Aces and Knaves

there weren't many people here. I didn't recognize the man standing at the bottom of the stairs to greet us. He looked older than Stan and even had some gray at the temples.
    He shook hands with the Goodwins and welcomed us all to the casino. He told Arrow and me his name was Art and that he was the floor manager on duty. I asked him if Stan was working.
    "Not tonight," Art replied. "He's scheduled to work tomorrow night."
    "Is he in the house, do you know?" I asked.
    Art shook his head. "I believe he's out for the evening. However, I'll ring his number and check for you."
    He headed for the room under the stairs. "Is James in?" I called after him.
    He shook his head again and said, "He's on a business trip."
    "I guess I was too impetuous," Arrow said, frowning. "It looks like we've wasted the evening."
    "Have a drink with us," George said in a hearty voice.
    "What I would really like is something to eat," I said. I had ordered a burger to go from the Norms when we had decided to fly here, but since then all I had eaten was some crunchy stuff served in tiny packages on the airplane with a list of ingredients that covered the package.
    Fortunately, there was some food left at the buffet table. Arrow and I filled two plates and sat at a table with Martha and George, who had ordered drinks. Art came over and confirmed that Stan was not at home.
    "So, have you been coming here long?" George asked us.
    "This is my fourth time and Arrow's second," I said. "What about you?"
    "We've been coming here off and on for six months," George said.
    "And lost our shirts in the process," Martha said.
    I detected real bitterness in her voice and I wanted to ask for details, but all I said was, "Oh?"
    "We'll probably lose our company," Martha added.
    George said, "Martha..."
    "We might as well tell them. It'll be common knowledge soon. Maybe we can save them from having the same experience. Have you heard of a company called everything.com?"
    I hadn't but Arrow said, "Yes. I read in a trade journal—a number of months ago, I think it was—that you were going to do an IPO."
    "Yes, we were all set to have a stock offering," George said. "Then the market turned sour, and now it's too late."
    "Too late," I repeated, wondering how James entered into this.
    Martha said, "You see..."
    "I'll tell it," George interrupted. "I want to make sure it's told right."
    Martha gave him a dirty look.
    "I had this great idea for a dot-com company and was able to raise some venture capital to get started. Originally, Martha and I were the only employees. Then we started growing..."
    "But we were still losing money," Martha said.
    "Yes, but that's normal for a young, rapidly growing company. We planned to have the initial public offering to raise more capital. When the stock market tanked we put it off, expecting the market to come back."
    "But we were bleeding money too fast," Martha said, "and needed more right away. Suddenly we were pariahs. Our venture capitalist wouldn't give us any more money; he said it was too risky."
    "To make a painful story shorter," George said, "we came to James, who we had heard of through friends, and told him our situation. He offered us a deal: we could gamble for an infusion of capital. If we won he would put money into the company in return for stock. If we lost he would get the stock anyway but wouldn't put in any money.
    "It sounds one-sided," Arrow said.
    "That's James' adult version of The Game," I said.
    "We were desperate," Martha said, "and we took it. We played roulette..."
    "And you lost," I said, picturing the situation. "But if the company goes out of business, what good is the stock to James?"
    "He has no intention of letting the company go out of business," George said. "He has offered us two more deals: the first is to gamble again for another cash infusion. Of course, if we lose again he gets most of our remaining stock. Then he'll put money into the company and try to save it. The second alternative is to sell him practically all our stock at a bargain-basement price. He made the same offer to our venture capitalist for his stock."
    "The diabolical part," Martha said, "is that the offer becomes worth less each week—so the longer we delay in making a decision, the worse off we are."
    "If your problems are so bad that nobody but James will help you," Arrow said, "then there must be a substantial risk that you will go out of business—and that James will lose his investment."
    "But James makes it up in