Minor technical correction:

Players are not typically allowed to handle the cards in punto banco, so would have needed the dealer to turn the cards for them.

This, I understand, is one reason they preferred a Mandarin-speaking dealer.

Sometimes you're given the option to deal out the cards yourself, but this would be more likely to break Ivey's careful edge sorting. If it was offered, I would strongly tend towards declining it.

Other thoughts:

Traditional card counting might still have been useful, assuming only the top card would be readable.

Finally, this is only what Ivey has admitted to. I politely suggest that there are other ways of getting an advantage.