All In Startup: Launching a New Idea When Everything Is on the Line

Chapter 33Luck Is Not a Good Strategy for Poker or Business—It’s the Outcome of a Good Strategy

Owen yawned and looked at his phone again. He told himself he didn’t really care if Sam saw him play poker or not. Yes, it would be nice, but there had been players who practically had entire cheering sections, and it didn’t seem to help. He wasn’t superstitious in that way. In fact, his performance would probably be better without her or anyone he knew around . . . fewer distractions.

Except for Lisa. He’d love to have her in the crowd. Just to know that she was okay. That she wasn’t out meeting with a lawyer, arranging for divorce papers. Put that out of your mind, Owen. She’s just mad. You can fix this when you get home. If you can find a way to potentially fix ReBicycle, then you can fix this thing with Lisa . . . whatever it is.

Back to the poker. At this point in the tournament, every table became a “featured” table, meaning that they were set up for audio, lights, pinhole cameras that could see the cards, and big stationary cameras with bored-looking cameramen at several different vantage points around the table. It added another little sense of pressure. And it also meant that cell phones were now banned at the tables. Phone calls were not allowed before, but texting and e-mail had been okay.

The new cell phone rule had a couple of implications. To answer a text from Lisa or Sam or Pitchford or whoever, Owen would have to physically get up from the table, move at least 30 ...