SOME BLUFFS IN THE CYPRUS POKER GAME.

SOME BLUFFS IN THE CYPRUS POKER GAME. My description of the Cyprus crisis as a poker game may seem a little cavalier, considering the amounts that were at stake and the risks to the future of the Euro and to banks throughout Europe. The countries and institutions involved had large and expert staffs, and the problems were apparent for a considerable period of time so there was plenty of time for planning. Nevertheless, there was a lot of bluffing.and there were a lot of changes at the last minute. On March 19 Simon Nixon wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “The Cypriot parliament is gambling that the ECB [European Central Bank] is bluffing when it says it will withdraw Emergency Liquidity Assistance from the country’s banks, thereby precipitating their likely financial collapse.” Nixon noted that the ECB had blinked before. The Wall Street Journal on March 26 reported on the final deal in an article which concluded: “‘There is no doubt in the government that the first deal was far better,’ said a senior Cypriot official. ‘We bluffed and we lost.'”