Liar’s Poker

Similar to the card game “I Doubt It” (also called “Cheat” or “Baloney”), Liar’s Poker involves a handful of players who each hold a dollar bill and, while referring to the serial numbers on the bills, take turns declaring their estimates of the total number of a given digit on all the bills. If, for example, “three sixes” is the first bet, the next player can either increase the number (“four sixes” or “three sevens”) or say “Challenge.” When everyone has challenged one of the players, the bills are revealed. If the challenge proves correct, the player who has been caught bluffing must pay off all the other players. If the bid is correct, the player wins money from every other player. Liar’s Poker “tested a trader’s character. It honed a trader’s instincts” (17). It is also a great way to show off, and it represents the combination of courage, smarts, instinct, ability to bluff, and calm under fire required of the seasoned bond trader.

Salomon is an investment bank that trades stocks and bonds for its clients. In the early 1980s, it becomes the most profitable bank on Wall Street by dominating the mortgage bond market, a business it developed largely on its own.