Thanks Gail,

Appreciate all the insights provided so far.

I'm still trying to understand what the variable could be to explain the difference in behavior in the 2 environments we have.

In one, we can consistently reproduce the deadlock, in the other the statements just block, but never deadlock.

Any other variables at all besides order of lock aquisition? Are there any instance or db settings that affect sensitivity of when SQL Server detects a deadlock?