Cheating at Poker - Collusion
One of the most common, as well as
easiest, methods for cheating at poker is to involve a
partner or two. When players work together in a manner
that deliberately manipulates a poker game, the term
used to describe their action is called collusion. The
most common forms of collusion are soft play, whip
sawing, dumping and signalling. Soft play refers to the
simple act of failing to bet or to raise an existing bet
in a situation that would normally merit your doing so.
This action may be done to specifically benefit another
player. The term whipsawing is used for the situation
when two players form a partnership and strategically
sit at opposite ends of the table. These two individuals
attempt to raise and then re-raise one another hoping to
trap other players in between during the process. The
term dumping is essentially self-explanatory, referring
to deliberately losing to another player. Signalling, of
course, refers to players exchanging information during
a game in a predetermined manner. All of these forms of
collusion are considered extremely unethical and are not
to be tolerated during any game action.
Of course, when playing a friendly
game you will more than likely be playing against
someone you know very well, perhaps even family members.
Because you may subconsciously be less willing to take
the money of the people you know or love, you could be
guilty of some forms of collusion out of the goodness of
your heart. Especially if a close friend is having a bad
night, you may be tempted to dump or fold just to help
him or her out. For this reason, some U.S. states have
laws stipulating that a husband and wife cannot compete
at the same table in public games.
Sharing information about your hand
or that of another player can provide two individuals an
excellent advantage over the other players competing. If
these players are able to signal one another, those
signals may help ensure that only the better of the two
hands is played. One of the more subtle ways to
communicate is by placing poker chips in a certain
manner on the table when betting or calling. More
blatant, though somewhat surprisingly useful, are
various table-tapping signals. The key to collusion is
the ability to repeat these signals so unobtrusively
that others at the table do not even realize the
players are communicating. Of course, when one player is
somehow signalling the value of his hand to another
player, he is essentially signalling the value of his
hand to every observant player at the table.
Another form of cheating involves the
concept of a hand-muck. In this form of cheating, two
players in proximity manage to switch cards in some
manner to help one player develop a stronger hand. This
can be an issue in games of draw poker where cards are
discarded. This form of cheating must involve some
sleight-of-hand by players who are seated next to one
another but still can be accomplished if players at the
table are not observant.
One of the more traditional forms of
cheating involves a rotating poker game that has many
players seeking to collude one or two newcomers out of
their funds, then distributing those funds amongst all
the colluding players. This type of game generally
involves four or five players who play every week but
whereby an invitation is sent out to one or two players
who become the proverbial hot-seats. These one or two
individuals are actually competing against an entire
group that may be signalling, whipsawing or even dumping
in the right instances.
Some poker folks insist that if you
are involved in a poker game where you detect that your
opponents are cheating, but find that they are not very
good at the process, instead of calling them on the
matter you may instead just use this information to your
benefit. In the right circumstances, you certainly could
be better off exploiting their cheating than you would
be if you chose to leave or to turn them into a manager.
But true poker aficionados would insist that this
response would be in essence considered another form of
cheating.
