Stars proves again why they are the best

I noticed some suspicious play of two Germans during a FT of a $20 plo8 donkament on Stars and had already noted them as possible colluders. Then the following hand takes place at high blind levels with shallow stacks. German 1 min raises from utg + 1, I call from button knowing I can get him off most hands post flop. German 2, min raises from BB, then German 1 shoves and takes down the pot. Prior to this those guys never raised each other, if they were in the same hand preflop at most one of them would continue post flop. I decided to send in my suspicions and Stars followed through within a week.


Hello Deal,

Thank you once more for your report and apologies if there was any delay in bringing this case to a close. This particular case was quite involved and more time than usual was required for a proper review.

Our review of 'Gabbana79' and 'Makaay76' is now complete. We confirmed a relationship and found that they did go easy on one another (known as soft play) on occasion. This is a violation of our tournament rule #20 as posted at:

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/rules/

We have the advantage of being able to replay the games with all cards exposed. We carefully reviewed all events in which at least one of the two finished in the money. As a result of our findings, players who were likely harmed by the unfair play have been advanced and have received credits consistent with their new finish position at the expense of the colluders.

You advanced from 5th to 3rd in T#577809471. Your account has been credited $105.00 to reflect your new finish position.

It is not uncommon to find that players are not aware of the seriousness of such action in tournament play. The overall review, which included requests for explanations from the players and consideration of all account information, led us to conclude that their action was not malicious. Therefore they will be allowed to continue playing on the site. That said, we did take action to see that they do not play in the same Sit & Go Tournaments in the future, or at the same cash game table for that matter.

The integrity of the games at PokerStars is of paramount importance to us and we will not abide unfair play in our games. We work hard to police our games to assure our players of a fair, secure place to play. In the rare cases where collusion has actually occurred, we make sure that any players affected are compensated appropriately. Your vigilance in noticing the situation and reporting your concerns are appreciated. Please do not hesitate to let us know any time you have questions or concerns.

Regards,

Keith
PokerStars Game Security Team