How can a private game collude?

Carl Trooper said:

Just need to make sure you trust where you are going, and hopefully avoid any potential cheaters (collusion is def prominent)

Click to expand...

What are some common ways some regulars can collude against a new mark?

Have you seen the movie "Rounders?" Very popular movie and most poker buffs can recite lines forwards and backwards. There are a few pretty good examples of cheating and collusion in that movie.

Ladybugger said:

What are some common ways some regulars can collude against a new mark?

Click to expand...

Where I play, most people know each other. The age range is 18-70'S.

You see soft play all the time with good friends. You may have a hand and some guy is betting hard against you but min bets his friends with the nuts.

Also there has been cases in the past with "poor shuffling". Just be alert. Be friendly but don't be dumb.

Alot of people that play in these underground games are good hard working people. Others are drug dealers and bums who will try anything to exploit a buck.

I've seen people sneak in chips. Steal chips. Try to set up the deck. Alot of things. Not saying it will happen where you are. Just be observant

If you are playing in a tourney or sng format the soft playing and chip dumping are both probable methods.
Smaller groups and at the bubble they keep each other alive with those "odd folds" where it makes no sense
Being observant is good advice.

Collusion does happen on a lot of poker sites once i was playing a small free roll a year ago on party poker and noticed 2 similar names on my table i didn't report it but when it happens on higher end cash tables then most of the time they get reported and caught and or banned

So easy.......If well played and well executed it can be almost undetectable.....for instance 2 or more friends plan on entering a poker game and before that they plan on specific subtle hand movements to indicate the strength of their hand and what to do if a signal is given....etc etc...

How do I know this? I play poker in a third world country in underground games everyday......

there are endless way from a dirty deal, signalling, to fake robberys

So, the point is that they don't battle each other, just the mark?
If they are sharing the money, what difference does it make if they battle each other. It's all the same lump of cash to them. Is it just better to have more people on the same "team" at the table, b/c they double their odds of having good cards?

Ladybugger said:

So, the point is that they don't battle each other, just the mark?
If they are sharing the money, what difference does it make if they battle each other. It's all the same lump of cash to them. Is it just better to have more people on the same "team" at the table, b/c they double their odds of having good cards?

Click to expand...

Essentially

And it might not be an agreement to chop money... They just soft play one another. They don't wanna bust eachother.

Been playing games across the USA for 38 years, and i have seen it all. There are things that go on that you wouldn't believe or suspect. As for collusion, 2 or more players have to get the "mark", which can be any one or more players, in between them, one must have the best hand, naturally, and the other does the raising, getting all they can out of the poor marks. They have thousands of "signals', from scratching their nose, head or whatever, to yawning, a certain amount or color of chips being "riffled", holding a certain number of fingers folded under their hand on the table you name it, it's endless. I have watched a mechanic shuffle the cards and set them up so slick it's impossible to see, and the man behind has to learn how to cut the deck, which is an art form also. You can film it and re-play it in slow motion, and still can't see anything wrong. There is one way to MAYBE catch the "false" cut, you can hear a "click" by an amateur. I once watched this huge guy with large hands "cold deck" a game, a separate deck set up and put into the game by this brute, his hands were large enough to cover the whole deck and then some, when he "cut" the deck, he took off the `whole deck, and left the set up deck in its place. Bottom dealing, but that will usually give a click too, but unless its pretty quiet, you won't hear it. I have seen things you would think impossible to do done by experts. Even in a casino, there is a chance of being scammed. At home games, i have seen players splash the pot, putting half the bet and getting away with it until warned not to do it again. As they say, trust everyone, but always cut the cards.

The lesson is to not play in home games ever..