Bet placement and payment are all functional parts of a casino game. You can't ignore them when reading the regulations. If Ivey placed bets differently than he otherwise would have, then the game was affected.
Even if it does, there is a specific penalty defined for breaching that section of the CCA, so it's not comparable to the Golden Nugget case.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13238503
> Specifically, it seems like the cards were "placed in a condition" and "operated in a manner" which "alter[ed] the normal chance of the game" for Ivey and Sun.