Collusion Or Paranoia?

[hblask 1]

Just looking for a quick opinion:Last night I went into an online room specifically because I saw a maniac I had played the night before. Anyway, apparently he didn't remember me, because within a few hands he tried to bluff me off a hand.Here's where the question comes in. After a big bet by maniac, I pause to think, and one of the other people at the table types "Nice pot, better watch out for pocket pairs." I think, what an odd thing to say, what do you think I'm pausing to think about. Anyway, I end up calling to the river and taking maniac's entire stack. He understandably leaves the room, but what was odd was 4 other people left the room within seconds of maniac leaving the room, including the guy who tried putting "beware of pocket pairs" in my head. I've been playing daily for 8 months, and have never seen that many people leave at once. Coincidentally, it happened just seconds after a person not involved in the hand tried to scare me off the hand.So I tracked down the maniac to another room and had fun keeping him in check for the rest of the night (he went from $50 to $18 in about 45 minutes, for a total loss off about 80 bucks in under an hour in a $0.50 room), and I checked my PT results for maniac's other sessions, and there was no unusual overlap in other people in the room with him.It's not a big deal, even if he is colluding, he's still one of the worst players in the room, and if it gives him confidence for that kind of stupidity all the better, it's just that it was an odd sequence of events. So, based on this summary: collusion or paranoia?

[NortonFan 0]

Maybe they wanted you to fold because they wanted to take his money and then once you busted him they knew it was over so they left.

[XX44466XX 0]

Lay off the crank. Get out of the house more often.

[Loismustdie 0]

Lay off the crank. Get out of the house more often.

Lol. Well said. Who says generals a cesspool of the mundane? Not me I tell you.

[hblask 1]

Maybe they wanted you to fold because they wanted to take his money and then once you busted him they knew it was over so they left.

Excellent theory... it seems as likely as the "coincidence" theory and probably more likely than the "collusion" theory.My wife suggested they all left because they were intimidated by my excellent call in a situation like that, and knew they had no chance against a player of my caliber. I gave that theory the respect it deserves.

[krup24 0]

I've seen this happen before. Maybe not entire table but most of it. Good players know when the well runs try its time for another table.

[Wingmaster05 0]

Maybe they wanted you to fold because they wanted to take his money and then once you busted him they knew it was over so they left.

i typically leave once the dead money is gone too

[AspiringPro 0]

OK why don't you get in the mind of someone colluding. If you were colluding with 3 other players would you EVER leave the table at the same time. Answer NO. Next question.

[benhoug 0]

Once the Donk left the game dried up. It happens.

[fleung22 1]

Once the Donk left the game dried up. It happens.

What he said

[Suited_Up 2]

Once the Donk left the game dried up. It happens.

And it happens a lot!I am shocked it's the first time you've seen it.

[hblask 1]

And it happens a lot!I am shocked it's the first time you've seen it.

Well, I guess I am, too, if it's that common. I believe I have over 20,000 hands in by now. Of course, I've been playing pretty low levels up to now, where most people would be hard-pressed to identify the maniac in the room, much less leave when the maniac leaves. It's only for the last few weeks I've even moved up to the 0.50NL room (which is going swimmingly, thank you... the maniacs seem to love to make obvious bluffs at this level). It was just so dramatic to have a room go from 10 people to 5 in a matter of seconds, and I'd just gotten there. (Normally they fill up when I get there -- I imagine a phone chain somewhere, everyone calling up "he's back!"). And the comments struck me as odd.... So to the people who only offered rude responses, no, I'm not a nut looking for conspiracies under every loss, it was just odd, and friends playing together seems like the easiest cheat... to the rest of you, thanks for the replies.

[jowest 0]

I think they were those damn poker bots. Your amazing reads scarred them away. Usually i can not scare them so I wear my foil hat and I baught some robot insurance. Now both my prescription meds and my BR are safe.