Every so often, a group of millionaire Internet entrepreneurs gets together to play poker, fly jet fighters, float around in zero gravity – and make some very valuable connections

It’s friday night dinner and the wily, whitemustachioed navy pilot (call sign “Nails”) has just briefed our group on tomorrow morning’s diversion: we will strap ourselves into Italian Marchetti jets and compete in dogfights over the desert north of Las Vegas. Nails flew missions in Vietnam, so we listen. Well, everyone except the guy with the ponytail, who, for his lack of attention, is commanded to drop in the middle of the restaurant and give Nails twenty. The men, many of them not used to doing push-ups – all of them not used to taking orders – put down their steak knives and clap in hearty encouragement. Or is it secret sympathy?

Then Yanik Silver, our group’s organizer, gets up to make an announcement about tonight’s poker tournament here at the Mirage Hotel’s main card room. “We’ve paid US $150 for your first buy-in,” he says, the carnival sounds of the casino floor drifting in. “Or whatever you call it. As you can see, I’m not much of a gambler.”

Except, he is. Silver has made millions of dollars in Internet marketing, which through the years has required its share of entrepreneurial gambles. His new venture, Maverick Business Adventures, is one of the riskiest. Its formula is simple: take a group of successful, self-made men on an exciting trip where they will experience unique thrills and – hopefully – not die. When not flying over the Grand Canyon or floating weightless in a reduced-gravity airplane, they will discuss businesses, make connections and meet famous people. Most importantly, the » next