31. Where Skill Ends & Chance Begins with Maria Konnikova

Not many people can say they became a professional poker player while researching a book, but in Dr. Maria Konnikova’s case, she can. In her latest book My Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win, journalist and award-winning author Konnikova explains how her research into the science between luck, skill, randomness, and the myth that hard work always leads to success led her to become an international champion poker player.

Konnikova explores the significant overlap between the game of poke and the game of life and finds that it is often what determines success: skill and chance. When playing a game with incomplete information, while you cannot control the randomness of the shuffle, if you can identify where skill ends and chance begins, you can master the skills necessary to succeed. 

Dr. Konnikova explains how by learning to identify the difference between what is skill and what is chance, we hone our strategic thinking, learning to master what we can control and release what we can’t.

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