Maria Konnikova Delays Poker Book Due To Winning Streak

Harvard grad Maria Konnikova is an accomplished author who is known for her two poker books The ‘Confidence Game: The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time‘ and ‘Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes‘.

These books dealt with the mind and what one must do to make it better and sharper.

After the success of her two books, she decided to explore the psychology of luck-based games and upon stumbling upon John Von Neumann’s ‘Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour‘, she told herself she would start on a book talking about high-stakes poker and how the learning experience and game strategies can be applied in real life.

Konnikova embarked on a new adventure when she decided to pen her third book ‘The Biggest Bluff‘ and focus on the high stakes poker market. As she started work on her book, she also started working together with poker pro Erik Seidel, who not only let her watch his games but also spent time teaching her how to play. She turned out to be a very good student of the game as she soon started playing a good came which enabled her to cash in at high-stake events and major tournaments.

She spent the last two years playing poker and getting first-hand information to help her write ‘The Biggest Bluff‘. She decided to delay writing her book as she was having a lot of success playing poker and found it hard to take time off to get the book done.

Center for Inquiry

Win Streak Slows Down Poker Book

Konnikova has been playing poker for just a couple of years and has quickly accumulated more than $200,000 in career prize money. She has cashed out at a number of popular tournaments including the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in Macau. Her win at the PCA also fetched her a $30,000 Platinum Pass to the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) which takes place in Jan 2019 in the Bahamas.

In a statement, Konnikova said,

I think that’s what gives me one of my biggest edges, that I do come from this outsider perspective and do have tools to kind of analyze things on a different level because I’ve studied decision making. I actually did my dissertation on risky decision making under emotional conditions, so it’s very applicable to the poker world

Things have worked well for Konnikova as she was recently signed as a PokerStars brand ambassador. Currently, Konnikova is also grinding at the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and she has already cashed in at three events. She also decided to take part in the WSOP Main Event and is hoping another cashout.