A prominent poker vlogger named Tim Watts who goes by Trooper97 has posted a video explaining how he and his friend have been playing together at the SAME TABLE at single table sit n' go's at the Rio during the WSOP. While this in itself isn't too bad, he explains how they pool their money and divide profits 50/50 at the end of the day.

But it gets more worrisome. They did this for about a month a few years ago and cashed out $30K in profit. They have claimed to have done this at other places too but the worst part is that they are now in Las Vegas at the Rio playing at the WSOP single table sit n' go's. They shoes in the video how they refused to sit at different tables and waited to get sat at the same table.

While there is no word for word confession of collusion, this is pretty alarming that they are doing this and it very HEAVILY IMPLIES that they are colluding. While I don't want to drive more traffic towards his YouTube video to help him profit on ad revenue, I feel that people should know about this duo just in case they are at the same tables as them in sit n go's and also at cash games if they do this there as well.

They boast how they do this all day long running through thousands of dollars worth of tournament entries so it definitely sounds like a calculated effort and a system that they have. I would be shocked if they don't collude since their financial interested would be to maximize winnings that are shared 50/50 so why not chip dump and maximize profits together instead of individually since they are sharing profits off the table.

If anyone knows someone at the WSOP level, please bring their attention to this as this is definitely not helping people have trust in the integrity of the game and is encouraging the "poker is rigged" mentality that lots of rec players have about poker.

Video is below so you can recognize them at the tables.



Edit by R*R

As most of you probably know know there is an extremely active thread regarding vloggers
in the Las Vegas Lifestyle forum. Most of the discussion is about Trooper97. Any topics that are not about this particular alleged collusion issue can be discussed there.

So please only discuss the alleged collusion issue in NVG. This is not going to be another Trooper97 discussion like the one in the LVL thread. I will be deleting off topic and derail posts
and banning persistent abusers of this rule.

ftr, I state alleged as there may be varying opinions on this issue and I don't want to sway the conversation.

Things get real when it leaves LVL and reaches NVG....

Ugh, i sorta liked reading Mr. Ducks posts in LVL too. Didn't realize i was reading a total troll.

Great post, Mrducks. Thanks for sharing. People need to know about this. It's simply not fair to other players.

Hes not a troll. If they are colluding, they should be outed. This should start a debate on what is and isnt collusion. This whole thing seems very shady, but does splitting profits and playing the same SNGs constitute collusion in and of itself? Im not so sure. I may also be wrong.

nutflopper, if they're sharing profits, it's absolutely collusion because they have an incentive to not play vs. each other. Clear case of cheating imo.

The video is very damning, showing them winning many thousands of $'s at different events teaming up.

This is quite concerning.

So you see nothing wrong with 2 players splitting winnings 50/50 at the same 1 table sng?

At the very least you would/should want to discuss it instead of just shouting 'troll'?

It seems pretty likely collusion is occurring if for no reason other than the fact that the trooper supposedly made $30,000 in one month when he hasn't made $30,000 in his 3 years of Vegas cash games combined

Well, we know what trooper is gonna talk about in tomorrow's vlog now...

It was one STT that they were trying to play together, and they are friends that don't get to hang out/see each other often.

I feel about as outraged about it as i do when out of town friends sit in the same 1/2 NL game.

"Hey guys, I just want to quickly mention some asinine comments about me colluding"

he then rambles for about 12minutes about trolls and haters and how that means you are being successful. Finished with a "you know what I mean"

Leaving way more questions then answers, and in the event creating even more questions.

In the video from 2012 trooper shows Harry and him playing at the same table.

Have you watched the video? Obviously 2 friends sitting together at a SNG or cash table is no big deal unless there are on the same money and do it high volume like they have done.

If Alex Torelli can scumbag, the Trooper certainly can as well..

2 people at 1 table playing on the same money for sure influences there decisions to soft play each other at the very least, and could do much worse things obviously which makes it unfair to the other players.

Just rewatched the video and noticed this. Also noticed Trooper refer to Harry as his poker partner. Definitely not a good look if they do try to play only the same SNGs on the same money.

I used to like Trooper. The more I hear about him the less I like him. This certainly is collusion and looks very bad on him. Way different than just two friends playing together. Same roll and splitting profits is what makes it bad

Why is it a newsflash that at the WSOP single table sattys there are people colluding? It's likely that this is a frequent occurrence especially given that there is no real floor presence and that they are populated by tourists, desperate degenerates, and specialists.

I avoid these like the plague.

If it is a frequent occurrence that doesn't make it right.

It is a newsflash because its a popular Vlogger with 28k Subscribers.

A lot of the discussion of Trooper in the LVL is totally eye-roll inducing. But this video looks really bad. I'm pretty shocked that even someone with Trooper's low level of self-awareness wouldn't realize how he is coming across here.

i dk they look line winners to me

The events, as presented in the OP, are 100% collusion and 100% cheating.