Collusion Commotion

Nancy Martin's last hand of the evening just took place, and although the action on that confrontation was standard, what happened a few minutes prior really had her steamed.

Apparently, the players in the eight and nine seats were both involved in a pot, along with professional Svetlana Gromenkova. The nine seat was short-stacked and all in, with Gromenkova and Diane Shamshoum in the eight seat both calling to put her at risk.

Both Gromenkova and Shamshoum made the standard check on the flop, looking to double-team the all-in nine seat, but when the turn came down and Gromenkova knuckled for a second time, Shamshoum broke protocol. She grabbed a handful of the gold T5000 chips and placed them forward, effectively forcing Gromenkova out of the hand. While this scenario is not uncommon when a player makes a strong hand against an all-in player with another hand standing in the way, what happened next was far from conventional.

After Gromenkova got out of the way, Shamshoum announced that she hadn't even looked at her hand, while tabling to prove her point. She held no pair and no draw, and although the at-risk nine seat held just ace-high herself, the pot was shipped her way upon showdown.

Martin and Gromenkova immediately called for the floor to protest the suspected act of collusion, claiming that one neighbor had conspired to keep the other in the game. Gromenkova claimed to have held at least one pair - which would have been sufficient to dispatch the short-stack and claim the pot.

"All of those chips should be mine..." she said during the dispute, retaining her composure like a seasoned vet should. "That is not right."

The situation apparently stemmed back to an earlier spat between players at the table, wherein the nine seat had been called out for taking too long by Martin, with the clock being called multiple times. Attempting to stick up for her tablemate, Shamshoum had admittedly tried to send her the pot - a clear violation of poker ethics and the rules of the game - but no official ruling on the situation was made.

Play rolled on, with Martin still upset over the trickery, and proving that poker can be the cruelest of games, the last of her stack was lost to her nemesis Shamshoum just a deal or two later.