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What is Edge Sorting and How Does it Work? | LeoVegas

Edge Sorting Guide

Edge sorting is a form of advantage play technique that you can use in casino card games. Baccarat and punto banco are favourites for edge sorters, but the method can also be used to try to get an edge in blackjack. Despite being fairly straightforward as an idea, edge sorting can be quite difficult. Here’s what you need to know.

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Before trying your hand at edge sorting, it’s good to know exactly what it is as a technique to use in casino games.

What is Edge Sorting?

Edge sorting is a technique used to help spot certain cards when they are dealt face down. The technique involves turning cards that are asymmetric on the back so that when they’re dealt again, the facing of the card’s pattern indicates if it’s high or low, for example.

History and Origins of Edge Sorting

Edge sorting has been around for decades and is based on the unintentional differences that are found in the patterns on the backs of playing cards. It’s actually quite rare that patterns on cards are symmetrical, so, down the sides, there will be small, sometimes nearly indistinguishable differences. The advantage play technique rose to prominence when Phil Ivey’s more manufactured use of edge sorting resulted in him being denied millions in winnings.

How Edge Sorting Differs from Other Card Techniques

Edge sorting differs from other card techniques by requiring you to physically alter the cards, in a sense. You have certain cards turned rather than relying on calculations of probability, for example.

Understanding the Basics of Edge Sorting

The basic premise of using edge sorting is that you turn your selected card types 180° to get a very subtle visual indicator as to what the card is when it’s face down.

Fundamental Principles Behind Edge Sorting

Almost all playing card decks that feature a pattern – particularly a busy pattern – on the back have irregularities from one side to another. Edge sorting is a technique that seeks to capitalize on this.

Tools and Materials Required

All you need to edge sort is a keen eye and a table that shuffles the same decks back into play multiple times before switching to a new deck or shoe.

How Card Manufacturing Imperfections are Exploited

Chequered patterns, patterns repeating the same symbol, and other similar formats will regularly result in cards that aren’t symmetrical from one side to the other. The differences are minuscule, barely visible, and unintentional, but players with an eye for detail have come up with ways to use these manufacturing imperfections to their advantage.

Common Games Where Edge Sorting Applies

Card games are the only ones where edge sorting applies. While not applicable at online casinos, baccarat is a hot favourite for edge sorting, as are similar games like punto banco. There are also advantages to be found at a blackjack table and, in the right conditions, in a game of poker.

The Mechanics of Edge Sorting

Edge sorting isn’t an overly complex technique, but given how subtle your identifiers are, it’s good to work through the mechanics first.

Step-by-Step Breakdown of Edge Sorting Techniques

When a new deck comes out, all of the cards will stand the same way with the same pattern from left to right. From here, you can get cards to your hand in a game like blackjack and just turn the tens and faces, for example. At the end of the round, you hand them back and will have a ten-card turned differently from the other cards.

Recognizing Edge Differences: A Visual Guide

You can usually spot the little differences on the edges of a card by comparing the left side to the right side, or the top to the bottom. On a repeating pattern, you’ll be able to spot a line of the same symbol along one side and perhaps only half of that same symbol down the opposite side.

The Role of Dealer Interaction in Edge Sorting

If the dealer cuts and turns the deck while dealing, edge sorting efforts will be quashed. Ivey requested that the dealer turn certain cards for good luck as a part of his runs that eventually got him sued, claiming it was for superstitious reasons.

Strategies for Optimal Table Positioning

Individual table positioning doesn’t really play into an edge sorting strategy. What does, is occupying a whole table with a team, expediting the card turning and guaranteeing that other players don’t haplessly turn cards and put them back into play outside your method.

Advantages and Limitations of Edge Sorting

As with any method that seeks to give a player an advantage in a casino, there are distinct advantages to successful runs and limitations in its deployment. Quite a lot needs to go right for you to succeed in winning with edge sorting.

Key Benefits for Players

The key benefits for players who successfully edge sort the majority of cards in a deck are that they can, with some degree of accuracy, tell when there are certain cards or values in play. When cards on the table are face down in baccarat, for example, knowing which ones are high cards can be very helpful for your betting.

Risks Involved in Edge Sorting

The risks involved in edge sorting are that casinos consider it to be cheating and aren’t afraid to pursue compensation from those who use it. It can also be quite easy to spot if you make requests to facilitate the moves. This is where those who have lost in defence of their edge sorting have failed, due to what was seen as deceptive behaviour.

In the most prominent case of edge sorting, the accused was forced to lose millions to casinos in the UK and US. Phil Ivey and his gambling partner, Cheung Yin Sun, were accused of cheating when playing punto banco in August 2012 at a London casino. He won £7.3 million (US$12 million). They paid him back his £1 million stake, but not the other £6.3 million.

The case was appealed all the way to the UK’s highest court, the Supreme Court, and in October 2017, the ruling favoured the casino. In the US, Ivey was accused of cheating at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. The April 2014 lawsuit amounted to the US$10 million lost to Ivey’s winnings, the US$5.4 million in legal fees, and US$200,000 in comps.

In July 2020, it was reported that Ivey and the casino had agreed on a settlement via the US Court of Appeals’ mediation program. The key with Ivey’s case was that he made requests of the casino and its croupiers that permitted him to edge sort with ease. His requests included dealing a certain way and reusing the deck.

Limitations and Challenges in Execution

The main challenge with the execution of edge sorting is seeing the cards again unturned. If the same shoe isn’t used or the dealer turns the cards when they shuffle the deck, the edge sorting attempt is nullified. There’s also the fact that you can only turn a card one of two ways, so you can essentially only mark one card type – like high or low, faces and aces, etc. – and that some casinos don’t use cards with asymmetric designs.

Comparative Analysis with Other Advantage Play Techniques

Edge sorting doesn’t require a particularly high degree of skill or deep understanding of the game at hand or the mathematics of probability, generally making it an entry-level advantage play technique. Other advantage plays like card counting and shuffle tracking are much more advanced and can’t be nullified by shuffling techniques, for example.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

There isn’t anything illegal about capitalizing on discrepancies that you notice in a deck or cards, but casinos do consider it to be cheating if you make efforts to capitalize on these with a strategized effort. This would be via having a team of edge sorters or making special requests of the croupiers to facilitate the edge sorting.

Can Edge Sorting be Used in Online Casinos?

Edge sorting can’t be used in online casinos. Digital decks like those in Blackjack+ can’t be turned and don’t have any indications of what’s beneath. In live games, the dealers don’t reuse the shoe and get a new one instead.

What Should Casinos Do to Protect Themselves Against Edge Sorting?

To protect against edge sorting, a casino could just pivot two decks with perfectly symmetrical cards, such as those with a plain back bar to the desired logo. They could also use a new deck or shoe whenever the one in play is finished, or do what’s called a “turn” when shuffling. This sees them split the deck, turn one half of it 180°, and then combine the two halves.

How Can Players Practice Edge Sorting?

You can practice edge sorting by training your eye on deck patterns, learning how to spot little changes between the top and bottom or left and right of the cards. From there, a deft hand is needed to turn the cards to your chosen deployment.