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« on: March 01, 2014, 03:10:38 am »
I think this is a great idea and would like to add my experience to the conversation. While I have no idea about the technical aspect of how this could be implemented, I have played a lot of online poker and I can add from that end.
Collusion is a part of online poker and there is really no way to eliminate it. I know it happens in all of the online venues as it is very difficult if not impossible to trace. That being said I don't see collusion as that big a problem if a few precautions are taken. Rake is very important in helping to minimize collusion, if there is no rake, one person can take 8 hands and play against one person, and this would provide the team a big advantage. The rake makes this an unprofitable move as as the majority of hands will be played within the team where money is lost in every pot. Now the team could fold every hand the mark isn't in and avoid the rake but no sensible player will sit under these circumstances for long without noticing.
For collusion to be effective (in Hold-em, what I am most familiar with) a very specific set of circumstances need to exist to give a team of 2 or 3 an advantage over the table. Over a vast number of hands there can be some advantage to the team, but thinking that they are going to wipe out a table of decent players where the cards are random is just fantasy.
One thing that would totally eliminate the possibility of collusion would be to implement a game such as Full Tilt's Rush Poker. In this game player have no control over the table they are seated at and are moved every hand. With no way of choosing what table you sit at, there is no way to work as a team.