Liar's Poker

Early on Alexander taught me the importance of a strong exterior. "I learned awhile ago that there was no point to showing weakness," he said. "When you arrive at six-thirty A.M., having had no sleep the night before, and having lost your best friend in a car accident, and some Big Swinging Dick walks over to your desk, slaps you on the back, and says, 'How the hell are you?' you don't say, T'm really tired and really upset.' You say, T'm great, how the hell are you?' "

HERE DEVELOPED a pattern to our existence. Each month began with an analysis of our small unit's performance, each week with an office meeting, and each day with a series of phone calls to whoever we thought might like to roll the dice

place their bets on the American bond market from eight in the morning until eight at night.

And it's 6:00 A.M. Time for work.

The entire Salomon Brothers trading floor might be poised for a number at 8:30 A.M., gripped by suspense and a great deal of hope, ready to leap and shout, to buy or sell billions of dollars' worth of bonds, to make or lose millions of dollars for the firm, when a trainee arrives, suspecting nothing, and says, "Excuse me, I'm going to the cafeteria, does anybody want anything?" Trainees, in short, were idiots

Good bond traders had fast brains andl enormous stamina. They watched the markets twelve and sometimess sixteen hours a day—and not just the market in bonds. They watcheed dozens of financial and commodity markets: stocks, oil, natural gass, currencies, and anything else that might in some way influence the bcond market. They sat down in their chairs at 7:00 A.M. and stayed put umtil dark. Few of them cared to talk about their jobs; they were as reticent :as veterans of an unpopular war. They valued profits. And money. Especially money, and all the things that money could buy, and all the Ikudos that attached to the person with the most of it.

:00 A.M. New York time That gave the trainee four whole hours to find out the LIBOR rate before class began at 7:00 A.M.

Cafeteria bagels and coffee were munched and swallowed throughout the room. People read the New York Post and laid bets on whatever game was to be played that evening. The New York Times crossword puzzle had been photocopied 126 times and distributed

Having swallowed a large and greasy cheeseburger at lunch, and having only a mild sociological interest in the speaker, I was overcome with drowsiness.

The other trainees appeared to have been in the office for hours. In fact, to get an edge on their colleagues, most had been there for weeks. As I walked into the training area, they were gathered in packs in the hallways or in the foyer behind the classroom, chattering. It was a family reunion. Everyone knew everyone else.