The gambler eyed the cards being laid out on the baize table and murmured quietly to his attractive Asian companion. She had accompanied him, he told the staff at the London casino, purely for 'good luck'.
But why then was she the one talking to their female dealer in Mandarin Chinese, persuading her to oblige her friend's extreme superstitiousness with all manner of harmless little changes to the high stakes game of baccarat he was playing.
Some might have been suspicious, but casinos love the so-called 'high-rollers' willing to gamble millions in a single session. And they didn't come much more high-rolling than Phil Ivey, regarded as the world's greatest poker player.
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A Mayfair casino will not have to pay poker player Phil Ivey£7.7million in winnings
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It is believed that the poker player was helped by Cheung Yin Sun Cheung
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A Mayfair casino will not have to pay poker player Phil Ivey (left) £7.7million in winnings after a High Court judge ruled the 'edge-sorting' technique he used, helped by Cheung Yin Sun (right), was cheating
His arrival at Crockfords in Mayfair, Britain's oldest casino, the previous night had caused genuine excitement, not to mention a gleeful rubbing of hands.
As a casino inspector paced the private room, hung not only with chandeliers and oil paintings but also a battery of security cameras, the scene one August night two years ago could have come straight from the pages of Ian Fleming.
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