"Best Hand" is the most common "scammer" strategy in poker. It is the principal technique advanced cheaters use to make money. 100% of high stakes games that last over one week are cheated this way.
Here is the skinny for advanced players:
It's harder to play in a scam crew and win than it is to win on your own. Only the BEST players are successful scammers. Most top pros either cheat routinely, or have cheated in the past. It's not that profitable, and it's a LOT more work.
My guess is that, all things being equal, you can make about 20% more money scamming than playing straight up. You have to pay a LOT more attention, and you have to trust your partners. All poker players play at their "peter principal" level. That is, they play at the level where they start to lose [otherwise they'd move up]. Most scammers could make more money if they quit the scam, and dropped down a level.
In NL, you make more money on your own in anything less than $10-$20NL. The minimum scammed game in limit is $20-40, but even that is poverty level.
I saw Roger King playing $1000-$2000 8 handed. All 7 of the pros were colluding. This is routine.
"Whipsawing" is not a thing. Play against whipsaw crews and take all their money. If you can't figure out why, you can't be a poker player.
- Team Member 1: AA
- Team Member 2: KK
- Sucker: 55
The pre-flop play is for the KKs to simply FOLD. Thus halving the profit when a 5 spikes. Whipsawing just makes the 55s fold.
Best hand is undetectable and unbeatable. Well, it's detectable if you are a pro.
Signals - You don't need a very complex set. You only need to communicate 1-13 and "pair", "connectors" and "one gap".
Pro cheater catcher's tip - Scammers need to "get the office". That is, they need to signal each other, and receive the signal. This will usually occur a few seconds after the deal. Good scammers will be aware of where their opponent's are looking - where their eyeballs are. It's very easy to catch this as an observer away from the table. Watch where they look after the deal.
Super pro tip - The best "office" I know of consists of a technique of laying your cards on the felt in relative positions that communicate information. This signal is just the way the cards are laid on the felt. It doesn't require your partner be actually looking at you when you make the signal. You make the signal by laying your cards down, and your teammate can get the office any time they want.
Stop playing poker. You have no shot. :)