Collusion
Collusion occurs when two or more players seated at the
same table work together as a team, usually signaling card
holdings to each other, then betting with that unfair advantage
to increase their winnings. Obviously, the risk of two or
more people unfairly conspiring increases dramatically when
the cheaters can operate under the anonymous cloak of the
Internet.
But although advances
in modern communications like cell phones and Instant Messages
would seem to make online poker collusion almost a foregone
conclusion, the situation is not as bleak as it first appears.
Online poker casinos
use sophisticated computer programs to detect collusion.
With them, site technicians are able to track betting patterns
of suspected players, then cross-correlate results with
those of other players at the same table to detect teamwork.
Reputable sites thoroughly investigate all complaints made
by clients suspecting collusion, and can direct computers
to search back through voluminous hand history records to
detect unnatural patterns.
In a brick and mortar
poker games, a player can ask to see the hand of any player
who calls the river card. Although colluders have occasionally
been detected after a suspicious cross-raising war triggered
suspicion, timing a request to see the hand of someone who
obviously doesn't want to show it can be rather tricky.
It's all too easy for a colluder to anticipate a query and
fling a hand into the muck before a courteous request can
be made to the dealer, who is busy with many things at the
end of each hand.
Making such a request in a flesh-in-blood games can be sticky,
too: Players are understandably unhappy and often indignant
about revealing a losing hand - even if they're not up to
anything.
Internet poker, while
providing an environment conducive to collusion, also makes
it far easier to detect: Any player can obtain a hand history
showing detailed betting action and the cards of anyone
who called the river card. Other players at the table won't
even know when someone makes the request for either a hand
history or a more extensive investigation, so there's no
chance of an unpleasant confrontation to hold up the games.
Play goes on, and with no interruption.
If anything looks
suspicious, management can launch a computer program to
compile cumulative hand history data about every hand a
suspected player has ever played at the site - including
the presence of possible colluding partners at each and
every table involved.
Contrast these investigative
options with the situation in a brick and mortar establishment:
Rarely does management have the means to clarify exactly
what happened in even one hand, since a floorman typically
hears a different story from each person involved in a dispute.
And cards successfully mucked remain forever unknown. As
for past hands, there's no way to look at them except to
examine whatever was recorded by the omnipresent security
video. Although betting action may be examined as long as
the video is kept, rarely would such film reveal cards not
shown down if players protected them adequately during the
hand.
