In last week's tourney, antfather initiated the form of collusion known in poker as "soft play". Anyone that knows anything about poker knows this is prohibited in tournaments -- as it's blatantly unfair to all the other players in tourney. Try soft playing at a legit poker site (like Pokerstars) in a tournament and see what happens to you.
antfather and autodonk were filling up the chat box with reminiscences of various Houston poker rooms they've enjoyed (I'll spare you that chat)... when antfather initiated the first of several soft play hands -- minimum 4 hands that were obviously discernable -- where he played the hand much differently against autodonk simply b/c they were "buddies" (and he didn't want to take chips from him). IOW, absent any poker strategy/relevance whatsoever. THAT is a text book definition of "soft play"and obviously affects all the other players in tourney, which is obviously why it's prohibited.
antfather cops to it immediately right out the gate (unaltered chat text):
theantfather: didnt want to raise you small for value
AutoDonk: u probably couldve got more
theantfather: anyone else i woulda.lol
AutoDonk: i appreciate it
theantfather: yw
I'll post the most egregious and damning (evidence) of the various soft play hands between ant and donk (and the immediate subsequent damning chat). This 100% confirms the soft play that was going on previously... if the above chat hadn't already convinced you. READ THIS HH CAREFULLY, as it's the exact sort of HH evidence that a Pokerstars site (with people there that actually know poker) uses to 100% conclude soft play is definitely occurring. Autodonk should have been crippled chip-wise in this hand, and it's known, as demonstrated by the chat immediately afterwards:
***** Hand history (v1.2) *****
Hand ID 4972044
$0 + $6 Texas Hold'em (No Limit) - 23:51:16 03/03/2015 ET
Table 'Table 60513', 10 seats max, Real money
Seat 8 is the button. Small Blind $150, Big Blind $300
Note: seat IDs range from 1 to 10
Seat 1 (playing) : jack_matz, amount $2140, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 2 (playing) : playersonly69, amount $3098, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 3 (playing) : jdwars, amount $2180, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 4 (playing) : BiTeMeUsAdOj, amount $3290, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 5 (playing) : zam77, amount $1025, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 6 (playing) : konck, amount $1590, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 7 (playing) : AutoDonk, amount $4085, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 8 (playing) : theantfather, amount $2895, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 9 (playing) : stevek173, amount $1309, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
Seat 10 (playing) : bigdaddyjames, amount $1590, amount bet $0, penalty (None)
stevek173: Small Blind ($150)
bigdaddyjames: Big Blind ($300)
** Dealing Down Cards **
Dealt to BiTeMeUsAdOj: [2d, 9h]
jack_matz: Fold
playersonly69: Fold
jdwars: Fold
BiTeMeUsAdOj: Fold [pre] ($0)
zam77: Fold
konck: Raise ($1565)
AutoDonk: Call ($1565)
theantfather: Call ($1565)
stevek173: Fold
bigdaddyjames: Fold
** Dealing Flop **
Community cards: [Ks, Ac, 2s]
AutoDonk: Check ($0)
theantfather: Check ($0)
** Dealing Turn **
Community cards: [3h]
AutoDonk: Check ($0)
theantfather: Check ($0)
** Dealing River **
Community cards: [8s]
AutoDonk: Check ($0)
theantfather: Check ($0)
** End Round **
** Evaluate **
AutoDonk: Show Cards ($0)
theantfather: Show Cards ($0)
konck: Muck ($0)
** Showdown **
Main pot $5395, Rake $0
Summary konck: bet $1565, won $0, net $-1565
Summary AutoDonk: bet $1565, won $0, net $-1565, HoleCards [Ah, Qs]
Summary theantfather: bet $1565, won $5395, net $3830, HoleCards [Kh, Kc], HiHand [three of a kind, kings] [Ks, Kh, Kc, Ac, 8s], won $5395 from main pot
chat:
AutoDonk: you going to harrah's in early May?
theantfather: lol/really
AutoDonk: had a bad feeling bout that fn k
theantfather: yeah..thats why i said really..you snapped called him..but I had KK
theantfather: but i wasnt going to push you out of tourney
(all verifiable by SBR, as is previous soft play and chat)
antfather now accesses what might occur by soft playing and purposely letting donk off the hook w/ this follow-up comment:
theantfather: you might bust my ass now on final table..lol
In fact, it was ant that knocked donk out of the tourney with 2 rag cards, but that wasn't his intention; he raised all in to knock POS69 out of the hand so he could isolate and save donk's tourney life. THAT was his intention (as chat clearly reveals). SBR's RNG just didn't cooperate, is all. But, the results don't even matter... it's the INTENT that matters. Anyone that knows poker knows this.
Soft play/collusion 100%. Proven and verifiable. Hey, listen... we all have friends on here: I heart Tripper and Doggy and Gum and Tat and many others BUT, make no mistake, when we're playing against each other in a tourney, I'm gonna do everything in my poker power to try and take every last chip they have. As they do to me. As it should be. FAIR PLAY for everyone, always. (And no reraising someone else out of pot in sole attempt/intention to protect your bud's tourney life, either)
Fair play did not occur for everybody in that tourney, everyone in that tourney was cheated -- soft play collusion occurred. Hey, ant has pretty much confirmed his character previously (as we all know) but what's really disappointing is that while donk did not initiate the soft play collusion (and I never accused him as such), he knew early on in tourney from early hands that it was occurring and he *tacitly* allowed it to continue... no doubt b/c it was benefiting him. Anyone not a poker rube knew early on ant was soft playing donk... and donk is clearly not a poker rube.
If me, I would've early on said: "Hey bud, we need to be fair to everyone here in tourney so please play your cards accordingly... thanks for understanding." Instead... there was " i appreciate it".
In point of fact, I have on a few occasions had to tell not-as-experienced poker playing friends before a casino tourney: "Now listen, we're buds and all but it's against the rules to play against me differently than any other player. Play your cards... if you'd bet or raise anyone else, do it to me. Cuz I'm gonna treat you like any other player." If a "bud" started obviously soft playing me in a tourney, 100% I'd have said something to shut it down.
SBR Top-Rated Sportsbooks
100% proof of soft play (LONG, but has to be for EVIDENCE/explaining)
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