The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win by Mar

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A New York Times bestseller • A New York Times Notable Book"The tale of how Konnikova followed a story about poker players and wound up becoming a story herself will have you riveted, first as you learn about her big winnings, and then as she conveys the lessons she learned both about human nature and herself." —The Washington PostIt's true that Maria Konnikova had never actually played poker before and didn't even know the rules when she approached Erik Seidel, Poker Hall of Fame inductee and winner of tens of millions of dollars in earnings, and convinced him to be her mentor. But she knew her man: a famously thoughtful and broad-minded player, he was intrigued by her pitch that she wasn't interested in making money so much as learning about life. She had faced a stretch of personal bad luck, and her reflections on the role of chance had led her to a giant of game theory, who pointed her to poker as the ultimate master class in learning to distinguish between what can be controlled and what can't. And she certainly brought something to the table, including a Ph.D. in psychology and an acclaimed and growing body of work on human behavior and how to hack it. So Seidel was in, and soon she was down the rabbit hole with him, into the wild, fiercely competitive, overwhelmingly masculine world of high-stakes Texas Hold'em, their initial end point the following year's World Series of Poker.But then something extraordinary happened. Under Seidel's guidance, Konnikova did have many epiphanies about life that derived from her new pursuit, including how to better read, not just her opponents but far more importantly herself; how to identify what tilted her into an emotional state that got in the way of good decisions; and how to get to a place where she could accept luck for what it was, and what it wasn't. But she also began to win. And win. In a little over a year, she began making earnest money from tournaments, ultimately totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.  She won a major title, got a sponsor, and got used to being on television, and to headlines like "How one writer's book deal turned her into a professional poker player." She even learned to like Las Vegas.But in the end, Maria Konnikova is a writer and student of human behavior, and ultimately the point was to render her incredible journey into a container for its invaluable lessons. The biggest bluff of all, she learned, is that skill is enough. Bad cards will come our way, but keeping our focus on how we play them and not on the outcome will keep us moving through many a dark patch, until the luck once again breaks our way.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Author Biography

Maria Konnikova is the author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game. She is a regular contributing writer for The New Yorker, and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, The Boston Globe,  Scientific American, Wired, and Smithsonian, among many other publications. Her writing has won numerous awards, including the 2019 Excellence in Science Journalism Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. While researching The Biggest Bluff, Maria became an international poker champion and the winner of over $300,000 in tournament earnings. Maria also hosts the podcast The Grift from Panoply Media and is currently a visiting fellow at NYU's School of Journalism. Her podcasting work earned her a National Magazine Award nomination in 2019. Maria graduated from Harvard University and received her PhD in Psychology from Columbia University.

Review

"Fascinating. . . . Konnikova is like your smart friend who instantly contextualizes everything by sharing the latest data and sharpest insight, whom you come to quote too often. . . . Konnikova keeps the lines so clean and even, so steady and unshowy that she might be the Charlie Watts of prose: While the backbeat never ceases and the narrative propels along, it's her curiosity that proliferates. In fact, one of the biggest bluffs of The Biggest Bluff may be that Konnikova hasn't written a book about her success with cards and chips exactly, but bet the house on the power of her mind to synthesize big philosophical ideas and psychological insights at a time when we, too, find ourselves questioning our fortunes, hoping to master our fates and playing much bigger odds than ever before." —New York Times Book Review"There has never been a more pressing need for digestible and coherent literature on rational decision-making. Enter The Biggest Bluff, psychologist Maria Konnikova's depiction of her journey into professional poker. What at first seems a light-hearted story about a curious academic dipping her toe into shark-infested waters delivers a crucial lesson in how to thrive in an increasingly misleading world. . . . As someone who has read almost every piece of literature on poker, I can say that The Biggest Bluff is the best depiction yet of the game I love, and the invaluable thinking skills it teaches. . . . Konnikova's is an uplifting zero-to-hero journey that will raise a smile in these trying times." —Nature"The Biggest Bluff is a great read if you play poker. But it's also a great read for those, like me, who don't play poker. For us, the game provides the backdrop for a fascinating look at human nature, at attention and focus, at game theory (applied much more broadly than just to games), and at making better decisions. And how to better deal with the outcomes of those decisions -- and not just learn, but keep moving forward. . . . [A] must-read for most entrepreneurs." —Inc."The tale of how Konnikova followed a story about poker players and wound up becoming a story herself will have you riveted, first as you learn about her big winnings, and then as she conveys the lessons she learned both about human nature and herself." —The Washington Post"The Biggest Bluff is a brilliant book mostly because Konnikova is a brilliant writer, but also because she is a brilliant observer of the weird world she has immersed herself into . . . The most enthralling parts of the book are when she takes the reader inside the cockpit and talks through some of the high-stakes plays she finds herself involved in." —The Daily Telegraph"The Biggest Bluff feels particularly timely in the current pandemic. As governments design policies based on limited data, and individuals are forced to grapple with the probabilities of contagion – we could all do with the greater understanding of uncertainty, and how to think about it under pressure, that comes with the game." —BBC"Konnikova seeks to explore the fine line between skill and luck, 'to learn what I could control and what I couldn't.' If ever there were a game to illustrate those categories, poker is it. . . . She traveled to all the right places—Macau, Las Vegas, Monte Carlo—and even made some money along the way. The payoffs for readers are more cerebral, including Konnikova's observation that we think we have much more control over our lives than we really do. . . . A smart and subtle delight—highly recommended for fans of cards and brain-hacking alike." —Kirkus (starred review)"I absolutely love this book. The story is fantastically gripping, and offers lessons about decision-making, luck, risk—and, most important, how to play at life like a cool-headed pro. This is one of my favorite books of the year." —Charles Duhigg, author of bestsellers The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better"The Biggest Bluff is an exhilarating and often hilarious personal journey. What's most exciting, though, is the probing sociological analysis by the brilliant and eternally-curious Maria Konnikova." —Jesse Eisenberg, author of Bream Gives Me Hiccups"The narrative is so gripping that you might get halfway through The Biggest Bluff before you even notice that you're getting a master class in learning, focus, and decision-making. I tore through it in two sittings, and haven't stopped thinking about it since." —David Epstein, author of Range"One of the most extraordinary outcomes of any experiment in participatory journalism. This is a book not just about the game of poker, but about the meaning of luck, the science of skill, and the psychology of outsmarting your competitors." —Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein and founder of Atlas Obscura"This book probably won't turn you into an international poker champ overnight, and it definitely won't make you as smart as Maria Konnikova. But it will do something just as valuable: it will teach you to think more like her. It's rare enough to find a memoir this transfixing or a behavioral science book this insightful. To have them combined in one place—by a psychologist who mastered one of the most competitive games on earth—is a real treat." —Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, and host of the chart-topping TED podcast WorkLife"Maria Konnikova has penned a page-turning memoir about going from journalist-curious- about-poker to professional gambler raking in hundreds of thousands. The fascinating portrait of her Buddha, Erik Seidel--the ultimate poker studmuffin & all around Renaissance man--puts this whole tale on a par with the best nonfiction by that czar of the form John McPhee. A must read!" —Mary Karr, author Liars' Club, Lit, and The Art of Memoir"I love it. Not only did The Biggest Bluff lead me into a complex and charismatic new world, it made me think about my own life and my own self-deceptions about control—and taught me to pay more attention to my own opponents, mine being of the tennis sort. The narrative is deftly crafted, and the journey—the self-examination, the oddball characters, the awful misogyny, the Aggros, the notion of tilt—accumulates in a seamless and satisfying way. I read this in what for me was record time." —Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile"The Biggest Bluff is a flat out classic. It's a ripping good story—with an underdog heroine, a Yoda-like mentor, and a cast of wild characters. It's a sophisticated meditation on the relative importance of deep skill and dumb luck. And it's a primer on how to pay attention, think objectively, and make better decisions. Reading this book is like drawing a straight flush. You won't believe your good fortune—and you'll remember it for a long, long time." —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell is Human"We're all searching for greater self-knowledge—and Maria Konnikova found it through poker. She set out to make herself a champion, and along the way, she learned far more than the game. In lessons we can use ourselves, poker taught her greater emotional and physical regulation, tolerance for risk and uncertainty, more intelligent decision-making, a grasp of the intertwined roles of chance and skill, and sheer confidence. As she explains, 'This book isn't about how to play poker. It's about how to play the world.'" —Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before"There are a lot of great books about psychology. And there are even some great books about poker. There isn't any book like The Biggest Bluff. Maria's journey from a novice into a world-class poker player is a page-turning adventure that you'll enjoy whether you're a seasoned pro or someone who doesn't know a busted draw from a full house. But what makes The Biggest Bluff so unique is its honesty and humility. It understands the importance of luck and uncertainty in our lives—and how different they can look when we're suddenly facing high-stakes, life-altering decisions. I can't think of a better guide for navigating these subjects than Maria and I highly recommend this book." —Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief, FiveThirtyEight

Review Quote

"Fascinating. . . . Konnikova is like your smart friend who instantly contextualizes everything by sharing the latest data and sharpest insight, whom you come to quote too often. . . . Konnikova keeps the lines so clean and even, so steady and unshowy that she might be the Charlie Watts of prose: While the backbeat never ceases and the narrative propels along, it''s her curiosity that proliferates. In fact, one of the biggest bluffs of The Biggest Bluff may be that Konnikova hasn''t written a book about her success with cards and chips exactly, but bet the house on the power of her mind to synthesize big philosophical ideas and psychological insights at a time when we, too, find ourselves questioning our fortunes, hoping to master our fates and playing much bigger odds than ever before." -- New York Times Book Review "There has never been a more pressing need for digestible and coherent literature on rational decision-making. Enter The Biggest Bluff , psychologist Maria Konnikova''s depiction of her journey into professional poker. What at first seems a light-hearted story about a curious academic dipping her toe into shark-infested waters delivers a crucial lesson in how to thrive in an increasingly misleading world. . . . As someone who has read almost every piece of literature on poker, I can say that The Biggest Bluff is the best depiction yet of the game I love, and the invaluable thinking skills it teaches. . . . Konnikova''s is an uplifting zero-to-hero journey that will raise a smile in these trying times." -- Nature "The Biggest Bluff is a great read if you play poker. But it''s also a great read for those, like me, who don''t play poker. For us, the game provides the backdrop for a fascinating look at human nature, at attention and focus, at game theory (applied much more broadly than just to games), and at making better decisions. And how to better deal with the outcomes of those decisions -- and not just learn, but keep moving forward. . . . [A] must-read for most entrepreneurs." -- Inc. "The tale of how Konnikova followed a story about poker players and wound up becoming a story herself will have you riveted, first as you learn about her big winnings, and then as she conveys the lessons she learned both about human nature and herself." -- The Washington Post " The Biggest Bluff is a brilliant book mostly because Konnikova is a brilliant writer, but also because she is a brilliant observer of the weird world she has immersed herself into . . . The most enthralling parts of the book are when she takes the reader inside the cockpit and talks through some of the high-stakes plays she finds herself involved in." -- The Daily Telegraph " The Biggest Bluff feels particularly timely in the current pandemic. As governments design policies based on limited data, and individuals are forced to grapple with the probabilities of contagion - we could all do with the greater understanding of uncertainty, and how to think about it under pressure, that comes with the game." --BBC "Konnikova seeks to explore the fine line between skill and luck, ''to learn what I could control and what I couldn''t.'' If ever there were a game to illustrate those categories, poker is it. . . . She traveled to all the right places--Macau, Las Vegas, Monte Carlo--and even made some money along the way. The payoffs for readers are more cerebral, including Konnikova''s observation that we think we have much more control over our lives than we really do. . . . A smart and subtle delight--highly recommended for fans of cards and brain-hacking alike." --Kirkus (starred review ) "I absolutely love this book. The story is fantastically gripping, and offers lessons about decision-making, luck, risk--and, most important, how to play at life like a cool-headed pro. This is one of my favorite books of the year." --Charles Duhigg, author of bestsellers The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better " The Biggest Bluff is an exhilarating and often hilarious personal journey. What''s most exciting, though, is the probing sociological analysis by the brilliant and eternally-curious Maria Konnikova." --Jesse Eisenberg, author of Bream Gives Me Hiccups "The narrative is so gripping that you might get halfway through The Biggest Bluff before you even notice that you''re getting a master class in learning, focus, and decision-making. I tore through it in two sittings, and haven''t stopped thinking about it since." --David Epstein, author of Range "One of the most extraordinary outcomes of any experiment in participatory journalism. This is a book not just about the game of poker, but about the meaning of luck, the science of skill, and the psychology of outsmarting your competitors." --Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein and founder of Atlas Obscura "This book probably won''t turn you into an international poker champ overnight, and it definitely won''t make you as smart as Maria Konnikova. But it will do something just as valuable: it will teach you to think more like her. It''s rare enough to find a memoir this transfixing or a behavioral science book this insightful. To have them combined in one place--by a psychologist who mastered one of the most competitive games on earth--is a real treat." --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take , and host of the chart-topping TED podcast WorkLife "Maria Konnikova has penned a page-turning memoir about going from journalist-curious- about-poker to professional gambler raking in hundreds of thousands. The fascinating portrait of her Buddha, Erik Seidel--the ultimate poker studmuffin & all around Renaissance man--puts this whole tale on a par with the best nonfiction by that czar of the form John McPhee. A must read!" --Mary Karr, author Liars'' Club , Lit , and The Art of Memoir "I love it. Not only did The Biggest Bluff lead me into a complex and charismatic new world, it made me think about my own life and my own self-deceptions about control--and taught me to pay more attention to my own opponents, mine being of the tennis sort. The narrative is deftly crafted, and the journey--the self-examination, the oddball characters, the awful misogyny, the Aggros, the notion of tilt--accumulates in a seamless and satisfying way. I read this in what for me was record time." --Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile " The Biggest Bluff is a flat out classic. It''s a ripping good story--with an underdog heroine, a Yoda-like mentor, and a cast of wild characters. It''s a sophisticated meditation on the relative importance of deep skill and dumb luck. And it''s a primer on how to pay attention, think objectively, and make better decisions. Reading this book is like drawing a straight flush. You won''t believe your good fortune--and you''ll remember it for a long, long time." --Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When , Drive , and To Sell is Human "We''re all searching for greater self-knowledge--and Maria Konnikova found it through poker. She set out to make herself a champion, and along the way, she learned far more than the game. In lessons we can use ourselves, poker taught her greater emotional and physical regulation, tolerance for risk and uncertainty, more intelligent decision-making, a grasp of the intertwined roles of chance and skill, and sheer confidence. As she explains, ''This book isn''t about how to play poker. It''s about how to play the world.''" --Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before "There are a lot of great books about psychology. And there are even some great books about poker. There isn''t any book like The Biggest Bluff . Maria''s journey from a novice into a world-class poker player is a page-turning adventure that you''ll enjoy whether you''re a seasoned pro or someone who doesn''t know a busted draw from a full house. But what makes The Biggest Bluff so unique is its honesty and humility. It understands the importance of luck and uncertainty in our lives--and how different they can look when we''re suddenly facing high-stakes, life-altering decisions. I can''t think of a better guide for navigating these subjects than Maria and I highly recommend this book." --Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief, FiveThirtyEight

Excerpt from Book

A Prelude Las Vegas, July 2017 The room is a sea of people. Bent heads, pensive faces, many obscured by sunglasses, hats, hoodies, massive headphones. It''s difficult to discern where the bodies end and the green of the card tables begins. Thousands of bodies sit in seeming disarray on chairs straight out of a seventies dining room catalogue-orange-and-mustard patterned upholstery, gold legs, vaguely square frame. Garish neon lights suspended on makeshift beams make the place look like the inside of a hospital that''s trying a bit too hard to appear festive. Everything is a bit worn, a bit out-of-date, a bit frayed. The only hints of deeper purpose are the color-coded numbers hanging on strings from the ceiling. There''s the orange group, the yellow group, the white group. Each placard has a number and, beneath it, a picture of a single poker chip. The smell of stale casino air fills the room-old carpet; powder; a sweet, faintly sickly perfume; cold fried food and flat beer; and the unmistakable metallic tang of several thousand exhausted bodies that have been sharing the same space since morning. Amid the sensory assault, it''s hard at first to pinpoint why something seems off. And then it comes to you: it is eerily quiet. If this was a real party, you would expect the din of countless voices, shifting chairs, echoing footsteps. But all there is is nervous energy. You can smell, hear, taste, the tension. And you can certainly feel it making a nest in your stomach. There''s just one sound left in the room, reminiscent of a full-throated courting ritual of summer cicadas. It''s the sound of poker chips. It''s the first day of the biggest poker tournament of the year, the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. This is the World Cup, the Masters, the Super Bowl-except you don''t need to be a superhero athlete to compete. This championship is open to the everyman. For a neat ten grand, anyone in the world can enter and take their shot at poker glory: the title of world champion and a prize that has been known to top $9 million. If you happen to be British or Australian, you even get it tax-free. For professional poker players and amateurs alike, this is the career pinnacle. If you can win the Main Event, you have guaranteed yourself a place in poker history. Sit down with the best and have a chance at the most prestigious, richest prize in the poker world. Some people in the room have been saving for years to take their one shot. It''s near the end of the day. Of the several thousand people who''ve entered today''s starting flight-so many want to play that starting days have to be staggered into flights to accommodate everyone; the dream is expensive, but it''s awfully alluring-many are now out, having gone bust, in poker speak. The ones who remain are concentrated on making it through to the second day. You don''t want to play the whole day only to find yourself walking out with minutes until the end and nothing to show for it. Everyone is gunning for the magic bag, a clear plastic glorified ziplock into which those lucky enough to have made the next day of a multiday tournament can place their chips. You write your name, country of origin, and chip count in excited capitals on the outside before tugging on the dubiously functioning adhesive strip to seal the damn thing up. You then take the requisite photograph for social media with the requisite chip count and add the #WSOP hashtag. And then you collapse, exhausted, into some anonymous hotel bed. But we''re not yet at the bagging and tagging stage of the day. There are still two more hours to go. Two whole hours. A lot can happen in two hours. Which is why one table stands out from the rest. Eight players are sitting as players should, receiving their cards and doing whatever it is poker players do with them. But one lone chair in the middle of the table, seat six, remains empty. That wouldn''t be remarkable in the least under normal circumstances-empty chairs are what happens when a player busts out and no new player has yet arrived to take their place. Except in this case, there has been no bust-out. On the green felt in front of the empty chair sit several neat piles of chips, arranged from highest to lowest denomination, color-coded from left to right. And with each hand dealt, the dealer reaches over to take a precious ante-the forced amount that everyone at the table must pay each hand to see the cards-before depositing two cards that are then unceremoniously placed into the muck, or discard pile, seeing as there''s no one there to play them. With each round, the neat piles of chips grow slightly smaller. And still the chair remains empty. What kind of an idiot pays $10,000 to enter the most prestigious poker event in the world and then fails to show up to play? What kind of a dunce do you have to be to let yourself blind down (the term for letting your chips dwindle by not playing any hands) in the middle of the Main Event? The genius, I regret to say, was your author. While everyone at the table idly speculated about my likely fate, I was huddled in fetal position on the bathroom floor of the Rio Hotel and Casino and, for lack of a more refined term, barfing my brains out. Could it have been food poisoning from the guacamole I knew I shouldn''t have eaten at the Mexican place just down the hallway during dinner break? A bad stress reaction? Delayed onset of stomach flu? Who knows. But my money was on migraine. I had prepped endlessly. I had planned for all the contingencies-including, of course, migraine. I''m a lifelong sufferer, and I wasn''t about to leave anything to chance. I''d taken preventive Advil. I''d done yoga in the morning for relaxation. I''d meditated. I''d slept a full nine hours. I''d even eaten over dinner break, even though my nerves were telling me to avoid all sustenance. And still here it was. That''s the thing about life: You can do what you do but in the end, some things remain stubbornly outside your control. You can''t calculate for dumb bad luck. As they say, man plans, God laughs. I could definitely detect a slight cackle. My reasons for getting into poker in the first place were to better understand that line between skill and luck, to learn what I could control and what I couldn''t, and here was a strongly-worded lesson if ever there were: you can''t bluff chance. Poker didn''t care about my reasons for being on the floor. There was no one to whom I could direct a complaint, a plaintive "But it''s the Main Event!" The why didn''t matter. Nerves or stress, migraine or food poisoning, the cards would keep getting dealt. The message was clear. I could plan all I wanted, but the X factor could still always get me. The outcome would be what it would be. All I could do was my best with what I could control-and the rest, well, the rest wasn''t up to me. As I contemplated the merits of dying right there versus first mustering the energy to bribe someone to bag up what measly chips I had left for me, before crawling off to die somewhere a bit less sticky and odiferous than this stall, I heard the telltale sound of my phone''s text message alert. It was my coach, Erik Seidel. "How''s it going?" the message read. Simple enough. He wanted to see how his student was faring in this, her biggest quest. The cackling from above was definitely growing stronger. I gathered my remaining willpower to text back. "Fine. A little below average in chips." Which was true as far as I knew. "Hanging in there." Slightly less true, but hey, I''m ever the optimist. "k, good luck" came the reply. Oh, Erik, you have no idea how much I need exactly that. A good infusion of old-fashioned luck. Ante Up New York, Late Summer 2016 "But for its costliness and dangers, no better education for life among men could be devised than the gambling table-especially the poker table." Clemens France, The Gambling Impulse, 1902 From across the room, I see Erik Seidel''s signature baseball cap lying on the banquette by his side. I know it''s his signature because I''ve been studying him carefully from afar. I''ve charted his personality-or at least what seems like his personality-from the sidelines. He isn''t like most of the limelight-seeking top professionals, the players who love the camera, love the audience, love their shtick, whatever that shtick happens to be-temper tantrums, crazy aggression, incessant table chatter. He is quiet. Reserved. Determinedly attentive. He seems to play with deliberation and precision. And he is a winner: multiple World Series of Poker bracelets, the World Poker Tour title, tens of millions in winnings. I have chosen with care. I am, after all, about to ask him to spend the next year of his life with me-a marriage proposal, if you will, right off a first date. It was crucial I do my research well. For the first time in a while, I''m nervous-really nervous. I chose my outfit with care-sophisticated but not stuffy, serious but not overly so. The kind of person you could trust and depend on, but who would also be fun to hang around with over drinks. It''s going to be a complicated seduction. We''re meeting at a Hollywood version of what a French cafZ should rightly look like. I''m early, but he''s even earlier. There he is, in the far right corner of the room, folded into a bistro table that seems too small for his lanky limbs and six-and-a-half-foot body. He''s wearing a dark T-shirt that offsets a pale, intent face, and is reading a magazine. To my great relief, it looks like a New Yorker, the late August edition-the one with the muted watercolors of SempZ''s ocean landscape. A poker player who reads the New Yorker is my kind of poker player. Gingerly, a hound on the scent, afraid to scare off the prey in its sights, I approach the table. Erik Seidel is surely

Details ISBN0525522646 Author Maria Konnikova Short Title The Biggest Bluff Language English ISBN-10 0525522646 ISBN-13 9780525522645 DEWEY 795.412 Pages 368 Year 2021 Format Paperback Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2021-06-08 NZ Release Date 2021-06-08 US Release Date 2021-06-08 Publication Date 2021-06-08 UK Release Date 2021-06-08 Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc Imprint Penguin USA Subtitle How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win Audience General We've got this

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