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

Chapter 27Recognize the Vanity Metrics to Avoid Big Losses

Owen looked at his watch—which was odd because he wasn’t wearing a watch. It was an old habit from his old watch-wearing days at the consulting firm. One of those habits that reappears in certain situations—for Owen it was when he was either really nervous or really tired. Right now, it was definitely the latter. Yes, he had been nervous. Hell, he’d been stomach-churning nervous or the first eight hours of the day. There had been a lot to be nervous about.

There was the king-queen that he had while facing four-way action when he was certain he was up against an ace. Certain! But the flop had contained a queen, and he was almost sure nobody had a pair of pocket aces. That had been a big assumption. But it had held out and he’d won a ton.

Of course, he lost most of those winnings over the next hour. Damn pocket aces! Owen didn’t like them. Didn’t trust ’em. There’s a saying in poker: the only thing more dangerous than an opponent having pocket aces is when you’re holding them yourself. Actually, Owen didn’t know if that was a poker saying, but it should be! It sounded good. Like something Amarillo Slim might say in a dark and hazy backroom poker game back in the ’70s.

Owen had played the hand textbook. Pocket aces are not a hand to play slowly at an aggressive table. They should be played fiercely, raising as much as possible to get just one other player to call. That’s the trick to pocket aces. Too much action is a death ...