When I'm not playing poker I'm a professional union negotiator and have been for 25 years. So when I write about bargaining, I know of what I speak. Let me tell you about a bargaining strategy that many of us apply, with disastrous results, at the poker table. Understand it, recognize it in yourself, and avoid it.
It's known as concession bargaining. It often goes like this. The union comes up with demands for improvements. The boss comes in with a "the sky is falling" economic picture-meant to frighten the union membership. The union, terrified, drops their proposals and settles for management's concession package to cut wages and benefits.
There are times when bargaining concessions makes sense, to be sure. And there are times when it makes sense to stick to your guns and fight. I won't get into when to do what in this brief article. But believe me when I tell you that the union must do one thing before deciding which path to follow. It must analyze the situation and objectively review the facts without fear.
Fear is an enemy that sabotages good judgment. At the bargaining table there are many things to be fearful of: fear of losing your job, fear of looking weak to your members, fear of failing at an aggressive strategy. A union membership motivated by this fear has already lost.
Poker players engage in concession bargaining as well. It happens in spite of the best laid plans. And it happens out of fear.
Good poker players come to the table much as their union brothers do-with a plan for success. We plan to find a good game, play our best game, and play until the game stops being profitable. But our plans sometimes go awry. Instead of our stack advancing as we'd planned, it diminishes. Instead of winning, we lose. Unless we are well conditioned poker athletes, fear seeps in.
We poker players have many different fears. We're afraid to lose. We're afraid to fail. We're afraid of depleting our bankroll. We're afraid of looking bad. And we start to engage in concession bargaining-concession bargaining with ourselves. Instead of our robust plan to play our best game for as long as we are on top of things, we bargain our exit strategy. We planned to stay four hours. But we're down. So we bargain with ourselves to stay until we're even. Or we bargain with ourselves over how much we are prepared to lose before we leave. Fear propels us to stay or leave-sabotaging our better judgment.
The antidote to fear at the poker table is the same as the cure to fear at the bargaining table. Caucus and review the facts.
In union negotiations that means leaving the bargaining table and conferring with your colleagues. In poker that means leaving the table and conferring with yourself. Take a break. Think about the game you've left. Are you playing well? Are there bad players you can exploit? Are you just getting unlucky or are you playing poorly? Is the game bad for one reason or another? Maybe you should switch games. Is there something wrong with you that prevents you from thinking clearly? Had too much coffee? Not enough sleep? If so, maybe you should leave and come back another day.
Stay, leave, switch games, but don't make any concessions out of fear. Fear is a strong motivator, but always the wrong one at the bargaining table or at the poker table.
Ashley Adams is the author of Winning 7-Card Stud, and profitably plays 7-card stud all over the world, including England, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Canada and the United States, but most frequently at Connecticut's Foxwoods Resort Casino. You can reach Ashley at asha34@aol.com
