Playing Socially Online and Collusion

**VancouverKarl** · 14th November 2005, 08:49 PM

I play a lot of my online poker with old school friends who I rarely see anymore but still catch up with by playing a few hands online.

We have played on most of the major sites over the years. Shortly after we started on Party Poker we received emails saying we would not be allowed to sit at the same tables anymore.

We are on MSN messenger chatting however we didnt share hand information. We find it more fun to take each others money! Occaisonly if one of us was in a big pot and the other had folded a key card we probably would share that information but it rarely happens. I dont see that as cheating but Im guessing some people will.

None of the other sites have ever taken any action even though we would always play the same tables. Im not sure if this is good or bad. Although I enjoy playing with friends I hate to think how much collusion must go on online.

Should all online card rooms have software that tracks players who frequently play on the same tables as other players and take action to stop it?

**Terminator** · 14th November 2005, 09:01 PM

I know a few people who always play against the same people on line. If you only play a certain stake table, it will happen, and a lot of people like to play one particular table, or have their preferences to a number of certain tables, if there are 6 people for instance who have a preference to a table called "Numbscull", and they all play every night, the chances are that they will always be playing against eachother.

I can't see a problem with this (although like you say, it would be easy to abuse the system in this way), I'm not sure why you were banned from playing the same tables though. Did they give you a more in-depth explination of their actions? Or just accuse you of acting as a group trying to cheat?

**FirePhil** · 14th November 2005, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by VancouverKarl

We are on MSN messenger chatting however we didnt share hand information. We find it more fun to take each others money! Occaisonly if one of us was in a big pot and the other had folded a key card we probably would share that information but it rarely happens. I dont see that as cheating but Im guessing some people will.

This is cheating IMO. It is the same as showing one player in a pot your cards but not the other and it gives them an unfair advantage. Just chatting is OK but not if it directly relates to a live pot in any way.

**VancouverKarl** · 14th November 2005, 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by FirePhil

This is cheating IMO. It is the same as showing one player in a pot your cards but not the other and it gives them an unfair advantage. Just chatting is OK but not if it directly relates to a live pot in any way.

I agree it technically is cheating. However I have very rarely shared information and I know people who regualrly play with people who they type every hand to. I dont think I have ever gained a huge advantage by doing so.

We werent banned for cheating. Party Poker just said it is their policy to not let people regularly play on the same tables together which is fair enough. In my opinion this is the only way to stop collusion in online poker and Im suprised no other online poker rooms do the same....

**Top Pair Ace Kicker** · 15th November 2005, 01:56 PM

I think its a good idea.

If people who know each other want to play together, there are a few sites that now let you set up private rooms. I must admit I have never heard of any site actively looking for people who regularly play on the same tables, then getting in touch with them saying it had to stop, and like Terminator says I can see it causing trouble on the bigger stakes tables where there is surely only a limited number of players? But on the whole I agree with it.

I remember when 4 of us sat at a 5 seater table on the Poker.co.uk. site late at night for a sort of private session. We were joined by one other player, and even when we all started using our real names, and pointed out to him that we all came from the same place, he or she didnt move. Mind you I think he had probably been watching before he sat down and saw Mango bluffing at every single pot as usual so thought it would be easy to win!

**Terminator** · 15th November 2005, 05:26 PM

I'd like to know how the ban came about. Did the site you were playing on have complaints from other players or something like that? I can't see any other way that they would come down on you so heavy. They can't check to see who your talking to in messenger can they? And just because your on the same table all the time, it doesn't mean that they are automaticaly going to assume you are trying to cheat......