In poker, making an aggressive move without anything to back it up – also known as bluffing – can be an effective tactic to win a pot you wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
In the real world, bluffing in business, crime, and romance can be much riskier – but also much more rewarding. Here are the top 4 bluffs in American History
In 1980, on the verge of bankruptcy, Gates made a desperate bid to sell IBM an operating system that they were ready to pay for – except he didn’t have the actual product.
Luckily for Gates, he figured out that another floundering company in the area called Seattle Computer Products had exactly what he needed.
From 1942 to 1944, The United States employed a ‘Ghost Army’: a unit of about 1,000 men whose job was to impersonate other Allied Army units to trick their enemies.
Their mission worked and helped to draw German troops away from more important sites on a consistent basis.
Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was a newspaper editor from Nevada who liked to run his mouth.
He has many famous quotes making fun of his rivals, but one of them, James Lairdd, took exception and challenged a gun duel.
The only problem for Mark Twain was that he was a terrible marksman, having hardly ever shot a gun in his life, he begged his friend Steven Gillis to train him
Before the duel, Laird walked up and see a bird have its head shot. He asked who had fired the shot, to which both other men claimed Twain was the marksman. Laird ran straight home.
She had qualified for the prestigious race by submitting a time of 2:56:29 from the New York Marathon in 1979.
However, when Ruiz appeared to win the Boston that year with a time of 2:31:56, there were many immediate skeptics. Her time would have been the 3rd fastest marathon by a woman ever.