This week we talk to Maria Konnikova about her new book, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win.

After a series of devastating health and financial setbacks, Konnikova, a former New Yorker staffer whose other books include Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock and The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It…Every Timeset out to understand how luck, skill and human behavior contribute to the trajectory of our lives. Though she’d never played a hand of poker in her life, she convinced Poker Hall of Fame inductee Erik Seidel to become her coach. Konnikova quit her job at the New Yorker and set aside a year to learn poker as a way to master her luck and her life.

One career in professional poker and more than $300,000 later, Konnikova found at least some of the answers she sought.

Links from the Podcast:

Long Form Storytelling, The Grift Podcast

Slate daily podcast, The Gist

#AmReading

Maria: Weird by Olga Khazan

KJ: The Authenticity Project by Claire Pooley

Jess: Sunny Days by David Kamp

Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:

Upgrade to Supporter

But it’s all good. The pod is free as it always has and always will be. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it every time there’s a new episode.

Get New Episode Emails

Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.