collusion / working partners

[PestoSauce 0]

I've been playing hold em for some time now and have always wondered about collusion in Brick and Mortar casinos and online too I suppose. I hope this thread will share information that may be overlooked at times. I wanted to know what kind of clues a "straight up" player could recognize if he is at a table where 2 or more people are "working together" or "colluding". (Raising each other, etc) I may have been playing at some games that I thought were just wild and loose, but may have been a victim of collusion. Is there any way to tell that some guys are working together? Also, do the Casinos do anything if they think some guys are doing these kinds of things? Before I move up to higher limits, I wanted to be prepared if something like this happens. Any responses are appreciated. Thanks.

[Smasharoo 0]

It's either pretty easy or almost impossible to spot.It's pretty easy when two people are often in hands together, one with a monster and one with crap and the one with the crap is raising into a player between the two of them (who will normally sit opposite one another for maximum table coverage).The one with crap will fold to the final river raise, or to the first river bet, or on the turn or whatever to avoid showing that he has crap most of the time.It's almost impossible to spot when two people are very good at it and smart enough to occasionally show down relatively even stregnth hands on occasion to make it less obvious.It's much easier for a site to spot online, and they're pretty good about catching it in my experience.Oh, there's also "passive" collusion wich is essentially impossible to spot.That would be if you and I were playing holdem, and talking to each other on the phone revealing our cards but not manipulating pot sizes. If I have a flush draw and know that you do to, I can adjust my odds accordingly because I know there are less of my suit in the deck and it's that much less likely I'll hit it.Nothing I'd worry too much about.Worst case for passive collusion is a whole table oof people all sharing information targeting you! Again, not too likely.

[justblaze 0]

Interestingly enough, smash, your 'passive collusion' idea is actually the correct and most profitable way to collude, and is almost impossible to spot. Only way to tell is over a period of several hours if you see two players never entering pots together. If two morons want to raise and reraise me all nite long, id love to take their money. Its a terrible strategy. They are just putting extra money into the pot, via the guy with the crap hand. They are artificially creating odds for you to chase all kinds of draws, and you can let them build pots for you when you have a monster. What they should be doing is keeping the pots as small as possible and letting the best hand play, so they can maximize their edge. stupid cheaters...