[HOWMANY]

Never been to Canterbury so I won't comment on that, but it's not really that uncommon at all for a main game to be full for a few hours with nobody leaving then suddenly lose a bunch of players, in fact it happens pretty often. In the games I play if someone suggested this was a result of people playing in "teams" I would soil myself with laughter because multiple spots opening up are usually the result of the terrible players running out of dollars which will either prompt the winning but still crappy players to leave or sometimes some of the other fish that like to play with their horrible buddies.

Also you should probably tell your buddy that folding TT for 2 more bets there is awful.

The few times I have thought that people might be working together in a game as a result of an unusual play I have later decided that they were just morons.