Re: Soft Play
The real question is whether you're primarily playing for money (serious money game) or playing for fun?
If it's meant to be a serious money game, then you have a real problem. This kind of soft play is borderline cheating, and I'm not really sure about the borderline.
In the normal course with trips against trips, one of the two players' stacks will take a major hit. That player may even be gone. The player who would have busted out (or taken a major hit) may place higher than s/he otherwise would costing some other player or players money.
Of course, the player who would have won with trips would have had a bigger stack, and a bigger chance of winning the whole thing, so that player is 'giving up something'.
In any event, in a serious game, having two players work in tandem wouldn't be permitted. I can't see any casino running a tourney allowing this.
If you're playing for fun -- who cares if they're soft playing each other.
Given the fact that people are complaining, at least some are treating this as a serious game, and you as the host, therefore have a problem. I think you have to say something to the couple -- you may lose one or both of them as players, but the alternative is that you'll probably lose the other players in the game who are upset with what they're doing.
|