Poker: The high-stakes way to unlock your potential | Maria Konnikova | Big Think Edge

Poker: The High-Stakes Way to Unlock Your Potential
with Maria Konnikova
Moderated by Winsome Brown

When best-selling author and journalist Maria Konnikova had a streak of bad luck, she set out to write a psychology book about game theory and poker to unpack this question: What can you control in life, and what can’t you? She knew precisely zero about poker when she asked Erik Seidel, 8-time World Series of Poker winner and Poker Hall of Fame inductee, to be her mentor, and over the next year she went from novice and researcher to professional player, winning several hundred thousand dollars in tournament earnings. That book, The Biggest Bluff, is now out. In this Big Think Live session, Konnikova will be talking with host Winsome Brown about the way mastering poker skills helps you see new patterns and opportunities, solve problems, manage emotions, and win in life beyond the game.

Ask your questions for Maria Konnikova during the live Q&A!

Maria Konnikova is the author of two New York Times bestsellers: The Confidence Game, winner of the 2016 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, and Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, an Anthony and Agatha Award finalist. Her new book is The Biggest Bluff (June 2020). While researching The Biggest Bluff, journalist Konnikova became an international poker champion and the winner of over $300,000 in tournament earnings—and inadvertently turned into a professional poker player. She is a regular contributing writer for The New Yorker, and her writing has been featured in Best American Science and Nature Writing and has been translated into over twenty languages. Maria also hosts the podcast The Grift from Panoply Media, a show that explores con artists and the lives they ruin, and is currently a visiting fellow at NYU’s School of Journalism. She graduated from Harvard University and received her PhD in psychology from Columbia University.

Winsome Brown is a writer, director, and Obie-award winning actor. She is featured in the upcoming Tom Hanks/Paul Greengrass film News of the World, and is a recurring guest star on Supergirl. Winsome narrated the audiobook for the award-winning best-selling novel Sarah by JT LeRoy and her film The Violinist has just been released on YouTube. Learn more at winsomebrown.com.
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