thanks snapper, have read the thread you highlighted, and it sort of makes some sense, though interestingly ends with a comment along the lines of " we shall get back to you once we have thought about it. "
i"ve discussed it off board with the OP and there are no hard feelings either way. it"s a bizzarre set up really, in that you have a tournament where players with a wealth of live experience are playing alongside complete novices who have only played online, or down the pub with their mates, in a format where the rules are somewhat vague.
on one hand we are being advised soft play will picked up by 888 and players banned, on the other we are told it is to be expected in a team event. as someone totally unused to the team format i actually find it much easier playing on a table without any team-mates, than on one where there are 4 or 5 as i tend to get way too passive. as someone else has pointed out, if you take on a team-mate you get grief off them, if you dont, you get grief off someone else. its especially difficult near the bubble when you have the button with a big stack and 2 of them are in the blinds with short stacks, as you feel obliged to fold, and this goes against all your natural instincts in that spot. it"s also diminishing your chances to win the thing and costing you money, simply to assist complete strangers, who may well not do the same for you if the roles were reversed.
obviously that maybe different in teams where all the players are friends and you can second guess their intentions, but i have never met anyone on my team, and still don"t really understand what i"m meant to be doing. ultimately what i did last night has cost sunderland a point, which i feel pretty **** about, but both me and al apologised to leigh straight after the game and had no problem with the decision. as far as i"m concerned it"s done with and for the sake of the team i will probably just watch from now on.