I've also had suspicion about cheaters in buddy tournaments that I've fished through the years. After later fishing with a lot of those guys I found that most times those dudes just had either more knowledge than I did (oh that hurt), or they just had better tournament preparation. Success seems to breed this suspicion at times. I know that some cheating does exist but not at a greater rate then most other things you undertake. I enjoy the buddy tournaments much more myself but then again I'm not in them to try and make a mint.