Joined: Oct '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 1086
I <3 Pokerstars Support. _____________________________________________________________________________ Hi guys,
I just played in this tournament and would like you to look into these two guys at my table. They didn't play a hand against each other from what I can see, they support the same football team, Aston Villa as pictured in their avatars and live in the same town place, of course they both made it to heads up.
Again, thank you very much for your report. Our review of Player1* and Player2* is now complete. We confirmed a relationship and found that they did go easy on one another (known as soft play) on occasion. This is a violation of our tournament rule #20 as posted at:
We have the advantage of being able to replay the games with all cards exposed. We carefully reviewed all events in which at least one of the two finished in the money. As a result of our findings, players who were likely harmed by the unfair play have been advanced and have received credits consistent with their new finish position. Because we found reason to believe that they were not aware of the seriousness of the unfair play, the cost to advance these players has been paid by PokerStars. You finished 3rd in *T#X behind both Player1* and Player2*. As such we have advanced you into 1st and I have credited your account with $X to reflect your new finish.
It is not uncommon to find that players are not aware of the seriousness of such action in tournament play. The overall review, which included requests for explanations from the players and consideration of all account information, led us to conclude that their action was not malicious. Therefore they will be allowed to continue playing on the site. That said, we did take action to see that they do not play in the same Sit & Go Tournaments in the future, or at the same cash game table for that matter.
The integrity of our games is of utmost importance as is fair resolution of situations such as this. Our primary concern is to assure our players of a fair and secure environment in which to enjoy online poker. Your vigilance in noticing the situation and reporting your concerns are appreciated. Please don't hesitate to let us know anytime you have questions or concerns.
Joined: Aug '08
Location: Canada
Age: 58 (F)
Posts: 2558
Very interesting but I still think that collusion is collusion and IMO they knew what they where doing and should be banned. Glad at least you where advanced and that you caught it.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Spain
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 2851
Wow! How did you notice that? I agree with dlkiv though, nobody is that "innocent"... They surely planned it, why else do it? Don't get why Pokerstars is so soft about this, but I do think they did the appropriate thing by reimbursing the losses.
Joined: Apr '08
Location: Finland
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1613
This is a fine example of why because one should only play at large and trustworthy sites, they really work hard against collusion... would like to see a iPoker site do something like that (giving money back)
I understand how players may not think soft playing is the same as full on colluding.
To soft play one only avoids playing the other player, and you do not share hole cards to give each other an advantage on odds and outs.
Im not saying its ok, but i understand how you could not understand that avoiding a pot with a player was cheating.
I was thinking about this on high stakes poker. I have not seen a big pot between Eli And Doyle, who are apparently best friends in a real deep way. Just an observation of mine.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 696
yeah i think like SCDossett when u and u friend sitting in a live tournament or online tournament.I think everyone will play against a friend in heads up.And u will play not so hard to kick u friend out on 3th place.But u kick u friend out in 2th.place
Joined: Feb '09
Location: Canada
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 241
haha... I was playing cash table on pokerchamps along time ago and 2 players seemed to be acting a be suspect. I search one of their names to see what other table he was at and the dummies were both sitting at a heads-up cash table not playing but just using the chat box to collude hahaha like what....one of them had the balls to still play at the tables for the next 2 days even tho myself and others were telling them we saw them and had screenshots of it...it took 2 days but they were never seen again on that site lmao
Most sites will usually warn players once before being banned for continued violations of the rules. Pokerstars did the right thing here. They will be on the lookout for these 2 individuals to ensure that they do not do it again.
I was a victim of a flagrant collusion playing at iPoker network. I sent an email but they replied me something like '... it's difficult to demonstrate ... having not clues ...' Buajjj! Why are you wondering Pokerstars is the best poker site?
Joined: Dec '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 2087
its funny i cant play in cash games on Pstars with my brother but i have played him in tournys lol but we dont tend to go easy on each other hes busted me and i have busted him
Glad at least you where advanced and that you caught it. 
