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Reviews
The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win by Maria Konnikova
rongrong's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Enjoyed the story, and some of the reflections. Maybe a reflection of the audiobook or my attention span, but I wish there’d been a recap at the end of top lessons.
thisgirlelle's review
5.0
A dense read (I had to slow down to really take it all in), but a fantastic one. Konnikova does a great job breaking down the different elements of poker and takes you along for her journey in exploring and applying the balance between pure probabilistic thinking and human inconsistencies/quirks. Definitely made me reflect upon how these can be applied in the world when facing asymmetries of information and interacting with others.
mary_soon_lee's review
3.0
In 2016, Maria Konnikova set out to learn poker as a means to learn skills she could apply much more generally, such as how to cope with good and bad luck. She succeeded in persuading a preeminent poker player (Erik Seidel) to mentor her. This book describes what happened, alongside a slew of accompanying remarks on human psychology. I found it a diverting but not fully satisfying mix. I think I would have preferred either straight memoir, or else greater detail on such things as the description-experience gap, the sunk-cost fallacy, and thin-slice judgments.
The author reaches for insights learned in poker that can be applied to life, her own or the reader's. At times, this was a little grating. At other times, her comments resonated well. Two such comments that I particularly liked were a quote from W. H. Auden:
and the author speaking about herself:
(As a final note: I'm fond of chapter numbers, whether accompanied by chapter titles or standing alone. I missed them.)
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
The author reaches for insights learned in poker that can be applied to life, her own or the reader's. At times, this was a little grating. At other times, her comments resonated well. Two such comments that I particularly liked were a quote from W. H. Auden:
"Choice of attention--to pay attention to this and ignore that--is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences."
-- from the chapter titled Texting Your Way out of Millions
and the author speaking about herself:
"I don't have the guts because I'm afraid--still--of looking stupid, of making mistakes, of being judged and judging myself."
-- from the chapter Full Tilt
(As a final note: I'm fond of chapter numbers, whether accompanied by chapter titles or standing alone. I missed them.)
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
wooknight's review
5.0
She is a brilliant writer , drags you in to her struggles to learn poker , fascinating characters in and outside of Poker and the magic that is poker . I have never been interested in cards because like everybody else , I believed that poker was gambling (no different from craps or baccarat or even roulette) but she shone a bright light on my ignorance and a realization that learning poker (well) can actually help dealing with uncertainty and whats life if not uncertain. Lastly her courage and experience dealing with (mostly misogynistic) jerks leaves one applauding her courage
heidibrunney's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I'm not a big gambler, and poker really doesn't do much for me, but this book was recommended to me before a trip to Vegas. Honestly, at times I did get bored listening to the author talk about poker. But I will say, her story is fascinating, and I love how she used poker to share and discover general life advise and the psychology to back it up. You don't have to like poker to find this book interesting, and I'd definitely recommend to anyone who likes paychology/non-fiction, and obviously poker.
ariadnamonkeys's review against another edition
3.0
Uf.... el vaig començar després de sant jordi (després de regalarli al meu pare i que ell se'l llegís) i el vaig haver de deixar perquè no m'agradava gens com estava escrit. No sé ben bé que és, si el to de la narració, les xapes que fot... però alguna cosa no m'acabava. Em vaig quedar a mitges i ahir em vaig reenganxar i m'ha acabat agradant. Té tot el que volia: poker (amb una mica de visió de gènere), psicologia, etc. Però segueixo pensant que alguna cosa no ha acabat de fer el click.
pd: soc workaholic?
pd: soc workaholic?
jaraddavis02's review
5.0
I am fascinated by chess. I taught myself how to play the game and enjoy playing. The primary reason I enjoy chess is because it has always served as a metaphor for life. You always hear people say how decision making is “Chess. Not checkers.” One is always advised to think steps ahead of the competition. This is what chess symbolizes. Chess was inspired by military strategy, which is often how we view life anyway. I still enjoy chess and certainly see the life applications that can be compared to it. However, I was introduced to how another game may be even more applicable to our psychology and decision making prowess.
The Biggest Bluff, by Maria Konnikova, examines how poker can allow us to examine ourselves, our decisions, and our outcomes. A psychologist and a writer, Konnikova embarks on a year long quest to become a poker professional. She learns the game from scratch, and through many trials and errors, reaches pinnacle of professional poker. I learned how to play Texas Hold ‘Em poker in college, but haven’t delved much into it since then. This book, however, look at how life, like poker, is about understanding the hand you’re dealt, anticipating the hands others are dealt, deciding whether to hold or fold, and living with the outcomes. It is quite a fascinating study of the power of observation, the importance of information gathering, understanding your position, seeing multiple angles, thinking clearly and critically, and being able to articulate your thinking regardless of the outcome.
Konnikova explains how poker really isn’t as much gambling as it is merely making decisions based on probability and variance. It gave me a new perspective on a game that is often chided within my religious denominational circles. Be that as it may, I actually saw some parallels between poker and my faith. Both ask us to make decisions without having all the information. Both ask us to rely on a level of faith in the outcome. Both realize that the work without the faith (a poker player might call it luck) is dead. My forever curiosity now has me playing more poker, although not for money (I can’t pull myself to it), and taking those lessons into the different areas of my life. This was a fun read that also taught me a lot about self-knowledge, self-care, and self-reflection.
The Biggest Bluff, by Maria Konnikova, examines how poker can allow us to examine ourselves, our decisions, and our outcomes. A psychologist and a writer, Konnikova embarks on a year long quest to become a poker professional. She learns the game from scratch, and through many trials and errors, reaches pinnacle of professional poker. I learned how to play Texas Hold ‘Em poker in college, but haven’t delved much into it since then. This book, however, look at how life, like poker, is about understanding the hand you’re dealt, anticipating the hands others are dealt, deciding whether to hold or fold, and living with the outcomes. It is quite a fascinating study of the power of observation, the importance of information gathering, understanding your position, seeing multiple angles, thinking clearly and critically, and being able to articulate your thinking regardless of the outcome.
Konnikova explains how poker really isn’t as much gambling as it is merely making decisions based on probability and variance. It gave me a new perspective on a game that is often chided within my religious denominational circles. Be that as it may, I actually saw some parallels between poker and my faith. Both ask us to make decisions without having all the information. Both ask us to rely on a level of faith in the outcome. Both realize that the work without the faith (a poker player might call it luck) is dead. My forever curiosity now has me playing more poker, although not for money (I can’t pull myself to it), and taking those lessons into the different areas of my life. This was a fun read that also taught me a lot about self-knowledge, self-care, and self-reflection.