Cooperating in poker

I bet many online poker players will consider the title of this article a big sack of baloney, and they'll probably take a second look at it, just to see what arguments I cold possibly bring up in the defense of such a huge nonsense.

Well, if you are one of people who think there is no such thing as cooperation in poker, have I got a surprise for you,and I'm not talking about collusion either, because that's illegal, and it's not really a poker strategy anyway, so it has no place in here.

I can give you a few examples of cooperation without breaking a sweat: if you've ever been in an online STT or SNG you probably already saw people ganging up on each other. STTs are dog-eat-dog affairs, and as such, strong players with large chip-stacks find no shame in ganging up on some weaker guy.

This is especially valid for the late, money stages of such a tournament. There, you'll often see the following scenario unfold: there are four players left at a 10 person table, and given the fact that 3rd place is already ITM, they're facing a very challenging few minutes together. One of the guys has obviously already taken a beating, and he limps along on a "broken" chip-stack. He suddenly goes all in, feeling like he has a hand that might be worth giving a last shot on. (if he does this from an early position, he's not a very good player, and also if he does it from late position behind a bunch of limpers who all dominate him bankroll-wise, he's not a particularly bright one either , but it happens)

You soon see all three of the other guys calling him. What's funny is what comes next, if these guys are all good players and none of them really has a hand hed give the shirt off his back for.

There's going to be a "checking-frenzy". The three guys will check all the way to showdown where one of them will eliminate the poor underdog.

Let's see how this really works though: the more people there are in a hand, the less the chances for every one hand to turn out a winner. The three players, who went for each other without restrain in the previous hand, are suddenly careful not to make each-other fold, even though they give up value by doing so. They want to keep the table full, right up to the showdown. There's nothing the "all-in" guy can do, and there's nothing that could prevent the others from teaming up like that. Keeping as many hands as possible in the game till showdown, will seriously limit the chances of the "all-in" guy to win and thus to stay in the game.

These three players willingly cooperate and give up value because in that hand, they do not seek to win. What they're after, is to make the other guy lose.

Why? Simple as 1-2-3. Once the fourth guy is gone, they'll all be in the money. By not committing to much to the pot, they won't lose a lot of money anyway. By not committing too much money, they won't make the others fold either, and in return the others won't force them into a decision. Everyone acts safe, and the poor guy who had to go all in, is left at the receiving end of this team-charade.

After the guy is gone, business returns to usual, and they jump at each-other's throats without the slightest remorse.

If you haven't seen this scenario yet, you probably haven't played in many STTs. Again, if one of these well-stacked players feels like he has a strong-enough hand to take out the "wounded guy" all by himself, you probably won't see it as described above, but often times none of the guys in this short-handed stages of the tourney has anything to work with.

This was only a small example of cooperation in online poker. In games where the pot is shared, it takes on a whole new importance.

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