On the Couch #3

Due to an innate psychological ‘need to belong’, the ties that bind us all to groups – regardless of our social standing, ethnicity or gender – are incredibly strong and run very deep. Being a member of a group can enable us to accomplish feats that we could not do alone; it can give us a sense of safety and mental well-being, and may supply us with the support we need in times of crisis.

But group membership can also come at a heavy price, too. We may be prevented from making good decisions simply because we have formed a strong bond with other members of a group and don’t want to do anything that might hurt them. Equally, we may find ourselves being manipulated unconsciously by what other members of the group are doing, simply because we don’t want to incur their displeasure by acting differently.

It happens in the real world all the time: you only have to look at the example of cults (think ‘Jonestown Massacre’ or ‘Heavens Gate’), where ordinary, good people do extraordinarily bad things, simply because they don’t want the rest of the group to look unkindly upon them.

As it is in life, so goes it at the poker table. If you want to be a winning player, you can’t afford to let yourself fall prey to group influences. Have you ever found yourself passing your hand quickly because that’s what the rest of the table is doing? Have you ever found yourself raising only two times the big blind because everyone else is? And have you ever found yourself joining in the general table chat because the rest of the table is nattering away, even though you’re not comfortable doing so?

If you have, then you’ve fallen prey to the power of the group. If you want to play your own winning game, you need to be able to throw off the binding shackles of the ‘table norm’; if you don’t, you won’t be able to make good, solid poker decisions and may miss out on some great opportunities. Instead you’ll simply be conforming to what you think the rest of the table wants you to do, and you’ll be worried that if you don’t, they might start to pick on you (which isn’t good, especially if you’re a short-stack).

Brutally honest

Sometimes it’s hard to realise when all this is happening. However, there is one straightforward way to identify when it is, though it requires you to be brutally honest with yourself. You must be prepared to justify your every move or action. Ask yourself why you just did what you did. Was it because you thought it was tactically sound, or was it because of what the rest of the table had been doing? You may not like the answer you get, but it will help you to avoid becoming one of the sheep at the table.

Instead of being a sheep, you want to become the wolf in the fold, and you can use the group dynamics of the poker table to your advantage to do this.

One way to do this is to introduce some deliberate but atypical actions into your play. So, if you notice that the rest of the table has set a norm of raising three times the big blind, when you next raise, make it four times the big blind. Amazingly you’ll find that after you’ve done this three or four times in a row, one or two of the other players will start to follow suit and, before long, over the course of a session, it’s likely to become the table norm. In this way, you could induce the weaker or more aggressive players to over-commit themselves with the size of their raise, and you’ll be ready to pounce with your premium hand.

Another way to use group dynamics to your advantage is to watch out for signs of what psychologists refer to as ‘social loafing’. In the real world, this is where people get more out of the group to which they belong than they actually put in. At the poker table, especially during a single-table sit-and-go, this translates into players with a medium-to-small stack simply sitting back and waiting for either the more loose/ aggressive players to knock themselves out, or for the big stacks to take care of the smaller stacks.

These ‘social loafers’ want to get as far up the money ladder as they can, while minimising their risk of being knocked out. Although it makes good tactical sense, if you’re astute, you can use this knowledge to your advantage. Identify these players and put pressure on them by, for example, consistently raising their big blinds and forcing them out of their comfort zone. If they’re being made to take actions that are not part of their normal game, they’ll be much more likely to make mistakes upon which you, as the wolf, can capitalise.

However, be wary – make sure you look out for bigger wolves at your table, especially if they’re dressed in sheep’s clothing!