WhenI go out it looks like everyone at the bar are in tight friend groups, so I'm usually discouraged to open them. Sometimes if a few girls are standing, then I can open with some familiarity opener like "Hey I know you from .........".

For the people sitting down, I'll sit with them and say "sorry I'm late", say something like "my friends meeting me here in a couple minutes, thought I'd meet some other people", then go into some cold reading.

But for the most part, I get the awkward eyes from these groups, the "you-don't-belong-here" look. Only time that didn't happen was with three people who were already very drunk. I'm just curious how the pros would open these "members-only" vibe groups. Often it's the only kind of set in the venue.