Sorry about the length, but I wanted to be sure that no important details were left out.


I was watching the 1/2 pot limit holdem game at Ultimatebet tonight, doing some research on players before I ventured into the game. I saw one hand that was so bad, it has discouraged me from ever playing in that game, or at least ever playing with the players involved. The players handles were as follows: Small Blind Brett171 (or something very similar), Big Blind SoyDios, and UTG Kongfu.


The flop is KcQc4s, at this point there is a bet, a raise, and a reraise in the first 3 seats. Both players call, creating a $60 main pot and a $4 side pot with the small blind player allin.


The turn is a blank 8h, and is checked by both players. The river is also a blank 2d, and the big blind checks, with the under the gun player betting the full $64 pot.


Now if I was the player in the big blind i would logically deduce that the UTG player could not be bluffing a missed draw, as the allin player cannot be bluffed. Therefore the minimum betting hand here is likely AK. A pot sized bet is a risk of $64 to win $4. 16:1 is a pretty awful ratio for a bluff.


The Big blind folded, and the UTG player showed 5c3c for 5 high. He wins the $4 side pot, and the $60 main pot was won by the allin player who had 9c7c for 9 high.


Is this just stupidity, or is it collusion? It looks very much like collusion between the small blind and the UTG player, because there isn't any hand the big blind could reasonably hold that doesn't beat 9 high. By forcing the big blind out the small blind and the UTG can chop the money.


Surely the UTG player knows that an allin player cannot be bluffed, so this bet is unethical at the very least if it is not cheating.


Has anyone had similar situations occur in live games? If so, what if any action was taken?


(Note: I will refrain from posting this on the internet forum, as it will no doubt be drawn way off the topic by the bunch of crazies there, who probably have never played a single hand of big bet poker.)