Stud8 - Is this Collusion?

[electrical]

When I use the term "cooperative betting," I mean making a play because your play allows another player in position to make a play that will increase your expectation. Getting a draw in the middle for multiple raises is one example, but betting so the next player can raise and face the field with two bets is another.

In stud, I often bet into a probable better hand if the better hand is likely to raise and force draws behind him to fold. I'm not betting because my hand is best, but because my opponent and I both figure to do better if the pot is heads-up.

In the hand above, the c/r villain has a pair and a low draw, and his 4s block straights for the other villain, with whom he would like to contest the whole pot. When V1 bets, it might very well be with the expectation V2 will raise, and since Hero has no scoop potential, he is forced to fold a better high hand, conceding half the pot to one of the villains, who now get to fight over the whole pot instead of just the low half. This looks pretty normal to me.

If this were actual collusion, I would expect one of them to just fold the pot to the other once it was heads-up. In a live game this is less likely because it arouses suspicion and villains can just combine their bankrolls in the car on the way home. Online, it's not that easy.