Cheating Rings in PP Step 5

[edfilan]

Has anybody heard about this? When I registered into my Step 5 (single) last night, an observer was warning everone not to play because there was a Russian cheating ring at the table. Sure enough, there were two players from Moscow and 1 other from another Russian locale. The observer gave a link to an internet gambling forum (not this one), the name of which I can't remember right now, but when I checked it, the name of one of the Moscow guys showed up in a thread on this subject.

People were saying things like, "They play every Step 5," "They sit in the same seats," and "They never bet against one another." This is hardly damning evidence, but I decided to leave the table and investigate for myself before committing my $1k.

I watched 4 Step 5 tables, and it turned out that on every table there were 7 or 8 players simultaneously playing on another table (including the Moscow players). The Moscow players were not betting against one another, but on the other hand, they weren't betting against anyone else either. They were extremely tight, in one case, getting all the way to the 100/200 blind level before playing his 1st hand.

I concluded that most likely, these people are making an honest living feeding off the fishes that manage to survive through to Step 5. I half-expected it but it is slightly troubling to realize that when I do make it here, I'm playing with a bunch of pro regulars.

So, with all the same people playing on every table, it made no sense to wait any longer so I took my plunge. I busted out in 4th place getting my $1200. Incidentally, both Russians at my table again played very tightly but busted out before the money.

Any thoughts/observations?