Maria Konnikova - poker beginner to champion

Maria Konnikova is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, The Confidence Game. Her new book, The Biggest Bluff, is out now. Maria started as a complete beginner in poker and 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. She got mentored by Eric Seidel, Phil Galfond, and several other highly successful poker players and her rapid success is a testament to what can be achieved in poker with the right approach to studies, the right guidance, and a lot of dedication. Maria is also a regularly contributing writer for The New Yorker whose writing has won numerous awards. Get Maria's wonderful new book The Biggest Bluff here https://amzn.to/2ZFdIyy Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to stay informed about new videos https://www.youtube.com/RunchuksPoker?sub_confirmation=1 And if you'd like to receive my key takeaways from each latest podcast episode, subscribe to my newsletter https://www.runchukspodcast.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/RunchuksP Follow Maria on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mkonnikova https://www.mariakonnikova.com/ Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:20 Outsiders perspective 00:04:22 Mentored by Erik Seidel 00:05:59 Good at studying 00:07:04 Why get into poker? 00:09:17 Most complex parts of decision making in poker 00:11:53 Less certainty more inquiry 00:14:00 Time constraint 00:16:47 Always ask why players are doing what they're doing 00:18:11 Speaking several languages helps 00:21:27 Too much certainty 00:22:58 No expectations 00:24:07 Why the vast majority of poker players are male? 00:35:03 Resistance to accepting women in poker 00:36:38 Women - untapped poker market demographic 00:38:52 Trying to get new players into the game 00:40:25 Erik Seidel's method of teaching 00:44:03 Phil Galfond quote 00:44:44 Once the results started coming 00:46:27 Phil Galfond Challenge 00:47:22 Passion for poker 00:48:20 Winning the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure - Bahamas 00:53:14 Overcoming a big mistake at the beginning of the final table 00:54:44 Maria Konnikova - The Biggest Bluff