Reminds me of a chess tournament I was once in. $10k was the first prize. Out of 100 or so people I was tied for first in my section with one other guy in the last round. He destroyed me in about 15 moves.
Afterwards I was going over the game with one of the Washington Square Park hustlers who came down for the tournament (the tournament was in Philadelphia but the hustlers would hang out in the blitz room where all the action was).
He, Poe, said to me, “you know what your mistake was?” after we went over the game.
“No,” i said.
“You didn’t make a deal before the game started that you’d split the first and second prizes”. Everyone around us agreed with him.
Turns out the guy who beat me cheated. he was really the champion of Nigeria and had understated his ranking. So I ended up winning more. But Poe taught me the more important lesson. Everything’s a deal.
