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367 reviews for:
The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win
Maria Konnikova
4.0 AVERAGE
367 reviews for:
The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win
Maria Konnikova
4.0 AVERAGE
4.5
The best written poker book I’ve read and I’ve read more than 20. It’s not a strategy guide or hand history, but a psychological approach to the game. The author starts with zero knowledge of Texas Hold ‘em with a goal of becoming a pro or at least playing like one in a year. She acquires a world class coach and learns all the ins and outs of every bit of the poker world. She has a brilliant mind and helped me think about a game I’ve thought about for countless hours differently. I think it would be less interesting, but still a good read for those who don’t play poker. It’s approachable for anyone.
The best written poker book I’ve read and I’ve read more than 20. It’s not a strategy guide or hand history, but a psychological approach to the game. The author starts with zero knowledge of Texas Hold ‘em with a goal of becoming a pro or at least playing like one in a year. She acquires a world class coach and learns all the ins and outs of every bit of the poker world. She has a brilliant mind and helped me think about a game I’ve thought about for countless hours differently. I think it would be less interesting, but still a good read for those who don’t play poker. It’s approachable for anyone.
An instance where the author shouldn’t have narrated her own audiobook; her voice is extremely annoying—very uptight, lispy, nerdy—and detracted from the story. The book is well researched, and the author clearly worked hard to excel in a complex game. As a non-player, there was enough here to interest me and a broad range of research and applying her poker learnings to life.
I should probably preface this review by saying I DON’T KNOW SH****T ABOUT POKER. I discovered this author while listening to a Freakonomics Podcast that featured Konnikova speaking about this book. I was instantly mesmerized by Konnikova’s very impressive resume and studies and immediately put all of her books on hold at the library. Maria Konnikova has a Ph. D in psychology and has written books on various topics such as deception and improving mindfulness.
Konnikova became interested in poker after studying John von Neumann’s work on game theory. von Neumann studied games of strategy - including poker - to explore strategic decision making. Basically if you can figure out the strategy behind poker, you’ll be able to figure out and evaluate risk and uncertainty in tough situations. Konnikova wanted to understand what in life is left up to chance and what can be controlled by oneself. As someone that has constant anxiety when it comes to situations like this, I thought this would be a really interesting read that would hopefully provide some insight on these situations.
WOW this book was fascinating! I loved how it was written. Konnikova takes your on her journey of becoming a professional poker player - from not knowing the difference between poker and blackjack (lol me) to becoming a full on professional player in the big leagues. She made a goal to play professional poker for 1 year and she DID JUST THAT. That alone was super inspiring but I also was interested in her findings and what she learned in that one year.
THREE IMPORTANT TAKE AWAYS FROM THIS BOOK:
1. False/ over confidence leads to failure
2. “don't play above your weight class after you've just been punched down"
3. Always question and inquire - even if you think you’re the expert!
Final thoughts: I gave this book 4.5 stars! I still don’t know sh***t about poker but I do have some insight on how to better take control of the situations that are controllable - and to constantly check in with myself and reflect on things in life that are working, and what isn’t. If you like poker I would HIGHLY recommend this to you, as it might help you become the next biggest poker star. If you’re someone like me, who has only had maybe one experience watching a poker game, drunkenly at a pool party in Vegas - I still highly recommend this book. Don’t make my mistake - read the glossary at the back before reading (whooooooops!).
Konnikova became interested in poker after studying John von Neumann’s work on game theory. von Neumann studied games of strategy - including poker - to explore strategic decision making. Basically if you can figure out the strategy behind poker, you’ll be able to figure out and evaluate risk and uncertainty in tough situations. Konnikova wanted to understand what in life is left up to chance and what can be controlled by oneself. As someone that has constant anxiety when it comes to situations like this, I thought this would be a really interesting read that would hopefully provide some insight on these situations.
WOW this book was fascinating! I loved how it was written. Konnikova takes your on her journey of becoming a professional poker player - from not knowing the difference between poker and blackjack (lol me) to becoming a full on professional player in the big leagues. She made a goal to play professional poker for 1 year and she DID JUST THAT. That alone was super inspiring but I also was interested in her findings and what she learned in that one year.
THREE IMPORTANT TAKE AWAYS FROM THIS BOOK:
1. False/ over confidence leads to failure
2. “don't play above your weight class after you've just been punched down"
3. Always question and inquire - even if you think you’re the expert!
Final thoughts: I gave this book 4.5 stars! I still don’t know sh***t about poker but I do have some insight on how to better take control of the situations that are controllable - and to constantly check in with myself and reflect on things in life that are working, and what isn’t. If you like poker I would HIGHLY recommend this to you, as it might help you become the next biggest poker star. If you’re someone like me, who has only had maybe one experience watching a poker game, drunkenly at a pool party in Vegas - I still highly recommend this book. Don’t make my mistake - read the glossary at the back before reading (whooooooops!).
informative
slow-paced
Very interesting and thought provoking read for me. I really enjoyed it
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
One of the most fun pieces of informative nonfiction I've read. I don't care for poker and this was still fascinating. Great content on decision making and problem solving that's both educational and useful. I look forward to more books by this author.
informative
fast-paced
informative
slow-paced
Maria is a psychologist who decides that she wants to learn how to play poker and put her knowledge of people and how they react to situations to see if it helps her. She enlists the help of a renowned poker player to coach her through her process.
This book was highly recommended by MMD, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping it was going to be. I was looking for more of memoir and this had a lot of science backed information along with poker terminology, which bogged down the book for me. I think that if you are into poker this book would be more captivating for you. This book was my "read before bedtime" book and it always put me to sleep so fast. I think that the book picks up once she has been practicing for a year and is finally in some decent tournaments. It also made me curious to know more about how to play poker.
This book was highly recommended by MMD, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping it was going to be. I was looking for more of memoir and this had a lot of science backed information along with poker terminology, which bogged down the book for me. I think that if you are into poker this book would be more captivating for you. This book was my "read before bedtime" book and it always put me to sleep so fast. I think that the book picks up once she has been practicing for a year and is finally in some decent tournaments. It also made me curious to know more about how to play poker.
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Game theory, philosophy, psychology, economics, humor...amazing book