72%. The RTP relays how much you can expect to recoup on average for every $100 wagered during a particular game, while you can calculate this by deducting the house edge from a value of 100.

When placing a so-called “Banker Bet” during games of baccarat, you’ll unlock a typical house edge of just 1.06% (and a favorable RTP rate of 98.94%). The house edge when placing a ‘Player’ bet is only marginally higher at 1.24%, but while edge sorting in baccarat can have only an incremental benefit, it remains incredibly commonplace in the modern age (we’ll touch more on this later in the guide).

Conversely, the house edge when playing European roulette is 2.70%. You’ll find that this value is nearly doubled when playing the American iteration of this classic casino game, which features a second ‘zero’ groove and carries a prohibitive house edge of 5.26%. In the case of some high variance slot machines and games, the house edge can exceed 10% and create a significantly greater risk of loss in the process.

The need to negate the house edge is pressing when playing this type of game, as otherwise the extent and frequency of losses can severely compromise your bankroll. This is where edge sorting comes into play, as this complex technique has been used to predict the value of specific cards before they’re drawn.

Edge Sorting Explained – How Does it Work?

As you can probably see, this technique is most widely deployed when playing in-person card games at brick-and-mortar casinos. It works by attempting to identify the miniscule flaws that may exist in the design of card decks, usually on the back. By recognizing such discrepancies, players can better identify the value of individual cards and make more informed decisions as a result.

Once players have identified one or more high-value cards, they will ask the dealer to rotate them 180 degrees. This makes them easier to spot during gameplay as their design will stand out when compared to lower value cards, although the dealer is free turn down your request (either at a land-based casino or when playing live games with a corporeal, interactive dealer).

Similarly, you should request that an automatic shuffler is used to avoid the high-value cards you’ve identified being turned down. Just note that if either of these requests are refused and the cards continue to be manually shuffled, you won’t be able to leverage edge sorting to your advantage.

Even in instances where you are able to deploy card edge sorting to your advantage, this method isn’t suitable for every casino game or discipline. While edge sorting in baccarat is commonplace and the technique can also be used when playing blackjack, for example, it has absolutely no impact in games such as poker. Edge sorting poker strategies are ineffective as you’ll play against direct opponents (rather than a dealer) who are highly unlikely to rotate their cards upon your request.

Edge Sorting Pros and Cons – The Argument for and Against This Practice

Now that we understand the concept of edge sorting and precisely how it works, it’s important to understand the unique advantages that it offers during certain casino games. Similarly, it’s crucial that you consider any potential drawbacks, which may make edge sorting impractical in some instances. Here’s our summary of the main pros and cons!

Advantages of Edge Sorting

• Officially, deploying edge sorting blackjack and baccarat strategies isn’t categorized as cheating. Although it continues to be frowned upon by a number of land-based casinos, it’s formally recognized as a gambling strategy that exists on the precipice of permissibility.
• Card edge sorting can also increase your profit margin. If you’re able to master and deploy this method successfully, it’s thought that you can achieve a 6% edge over the house when playing baccarat alone.
• This practice is also tailormade for the high-rollers among you. The reason for this simple, as the house is far less likely to refuse your gameplay requests if you’re wagering large amounts of money. You can also afford to incur some losses while experimenting with various edge sorting strategies.

Disadvantages of Edge Sorting

• Perhaps the biggest drawback of edge sorting is that it’s incredibly difficult to learn and implement. This rule applies whether you’re playing baccarat or blackjack, as it takes a highly trained eye to notice the differences in card designs and ascribe these to specific high-value cards.
• Deploying this strategy successfully also depends on a number of criteria that are beyond your control. The house can refuse your numerous requests to rotate cards or utilize an automatic shuffler, for example, while you’ll also have to identify a flawed deck in the first place to get started!
• What’s more, casino locations may accuse you of cheating and blacklist you if they suspect you of engaging in edge sorting. Although it’s not strictly illegal or classed as cheating, it’s not welcomed by establishments who retain the right to withhold payouts and remove you from the premises at all times.

Edge Sorting in Practice – Remembering the Experience of Phil Ivey

To understand the legality and viability of edge sorting further, we need to recall the previous experience of Phil Ivey. Boasting 11 World Series of Poker bracelets and one World Poker Tour title, Ivey is widely recognized as one of the greatest poker players of all-time, while he also won millions at several different casinos when playing Punto Banco (a popular iteration of baccarat).

However, when one of these casinos noticed that Ivey’s winnings were disproportionately high for a recognized game of chance, a formal investigation was launched. Ivey openly admitted engaging in edge sorting when questioned, and the casino subsequently decided to take him and his accomplice (Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun) to court.

After a protracted legal battle, a judge ordered the pair to repay their winnings. The reason for this was not because they engaged in edge sorting, but due to the fact that they were “dishonest in their engagements with the dealer”. So, although it was deemed that their requests to rotate selected playing cards and use an automatic shuffler were completely lawful, the fact that they hid their motivation was deemed as being deceptive.

Herein lies the issue with edge sporting and attempting to leverage this practice at brick-and-mortar casinos. While you can lawfully request that cards be rotated and the use of an automatic shuffler (which help to make the method viable), this will also alert to the casino to the fact that you’re engaging in edge sorting.

What’s more, Ivey’s case alerted a large number of casinos to the reality of edge sorting, making it a high-profile practice that operators were suddenly keen to clamp down on. There’s also a sense that if somebody of Ivy’s profile and gambling skill could not leverage the method successfully, then the average bettor has no chance at all.

Should You Use it? Edge Sorting in Baccarat and Other Games

With this in mind, the question that remains is whether you should use edge sorting as part of your offline gambling strategy? Certainly, the number of variable and circumstantial factors in play make it an incredibly challenging pastime, while the fact that dealers are increasingly likely to refuse your requests represents another significant hurdle.

The outcome of the legal case involving Ivey is also problematic. After all, the only way for players to avoid being accused of deception is to declare their intention to engage in edge sorting when asking for cards to be rotated. However, casinos will then have the autonomy to refuse your bets and potentially eject you, despite the practice of edge sorting being perfectly legal.

Of course, not every legal mind thinks that Ivey and his accomplice should have had to pay back their winnings. According to Nanci Carr, who’s a California-based lawyer and assistant professor of business law at the CA State University, Ivey was simply “working the system”, while any allegation of cheating or deception was unfair.

Her rationale is laid out in an academic paper too: namely “One, Two, Sort the Shoe; Three, Four, Win Some More: The Rhyme and Reason of Phil Ivey’s Advantage Play at the Borgata.” She states that casinos already take actions outside of gameplay to establish the house edge and an advantage over players, and when players follow a similar course successfully, their winnings should be validated.

Regardless, such speculation is largely irrelevant when it comes to whether or not you should practice edge sorting blackjack strategies or deploy the technique when playing similar games. Even if the Borgata was not fully justified in asking Ivey to repay his winnings, casinos of this type still retain the right to prohibit or restrict edge sorting and deny services to players who engage in this activity.

The Final Word on Edge Sorting

Ultimately, if you’re able to engage in edge sorting successfully and avoid the scrutiny of casino bosses, this is method that could boost your profitability by as much as 6% overall. This is certainly true if you enjoy in-person iterations of baccarat and blackjack, which enable you to gain an advantage by identifying high-value cards.

However, edge sorting is far too complex for most casual bettors to engage with, while the sheer number of variables in play makes it hard to do well. As the Phil Ivey case demonstrates, there’s also a legal precedent that may require you to repay any winnings if you’re found to have engaged in edge sorting, which may be suspected if you bank large amounts of cash while playing baccarat.