Poker Collusion and How to Avoid It

A lot of articles have already been written about colluding poker players and how to avoid being their victim. Nevertheless, for all our readers who are being introduced to the term "collusion" for the first time, we will explain what it means. Collusion takes place when two or more players at the poker table are cooperating to trick their unsuspecting opponents. The accomplices know each other's cards and so they play accordingly. While it's not only unfair to other players seeking to win the game, poker room operators also prohibit such behavior and typically ban colluding players out of their facilities, land-based and online alike.

There are many forms to this kind of cheating, and believe us when we say that colluding players typically turn out to be very creative people, but there are three most frequently practiced types of collusion. The first one is softplay. Softplay takes place when, in a situation that calls for a raise or bet, a player fails to do so because of an opponent with whom he has a prearranged deal. The second one is whipsawing. Whipsawing takes place when two accomplices sitting at the opposite ends of a poker table raise and reraise each other's bets hysterically with the sole purpose of trapping innocent players seated in between. The third type of collusion is referred to as dumping. Dumping is losing to your cheating partner on purpose.

In the past, when all game participants were sitting in one single room, spotting two cooperating cheaters who somehow share information regarding their hands was relatively not difficult. But what do you do when you play online poker and don't have your opponents seated next to you. How can a player catch a colluding opponent? Well, all you really can do is trust that the operators of a poker room you're playing in are committed to protecting their online players and keeping the games they host fair.

However, if you happen to suspect that some of your opponents are engaged in collusion, you are required to immediately notify the operators. In such a case you are expected to send an e-mail to the website's support team or fraud department, if they have one. Poker rooms with a good reputation which they seek to preserve typically welcome players' help in detecting collusion.

On their part, reputable online poker resources generally employ a combination of monitoring tools to identify and thwart collusion attempts. Some poker rooms put to use advanced algorithms developed by seasoned poker pros that are designed to identify play patterns. If such are indeed identified, the system alerts site operators regarding a possible collusion attempt. In any case, to make collusion investigation much easier the system records every move made by players and every occurrence, whether a win or a loss.

If collusion accusations are ultimately proved and verified, poker room operators usually threaten and actually use permanent game exclusion. Information regarding dishonest players is typically shared with other Internet poker rooms to ensure that these players be excluded from other poker websites as well.

Colluding players be ware!!!!!