collusion in pub game....need advice pls.

aubreym

Was playing in a pub game the other night, where I got down to 4 players, with 1st 600 euro, 2nd 190 euro, 3rd 120 euro & 4th free buy-in for following week (20 euro). Besides me, the other 3 players consisted of a father, son & the sons friend. It was immediately clear that all 3 were not going to get into confrontations with each other.

For example, with Seating positions & chip sizes:
Me 20k
Son 100k,
Friend 10k
Father 30k

blinds 2k/4k, me calls 4k, son called 4k, friend(SB) raised all in with 10k, father(BB) raised another 10k. I folded my 55, son then folded but then let slip that he folded JJ ????

Everytime it was my SB, the son raised me on his BB around 2 out of every 3 hands, but not once did he raise either of the others when they were in the SB or BB.

Another time, when chips were:
Me 30k
Son 90k (approx),
Friend 16k
Father 20k

Blinds were 4k/8k, father called 8k, I folded, son matched Bb with 4k. Friend then went all-in with remaining 8k, father folded & then it was left up to the son, who had to put 8k into the pot to take out 40k (including his extra 8k) & have a chance to knock out the friend...guess what, he folded ....wtf??? This also after he called my all-in around 3 hands earlier when blinds were 4k/8k & I pushed into his BB with 26K, so he had to put in 18k to win a pot containing 30k....declaring that he had to call with any 2 cards, so he knew damn well etiquette, odds etc...

Around 8 people had warned me bfore the final table that something was wrong at the previous tables whenever any of them were at the same table & the dealer was also warned that some chip dumping was taking place by these 3..

Eventually my Aks lost to 59o, when I was getting blinded out, by everytime being raised when I was on either SB or BB, but most other pots were taken down by the BB uncontested (around 4/5 pots for each of the others when in BB)...

What comeback do I have over this or what can be done, when it was plain as day that there was definite collusion taking place?

thanks,
aubrey

fixer

evidence suggests softplay, not outright collusion. some say these are the same, but none of their play was illegal (assuming they weren't signalling their holdings).

DubTony

You've probably got no comeback now, but you should have reported it to the TD during the game. If the dealer is an employee of the organiser he should have said something and the action should have been monitored. Having said that, you don't say what pub it was or if any of the three were sporting nose rings and / or tattoos with "Dad" on them. (It's nice to get home safely after a game.)

Complain to the organiser, but unless it's a quality operation, don't expect too much satisfaction.

RoundTower

Well you don't have to continue playing there if the organiser is condoning this kind of softplaying. However you probably overestimate the edge they have over you playing like this: when you have 5BB left, it doesn't make much difference if they are softplaying each other or not.