A Poker Champ’s Approach to Risk
Lean into the unknown
There is an argument to be made that what happens during your lifespan isn’t pure chance, nor pure skill. It’s a combination of both.
To better understand how the competing forces of luck and decision-making affect outcomes amid the uncertainty of life, the writer and psychologist Maria Konnikova did what anyone would do: took up high-stakes poker and hit the casino circuit. Her latest book, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win, recounts the journey.
Konnikova came to poker as a complete novice. With practice and diligence — and the luck of landing a world-class player to be her coach — Konnikova discovered she was a natural, racking up hundreds of thousands in winnings and a seat at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. She came to view the game as a metaphor for learning to understand and distinguish between what can be controlled in life and what can’t — as well as how to become a better decision-maker under precarious circumstances.
“In a way,” she writes, “it’s as much a test of life philosophy as anything else. The qualitative side of things versus the measurable. The human versus the algorithmic.”
Forge recently talked to Konnikova about unpredictability, control, and the balance of chance and fortune in…
