Alex’s Reviews > Liar's Poker > Status Update
Alex
is on page 37 of 310
Michael Lewis is invited to a dinner with the Queen Mother while finishing studies at LSE, where he meets a wife of a Salomon director. She grills him and offers to get him a position, which he accepts (without being asked) from the head of recruiting. He previously studied art history at Princeton (not economics, which was popular at the time) and failed an early interview by saying he wanted the job to make money
— Jan 25, 2026 07:41PM
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Alex’s Previous Updates
Alex
is on page 188 of 310
86-88, the crash. Traders are bought out by other firms. CMOs (paid investors in tiers to solidify maturity timeline) made mortgage bonds like other bonds: the market became informed and harder to sell at insane margins, buyers increased, old Salomon traders at new firms knew these old tactics; revenues dropped. Upper management issues, a bond crash that a director offset with other profits, and Renieri’s firing
— 6 hours, 47 min ago
Alex
is on page 165 of 310
81-86. Description of a tax break that caused the thrift sale of mortgage loans and how Salomon was in the perfect position to buy. Salomon’s loose management allowed Ranieri to make it profitable. Description of him, how the trades worked, how the team developed. A part on traders compensation and how they weren’t getting paid as much for what they brought in, and how they were easily poached by other firms
— 7 hours, 36 min ago
Alex
is on page 127 of 310
A cruelty ritual the mortgage dept played on a new member in 85. Then to 78, where Mortgages made no sense to trade since they were small and could be paid back any time. But grouping them through a bank and selling them to front the bank, then collect the loan as it matured, could work. A summary of Dall and Ranieris personalities, the failure of the dept to be profitable from 78-81, and its Italian homogeneity
— 9 hours, 57 min ago
Alex
is on page 98 of 310
Descriptions of many speakers in the training class. The high-rolling execs, the dreaded equity dept (stocks made much less than bonds after the end of fixed commissions and the bond boom) who tried to recruit trainees of whom none wanted to be recruited, and the bond dept. The role of traders vs salesman, with characters from both speaking. Both good and evil people were successful by not taking shit from anyone
— Mar 31, 2026 07:40PM
Alex
is on page 66 of 310
Lewis describes how Salomon cornered the bond market. No one else was trading bonds, and when the Fed fixed money supply/freed interest rates, bonds became much more volatile/tradable. Then, the long training program/indoctrination into the firm, where you had to get a manager to pick you and the class very split between rowdy and suck-up. The firm was changing. Then a description of shadowing on the trading floor
— Jan 27, 2026 07:13PM
Alex
is on page 19 of 310
An introduction to Wall Street in the 80s, specifically at Salomon Brothers. The chairman, John Gutfreund, challenges John Meriwether, his best trader, to a million dollar hand of Liars poker. The dynamic was Gut showing he can roll with the traders by playing a game Meri was superior at. Meri can’t back out and ups the bet to 10 mil. Gut backs out slyly. Demonstrates the mindset and behavior of those on the floor
— Jan 25, 2026 07:34PM