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Bill Gates

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, developed the “language” by which computers communicate. More than any other individual, he moved the world into the 21st Century.

The richest man on the planet before he was 40, Gates was a child prodigy. He was born into affluent, upper class Seattle society in 1955.

Everyone in the family, including his grandmother, were avid gamesters. Cards, contests and competitions were constant. And no one liked losing, especially young Bill.

By the 6th grade, it was difficult for his mother to control the strong-willed young genius. After a year of family counseling and a battery of tests, the psychologist told his mother, “You’re going to lose. You better just adjust to it because there’s no use trying to beat him.”

Demonstrating a prodigious intellect, a photographic memory and an understanding of math well beyond his years, Bill’s parents sent him to an exclusive Seattle prep school from the 7th grade through high school. It was here that Gates, 13, was introduced to the earliest computers.

Gates and a few school friends organized a business selling their programming skills to pay for their computer time. In one summer, they made over $20,000. When he was a high school senior, Gates was hired to help computerize the power grid for the Northwest.

On his college entranceexams, young Bill scored a rare, perfect 1600. Although he attended Harvard, he never graduated. Later he would say, “I went there to learn from people smarter than me… but I never met any.”

However, at Harvard Gates discovered poker. According to one biographer, poker “became as all-consuming to Gates as computers”.

Describing how seriously Gates focused on the game, his Harvard roommate, referring to Microsoft and poker, said, “Bill was sort of deciding where he was going to put his energy and to hell with what anyone else thought.” Fortunately for young Gates and the world, he pursued computers.

According to a Gates’ biographer, Bill and his computer, math and business buddies did not play “friendly” poker. The young men won and lost hundreds, even thousands of dollars in an evening. Their favorite game was 7-Stud H/L Split.

Among Harvard’s blue chip brains, Bill was a highly regarded poker player. “I was good,” he says, admitting that by the time he quit school “all we did full-time was play poker.” Gates’ biographer reports, “Trying to break his addiction, Gates once gave his check book to [a friend].” He later asked for it back.

Apparently Gates greatest weakness as a college poker player was he sometimes stayed too long with a losing hand. Another frequent winner in the Harvard games said Gates “had a tendency to play out his hand to the costly end whenever he believed he had correctly read other players at the table.”

After leaving Harvard, Gates and friend Paul Allen started a little software company, Microsoft, in Santa Clara, located next to a massage parlor. Neither were 21. Nevertheless, two kids in blue jeans and t-shirts ignited a worldwide technological revolution.

Young Gates did it all, recalls one early programmer, “He was the salesman, the technical leader, the lawyer, the businessman.” One author described the attitude Bill demanded at Microsoft was “work hard, make better products, and win”. One journalist wrote that within the company, competition between units “is so great that it often seems as if they hate each other as much as they hate outside competitors.”

Bill became a familiar sight at the big annual electronic shows in Las Vegas. He sometimes relaxed at the craps table and is known to have won and lost thousands during shows in the late 1970s, early ’80s.

On another occasion, Gates tried the blackjack tables at the Bellagio. He played a $50 minimum game, won $200 and walked away; Bill preferred poker.

Because for Bill Gates the money at any limit isn’t relevant, in Vegas he often plays $3/6 or $4/8 Hold’em. He has said playing the game well is what attracts him.

There’s one account of Bill playing $3/6 at the Mirage when a drunk at the table said to him, “So, you know a lot about computers, huh?” Gates ignored it. Then the drunk said, “I guess you’re the consummate nerd who made it big.” Bill just smiled. After three $100 rebuys, an older woman seated next to Gates suggested he read Sklansky if he wanted to become a better Hold’em player.

A 1997 Time Magazine feature about Bill Gates explained, “His success stems from his personality: an awesome… frightening blend of brilliance, drive, competitiveness and personal intensity.” [Sounds like a helluva poker player]

Eventually, the youngest billionaire in history relocated Microsoft to Seattle. Despite its phenomenal growth, competition remains a key feature of Gates’ company. Every July, he throws a huge bash known as the “Micro Games” at which more than a hundred friends, executives and guests compete for prizes.

Modest and unassuming, Bill Gates still flies coach and collects a modest salary. Neither does he play the stock market. All his wealth is wrapped up in his company. Adamantly opposed to debt, he insists the company keep enough in the bank (about $8 billion) to operate a year without any income.

Today, Bill Gates is an American icon. As a player in the Game of Business, the Chairman of Microsoft is The Winner - after all, he’s got the most chips.

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