Summary of Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker is the story of the investment banking firm Salomon Brothers during the tenure of CEO John Gutfreund, lasting from 1978-1991, and to a lesser extent, a description of the wider financial world of the 1980s. The growth of Wall Street firms like Salomon Brothers was boosted by government deregulation which allowed for the growth and creation of risky mortgage-backed securities and high-yield junk bonds during this period