Liar’s Poker

“Never before have so many unskilled twenty-four-year-olds made so much money in so little time as we did this decade in New York and London.”

Salomon develops the mortgage securities industry and comes to dominate it during a time when customers, especially savings and loan officers saddled with unprofitable mortgages, are often desperate to sell. The firm’s combination of innovation, youthful aggression, and luck puts it in the driver’s seat in the accelerating bond market.

“One hand, one million dollars, no tears.”

Salomon Brothers chairman John Gutfreund challenges his best bond trader, John Meriwether, to a game of Liar’s Poker, and the bet is the unheard-of amount of $1 million. “No tears” means the loser must suffer without complaint.

“The game has some of the feel of trading, just as jousting has some of the feel of war.”

Liar’s Poker is a test of smarts, daring, coolness under pressure, ability to bluff, and aggressiveness. These traits are what players must possess in the real world of buying and selling stocks and bonds. Liar’s Poker is the practice sport; trading is the war.