[Ikke]

Great post and very important subject.

Collusive entanglement happens IMO a lot in shorthanded play. An example:

Shorthanded and button open-raises. Button is on the weak-tightish side. Now, for the SB a good strategy can be to play on the loose side and let him lay down postflop. So he can 3-bet a wide range. But if BB is a very loose player who will defend his blind a lot a problem arises. BB basically makes a bad move by calling 2 cold with trash hands, but by doing so he gives the weak-tight button an advantage and you, in the SB, a tremendous disadvantage. Now his "stupid" play caused your initially maximizing strategy to be exploited by buttons weak/tight strategy! (you're now in a 3-handed pot, which is kinda protected by loose BB, so a tightish strategy is probably preferred)

IMO is collusive entanglement strongly related to the use a maximizing strategies, which, in itself, are exploitable as well. In a full game, standard play approaches a more optimal startegy and therefore is less vulberable to be exploited by a set of entangled strategies. In shorthanded, a maximizing approach is often far more rewarding, so there we see a vulnerability to collusive entanglement.

The example I gave is hard to overcome IMO. You probably have to play tighter, but by doing so you give up a lot, especially if it's 3 handed and blinds come around fast.

Thanks for the post...I haven't thought enough about this subject and your post is making me do so (even with this terrible hangover I'm having ;-) There's a lot more to it, but I really have to sit braindead on the couch now and watch some Southpark.

Regards