This hand came up in a $50 SnG. Names changed to protect the guilty. Hand history is at the bottom.

To summarize, with the blinds 15/30, AAAA started the hand with 205 chips and min-raised to 60 under the gun as he had been doing almost every hand. I called in the small blind and BBBB min-raised to 90 in the big blind. AAAA min-re-re-raised to 120 forcing me to fold under the threat of a large raise from BBBB. BBBB then put in a 5th bet to 150 and AAAA put in a 6th minbet to 180 leaving himself with 25 chips. BBBB flat called the 6th bet.

Both players checked the flop. On the turn, BBBB open-folded facing no bet.

I asked support about the hand and their response said, "In this case, although these players live in the same city, they have never shared a computer nor had any clear association." I never even realized they were from the same city - I thought it was clear enough without that extra piece of information.

"However, given the hole cards and situation I can confirm that
there was reasonable justification for the fold." "In all cases, however, their actions were justifiable by their cards, position, or strategy." "Overall, given the lack any relationship between their two accounts, and the lack of any suspicious play during this event, there is nothing to indicate that these two players are colluding in any way."

Is there really a strategically justifiable reason for playing a hand in this manner? If there is, then I assume I should quit poker because I still understand so little about it that I stand no hope of ever figuring it out.


PokerStars Game #18311677563: Tournament #93020562, $55+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/06/22 - 16:07:18 (ET)
Table '93020562 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: jnfpoker (1455 in chips)
Seat 3: basbo (3365 in chips)
Seat 4: John Duthie (1405 in chips)
Seat 5: Fabo360 (3060 in chips)
Seat 6: FloppedFlush (1380 in chips)
Seat 7: BBBB (2630 in chips)
Seat 9: AAAA (205 in chips)
FloppedFlush: posts small blind 15
BBBB: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FloppedFlush [Th 9s]
AAAA: raises 30 to 60
jnfpoker: folds
basbo: folds
John Duthie: folds
Fabo360: folds
FloppedFlush: calls 45
BBBB: raises 30 to 90
AAAA: raises 30 to 120
FloppedFlush: folds
BBBB: raises 30 to 150
AAAA: raises 30 to 180
BBBB: calls 30
*** FLOP *** [Ac 4c 6s]
BBBB: checks
AAAA: checks
*** TURN *** [Ac 4c 6s] [6d]
BBBB: folds
AAAA collected 420 from pot

Whilst obviously not standard or sensible strategy, you do see this type of min-raising action from time to time. The open-fold doesn't make sense, but could have been a misclick of some sort. Particularly with the stack sizes. "Dumping" 180 chips (1.5% of chips in play) when the table is near full is hardly cause for concern.

You reported the matter. They investigated and responded. Time to move along. Also, you could say names changed to protect "alledged..."

PS Please use a hand coverter.

For some reason, I couldn't get the converter to work for this hand - it says the last raise is to 240 instead of 180. Perhaps too many min raises for it to handle.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (7 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP1 (t1455)
MP2 (t3365)
CO (t1405)
Button (t3060)
Hero (t1380)
BB (t2630)
UTG (t205)

Preflop: Hero is SB with T, 9.
UTG raises to t60, 4 folds, Hero calls t45, BB raises to t90, UTG raises to t120, Hero folds, BB raises to t150, UTG raises to t240, BB calls t30.

Flop: (t480) A, 4, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, UTG checks.

Turn: (t480) 6 (2 players)
BB folds.

Final Pot: t480

Results in white below:
No showdown. UTG wins t480.

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