[Garland]

Thoughts:Look, I didn't mean to create a lot of paranoia for live players around the Bay Area. This was the first and only suspicion of "collusion with intent" I've encountered during live play in 4 years.

What do I mean about "collusion with intent"? By my definition, it means betting and raising with the intent of squeezing out an opponent. There are a lot of instances at say Artichoke Joes $15/$30 with Chinese regulars where once two close friends get heads up after playing their cards hard (and with reasonable hands), they stop betting against each other and check it down to showdown. Is it collusion? It certainly has the appearance of collusion especially to any newcomer or novice who was involved in the hand, but it's not "collusion with intent". Is it bad for the game? That's a whole other discussion.

And let’s say there were some sort of subtle collusion/cheating I haven’t detected. The games are so good to me, that I consider it as part of the price of playing, like the rake.

To help alleviate some concerns here’s what happened:

Result:

It occurred at Garden City and not Bay 101.

At the 4th time this bet/3-bet play occurred, I actually said “I’m starting to suspect something.” out loud. If nothing else happened, I would have left on my next big blind.

She said “I’ll show.” They played their hand out and even when there was no showdown, button flipped over a suited JT and SB showed Axo. At least it showed she played her marginal strong hands hard against a steal attempt, and it seemed consistent with the other hands they played in that hour. I think if you see a type of play that isn’t the norm (bet/3-bet is normal once, but not 4 times within an hour) bells start to go off.

To Nate: What’s the significance of TT or RR moving this thread from B&M to here is.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Garland