06-13-05, LearnTexasHoldem:

Suspected Cheating

Question: I have a question about what to do when suspecting foul play. Recently I played in a $50 NL tournament held at a friend's home where second place would win back their buyin and first would take the rest. It was a 8 person friendly but competitive game but I only personally knew 4 of the other 7 players. I consider myself the best player at the table but busted out first when my pocket Kings ran into Aces preflop. When the game came down 3 players it was 2 that I didn't know and a friend. As soon as he busted out and it was those 2 left to battle it out heads up, one of them who had roughly a 2:1 chip lead who had not said a word all night became very excited and quickly asked for splitting the pot. Upon seeing this, I suspected that there had been team work and I immediately responded that this behavior was very weird and asked, "why are you so eager to split the pot?" It was literally as if the game was over and that there was no need to play. Other players agreed at the table that what had happened was very weird and one of the 2 responded that 'I dont like playing my friends heads up and its my right to split' and then told the 3rd one they were with that he would be getting his money back.

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When it happened, I automatically suspected teamwork through their behavior and it was validated by what they said when I stated that the manner by which they wanted to split was very 'wierd'. I consider teamwork where players dont bet into one another and go into a game with a preconceived deal cheating, even though I understand that a person doing this puts themselves at a disadvantage by not extracting the most from their winners.

The situation escaladed to an argument but not a hostile one and I said that if nothing wrong had been going on they would not have reacted so passionately to defend themselves. I never asked for money back or to end the game with everyone getting their buyin back. I felt that when I lost nothing foul had been going on but had I been playing later on I know I would have been much more passionate about the team work than I was as merely a spectator. I consider teamwork cheating because poker is an individual game so in every pot where more than one of them were in they were teamed up hoping one of them would win.

What I would like to know is what to do in a given situation.

Answer: First of all, it is common for players at the final table to make some sort of deal. For example, instead of 3 tough players with equal chips battling it out, they each share the winnings. That is perfectly legal. What isn't ok, though, is if players go into the tournament planning to only split with one another, forming a team; which of the two happened here, I don't know.

This situation is a little unusual because people don't normally split in tournaments where there are so few entrants. The next one of these I played in, I would just ask whomever was throwing it to clarify the rules before the tourney began. I don't think the host should allow to chop up the prize when there are only 8 people playing. Things like this happen at larger tournaments too. Often times professional players trade pieces of themselves with other players, so that if one wins, they at least get something back.

Another complication is when one player completely backs another player (which also often happens). Obviously, playing against someone for your own money, or with other players at a table who you have a vested interested in, seems kind of odd, but there is little the tournament staff can do as long as the players don't blatantly slow play against one another (not betting like they normally would against other opponents).

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