An Analysis of the Applications of Networks in “Molly’s Game”
Molly’s Game, 2017 (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-molly-bloom-mollys-game-20170102-story.html)
In the 2017 film, Molly’s Game, the true story of Molly Bloom’s involvement in a high-stakes poker game is depicted through a Hollywood lens, but behind the scenes, there are strong themes relating to concepts that reflect on the concepts of social networks and game theory. The general principles of how Molly built a high-stakes game that brought together players from wealthy investment bankers to high-profile celebrities is a representation of how the power of social networks is put into practice in the real world. Additionally, the central idea of a poker game is relevant to concepts including Nash Equilibrium, a critical concept from the course. In the case of a non-cooperative game, the players are competing with their best interest at heart and they are attempting to make the decision that returns the most profit. This references the core concept of the Game Theory Optimal (GTO) strategy in the game of poker. Molly Bloom may have not taken the Networks course, but her story is highly reflective of using the course concepts to her advantage in running a highly successful (and mostly legal) underground poker game, until eventually things got out of hand and Bloom was arrested in 2013.
In the context of social networks, Bloom went from knowing very little about poker and not knowing many people in Los Angeles to building a social network connected with some of the highest profile personalities in the city. Upon moving to Los Angeles, the work that Molly found at a local club was enough income to keep her on her feet, but also was the beginning of the network she would soon expand. When she initially started working at a club, she got connected with Dean, a real estate developer and underground poker game host. Using a provided list of contacts, she established a network of players that reached the top ranks of Hollywood, with famous movie stars in attendance at the poker games. The role of social networks is apparent in the connections that Molly makes with the players in the game and her efforts to expand the network further. She asks her co-workers at the club to share details about the game with guests and scopes out local poker players in order to invite them to the game. This network would likely appear to have clusters of the different contacts she reached out to in an effort to build her game. The social networks of the players also expanded as a result of the game because they were introduced to each other and likely gained strong or weak ties in a different community than they usually interact with.
In poker, there is a strategy rooted in the fundamentals of Nash Equilibrium, referred to as GTO. If both players understand Nash Equilibrium, then the best strategy is to play it, since deviating from the strategy would place that player at a disadvantage. If all players were to play the Nash Equilibrium strategy, then they would all be better off, but this changes when a player deviates from the equilibrium conditions. In the scenario where both players are playing GTO, they are playing it “safe” since the worst possible outcome is to break even. However, the many variations of a game like poker and the unlikely nature that all players are playing to their best ability invoke possibilities of players often straying from the Nash Equilibrium strategies. This appears in the movie in the case of a game including a highly skilled player and one who did not understand the game as well. A notoriously bad player, Brad, is playing against one of the best players in Molly’s game, Harlan, and after one change in judgment, Harlan tumbles into a downward spiral of losses, breaking out of his original strategy. The deviation from the Nash Equilibrium strategy, whether the player has a poor understanding of the game or the player makes the last-minute decision to change their strategy, can be detrimental to the chance of winning for that player. Although Molly only runs the games and does not play them, the overarching theme of poker is related to the course concepts of game theory and Nash Equilibrium.