Stars Takes No Action Against Players Cheating In SNG

[terrellk11]

I was playing in a $10+1 SNG at Stars yesterday and we were down to the bubble. I was the shortstack at the table and the blinds were starting to get pretty high. For the most part, the other three players were staying out of each others' way and looking for a shot to eliminate me to get in the money. However, on one hand, two of the players saw the flop after a raise and one bet out into the other. While the other player was debating whether or not to call, the player that bet out announced that he had top pair top kicker and that the other player should fold to avoid an expensive pot.

By having that type of conversation in chat, the two players involved ensured that two larger stacks would avoid a big pot and helped ensure that they would outlast the shortstack (me) at the table. While avoiding such confrontations is perfectly acceptable when done tacitly, having discussions at the table like this is a blatant violation of the tournament rules.

I reported the incident to Stars and got a response indicating that they were going to conduct an investigation. Later in the evening, I received a second response with the results of their investigation. The email stated that the conduct was in fact a violation of the tournament rules - in essence, the players had cheated - but because their was no history of cooperative play between these players that no action would be taken other than a warning.

What is the point of having rules if there are no consequences to be faced for breaking them?

What is the point of conducting an investigation to determine whether players have cheated if you aren't going to take action after determining that they have?