Deal making is a lot like playing poker. Your hand represents your leverage, or lack thereof. Interestingly, in poker, your competitors cannot tell what leverage you have unless you have cards face up on the table. You pretend to have leverage by bluffing; in business, you can try the same. Yet, if someone calls your bluff and you cannot produce, you will have destroyed some of your credibility.
In poker, your competitors have to play directly against you since it’s a zero sum game. Conversely, in business, both you and the competition can actually create a larger market for everyone to share, even while you are competing head to head in the existing market.
