How To Avoid Being a Victim of Collusion

Collusion is rife in online-poker and personally I have experienced it regularly, particularly over the past few months. In this article I will explain what collusion is and give you tips and advice on how to avoid being made a victim. I will also explain how to profit from colluders!

What is collusion?

Collusion is when two or more players partner up to mislead the other players at the table and unfairly take their money. It is against the rules and regulations governing a poker site. There are a number of ways that online players can do this, including the most popular being:

• Using the telephone or msn messenger to give each other their hands.

How do colluders make money?

The most common way that colluders make money is by sandwiching innocent players. This can be most effective in No Limit games. The colluders take turns betting and raising heavily into a third player, forcing him or her to either keep calling ridiculous bets or keep folding out of every hand. Below is a hand history where I was involved, to illustrate this principle. The colluders are in bold.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 595951201 ***** NL $0.25/$0.50 Texas Hold’em - Tuesday, October 27, 14:17:14 GMT 2009 Table Neon 67 6-max (Real Money) Seat 5 is the button Total number of active players :

6 Seat 1: andreasz ( $93.63 )

Seat 2: speeler ( $54.86 )

Seat 3: eironas ( $116.29 )

Seat 4: Chalmare69 ( $305.67 )

Seat 5: BrasilNut ( $49.25 ) S

eat 6: vagwinner2 ( $63.30 )

vagwinner2 posts small blind [$0.25]

andreasz posts big blind [$0.50]

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to BrasilNut [ 8h, Qh ]

speeler folds

eironas raises to [$1.75]

Chalmare69 folds

BrasilNut calls [$1.75]

vagwinner2 folds

andreasz raises to [$3]

eironas raises to [$4.25]

BrasilNut folds

andreasz folds

Returning uncalled bet [$1.25] to eironas

In the above example, I am the mug and they are trying to raise me out. If this was a real hand there is NO WAY that andreasz would fold there if he only had to pay $1.25 more to see the flop. Also, i saw them doing similar things before which added to my suspicions.

Here is another example:

***** Hand History for Game 596065272 ***** (Betfair) $50.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em - Tuesday, October 27, 06:26:49 ET 2009 Table Neon 94 (Real Money)

Seat 5 is the button Seat 1: pr0f4l3ty ( $64.75 USD )

Seat 2: BrasilNut ( $50.00 USD )

Seat 3: Foolsgold46 ( $15.05 USD )

Seat 4: eironas ( $50.00 USD )

Seat 5: KINDERI999 ( $59.00 USD )

Seat 6: papoutsias ( $297.01 USD )

papoutsias posts small blind [$0.25 USD].

pr0f4l3ty posts big blind [$0.50 USD].

** Dealing down cards

** Dealt to BrasilNut [ 3d 7d ]

BrasilNut folds

Foolsgold46 folds

eironas raises [$1.00 USD]

KINDERI999 folds

papoutsias calls [$0.75 USD]

pr0f4l3ty calls [$0.50 USD]

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, 5c, 3h ]

papoutsias checks

pr0f4l3ty bets [$2.25 USD]

eironas raises [$49.00 USD]

papoutsias calls [$49.00 USD]

pr0f4l3ty folds

eironas shows [Qh, Qc ]

papoutsias shows [Kc, Jh ]

** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]

** Dealing River ** [ Jc ]

eironas wins $100.25 USD from main pot

Now in the above hand Pr0 was the mug as papoutsias called a big raise, thus driving Pr0 out. Of course he had nothing (king high) and later on they will go down to the pub and divide up profits.

This is an example from a limit game. Notice how pair of 5 caps river lol!

***** Hand History for Game 608843829 ***** (Betfair)
$5.00/$10.00 Limit Texas Hold’em - Sunday, November 22, 11:41:14 ET 2009
Table Contrastes 44 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: thebob ( $303.25 USD )
Seat 2: 781776 ( $457.50 USD )
Seat 3: docko ( $565.00 USD )
Seat 4: katk ( $266.04 USD )
Seat 5: musko ( $408.75 USD )
Seat 6: greece234 ( $519.62 USD )
peacemate1 posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
781776 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to thebob [  Ks Kh ]
docko folds
katk calls [$5.00 USD]
musko calls [$5.00 USD]
greece234 calls [$5.00 USD]
thebob raises [$8.00 USD]
781776 calls [$5.00 USD]
katk calls [$5.00 USD]
musko calls [$5.00 USD]
greece234 calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qh, Ts, 9s ]
thebob bets [$5.00 USD]
781776 calls [$5.00 USD]
katk calls [$5.00 USD]
musko folds
greece234 raises [$10.00 USD]
thebob calls [$5.00 USD]
781776 raises [$10.00 USD]
katk calls [$10.00 USD]
greece234 raises [$10.00 USD]
thebob calls [$10.00 USD]
781776 calls [$5.00 USD]
katk calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5d ]
thebob checks
781776 bets [$10.00 USD]
katk calls [$10.00 USD]
greece234 raises [$20.00 USD]
thebob raises [$30.00 USD]
781776 calls [$20.00 USD]
katk calls [$20.00 USD]
greece234 calls [$10.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Qc ]
thebob checks
781776 bets [$10.00 USD]
katk folds
greece234 raises [$20.00 USD]
thebob calls [$20.00 USD]
781776 raises [$20.00 USD]

greece234 raises [$20.00 USD]
thebob calls [$20.00 USD]
781776 calls [$10.00 USD]
greece234 shows [5s, 3d ]
thebob shows [Ks, Kh ]
781776 shows [2d, Qd ]
781776 wins $367.00 USD from main pot

How to spot colluders:

There are a few ‘warning bells’ that should be going off whenever you see a combination of these going on at any given time.

• Many players from the same country (OK, this one is weak but keep reading…)
• Two players joining at the same time (stronger evidence if from same country)
• Two players playing almost every hand with one player usually raising and the other re raising (In NL this can take the form of a min raise followed by a min re raise)
• If the two colluders get heads up, one of them will likely check/fold in a big pot where you would expect it to go to showdown (particularly in limit) or check down
• Look for showdown hands to see if one of them is showing down very weak hands like Ace/King high and were raising a lot earlier when you normally wouldn’t expect it from a normal player
• The players take their time when making decisions (this means that they are likely chatting away)
• If they leave the table at the same time, especially if they both disconnect simultaneously

How to beat colluders

Ok, the first thing that you SHOULD probably do, is email or phone the poker site immediately. Also make sure to keep any hand history as evidence. This will be useful if you lost money and want to claim it back. Meanwhile, if you keep playing the best way to beat colluders in No Limit games is to:

• Try to sit to the left of both of the colluders as it will make decisions easier.
• Call raises with big hands pre flop and hope that they try to raise you out by both of them going all in. See below for an example where I tried this (but got unlucky - I was 47% to win pre flop vs these two players, not bad):

***** Hand History for Game 596053525 ***** (Betfair)
$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em - Tuesday, October 27, 06:07:32 ET 2009
Table Neon 94 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: pr0f4l3ty ( $66.76 USD )
Seat 2: BrasilNut ( $61.09 USD )
Seat 3: Foolsgold46 ( $54.58 USD )
Seat 4: eironas ( $18.37 USD )
Seat 5: speeler ( $47.70 USD )
Seat 6: papoutsias ( $102.11 USD )
BrasilNut posts small blind [$0.25 USD].
eironas posts big blind [$0.50 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BrasilNut [  Js Jc ]
papoutsias raises [$1.60 USD]
pr0f4l3ty folds
BrasilNut calls [$1.35 USD]
eironas raises [$5.90 USD]
papoutsias calls [$4.80 USD]
BrasilNut raises [$9.60 USD]
eironas raises [$11.97 USD]
papoutsias calls [$11.97 USD]
BrasilNut raises [$49.89 USD]
papoutsias calls [$42.72 USD]
BrasilNut shows [Js, Jc ]
eironas shows [Ks, Ah ]
papoutsias shows [Qh, As ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 7h, Qc ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3h ]
papoutsias wins $85.44 USD from main pot
papoutsias wins $53.11 USD from main pot

• Post flop, you also have to play passively and try to trap them. Make sure not to fold medium hands/draws to their raises. With some luck you are able to get both of them all in when one of them has nothing and the other something weak, or if you hit your draw and one of them had a big hand.
• In Limit: Also try to sit with position on them but less important than in NL. Limp with hands that make strong hands like small pocket pairs and suited connectors. Raise and re raise monster hands (you probably won’t be able to drive out the colluders but you will be able to drive out the regular players). Be prepared to play big pots as the hand will likely be capped until river. Therefore, even if you have a medium hand and it’s likely capped on, you have to be prepared to pay a lot on turn/river.

Lastly, here is an example of where colluders were really beaten at their own game! Thebob was kind of enough to send me this hand history.

**** Hand History for Game 608839565 ***** (Betfair)
$5.00/$10.00 Limit Texas Hold’em - Sunday, November 22, 11:25:23 ET 2009
Table Contrastes 44 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: thebob ( $163.25 USD )
Seat 2: 781776 ( $548.00 USD )
Seat 3: docko ( $538.00 USD )
Seat 4: katk ( $87.04 USD )
Seat 5: musko ( $493.75 USD )
Seat 6: greece234( $473.62 USD )
thebob posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
781776 posts big blind [$5.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to thebob [  8s Kd ]
docko folds
katk folds
musko folds
greece234 calls [$5.00 USD]
thebob calls [$3.00 USD]
781776 raises [$5.00 USD]
greece234 raises [$10.00 USD]
thebob calls [$10.00 USD]
781776 calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ks, 7c, 2s ]
thebob checks
781776 bets [$5.00 USD]
greece234 raises [$10.00 USD]
thebob calls [$10.00 USD]
781776 raises [$10.00 USD]
greece234 raises [$10.00 USD]
thebob calls [$10.00 USD]
781776 calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
thebob checks
781776 bets [$10.00 USD]
greece234 raises [$20.00 USD]
thebob raises [$30.00 USD]
781776 folds
greece234 folds
thebob wins $10.00 USD
thebob wins $152.00 USD from main pot

Conclusion

Do not be put off by online poker by colluders. Although it is a reality and it seems to be a growing problem, sites have security departments to do deal with them (supposedly). Also, if you do lose money against them, you are likely to be reimbursed. If you follow my tips, you create yourself a win/win situation since if you do beat them, great, if you don’t you can claim your losses if you gather the evidence and present your case.