I have thought about this for awhile now and am interested to hear some other opinions.

Would a guy that is willing to cheat or manipulate a casino for millions be more likely to cheat at online poker?... Yes and I think significantly more likely

Phil Ivey pre-black friday was +19,000,000, he obviously had connections to the inner circle of full tilt poker. Absolutely crushes

Phil Ivey under pokerstars ownership of full tilt he is -5,000,000. Gets crushed

The contrast of graphs are exact opposites.

My whole point is that I know plenty of poker players and I think maybe 1% of them would cheat at table games. I just dont think someone willing to do this should be giving the golden stamp of trust that Phil Ivey has received.

its a lot harder to win now

100% agree with OP. I thought of it myself long time ago. Considering the ultimate bet scandal and FTP ponzi, not only is that possible, as it is likely. Nevertheless, he IS an amazing LIVE player.

1. games are tougher

2. stakes are lower--"unlimited" bankroll and nosebleed stakes pressure against opponents was always one of Ivey's advantages

3. Ivey's "aura" at least online seems to have been diminished--it seemed to be a huge advantage he had with some opponents back in the day

4. went through divorce, lost FT payments $1kk+ per month--i.e. it would seem money is a bit more important to him now and might alter either his play or his opponent's image of his play

Phil Ivey won millions playing live poker. Why would he continue playing post-BF online if he was actually just a cheater on a live heater?

The games are tougher post-BF. It's as simple as that, perhaps with some poor variance thrown in.

I find it a touch strange aswell OP

everyone thought it was so badass he ripped off these casinos for millions, but all I think it should have done was shown us he is a scumbag degen. Cheating at a casino makes you a scumbag no matter the circumstances!

This convinced me

It is very suspicious that one graph goes straight up, the other goes straight down. But no one's been able to prove anything as far as I'm aware.

6. Ran hot at relatively small Nosebleed sample on FTP

7. Currently running below EV since BF / relatively meaningless sample

We don't even have to discuss how much he has won and lost that is secondary. Someone willing to cheat at a casino is going to try at cheat in other aspects of gambling imo. With his position at full tilt seems like that could have been rather easier than cheating at a casino even. I also don't know why people are so quick to defend him!!

they had nothing to gain from letting ivey cheat though... if he was that bad at online he'd just be on banners, play live events and rarely sign on like daniel does for stars. and the second that gets out the entire site is a ghost town like UB so idk

You are thinking about this from the wrong perspective. The owners embezzled millions and were found to be huge scumbags. You really can't think of these things logically because the owners were anything but logically

Phil Ivey takes every advantage that is given to him

With regards to edge sorting he did not cheat, just took an advantage that the casino overlooked and would not let him have otherwise. He hid nothing that he did, just the reasons for it.

Don't think he's a poker cheat...

If Phil Ivey was cheating on Full Tilt (which I don't think he was), the method he was using to cheat would have been made apparent to Rational when they bought the site. If he was indeed cheating, an announcement of some sort would probably have been made and he would at the very least have been banned from playing on Full Tilt and Pokerstars.

Give me a break with the technicality stuff okay. He manipulated the casino and cheated

Lol why would they want to be exposed?

I just want to know why everyone is so quick to defend him?

Because it's a big allegation with little (actually no) evidence?

Because based on anecdotes of people who actually know him he's supposed to be a stand-up guy. I know that means nothing in the face of internet rumor mongering like your OP.

Why would Pokerstars want to hide something that could destroy their reputation and potentially ruin the company? If they discovered cheating within Full Tilt's software they would have made it public during their purchase negotiations.

Meant defending in a way that there is no chance

Right because stand up good people of society cheat casinos out of millions

Could he be a cheater? Yes.

Could OP be a a narcissistic whore? Yes.

Both require the burden of proof.

They gained the notoriety of having the "best player in the world" on their roster. It gave FTP the legitimacy as the best site with the best players. Their motto reinforced that. Come play and chat with the pros. Even if the Stars reps found issues with the FTP software and Iveys use of it, they wouldn't want that made public as it would really hurt the brand.

Ivey's really the only person i've ever seen to have 2 graphs that are so drastically different. It's not like he's just on a temporary downswing either, his sample sizes are big enough to rule out good/bad luck.