The Biggest Bluff: How I learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win with Maria Konnikova

Featuring: Maria Konnikova

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game, a journey into the world of high-stakes poker – and questions of what role luck plays in our lives, and what it truly means to take control of our own destinies.

The Biggest Bluff is Maria’s third New York Times bestseller. It follows Maria’s immersion in the world of poker, from novice to professional, under the tutelage of one of the greatest players in the game, Erik Seidel. But this is not a book about poker. It is, rather, an exploration of the role chance plays in our lives, and how we can learn to play our best game even in the face of mounting odds. How do the skills learned at the poker table translate to the skills required to live a better, more thoughtful and, ultimately, successful life? The Biggest Bluff isn’t about how to play poker. It’s about how to play the world.

While researching The Biggest Bluff, Maria became an international poker champion and the winner of over $300,000 in tournament earnings—and inadvertently turned into a professional poker player.


This talk took place on January 21, 2021, at 7:00 pm EDT.