Poker is hot. ESPN's World Series of Poker has better ratings than Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on Bravo. Maybe they should bring the cameras to Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurs have long reveled in the high-stakes game. Sun Microsystems is a classic example. Two decades ago, CEO Scott McNealy took some Motorola microprocessors and bluffed his way into all sorts of new markets, from stock exchanges to telcos to webhosting. Bluff, press, win; invent more, bluff, and press again - that's what entrepreneurs do. McNealy has been a master. But the game can turn quickly, and McNealy's chips have been running low of late. Sun had $18 billion in sales in the glory days of 2001. It's now barely pulling in $11 billion. Since August 2000, Sun's stock has dropped from $64 to $4, taking away its Wall Street credit card.
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