Maria Konnikova

Following her B.A., Konnikova worked as a producer for the Charlie Rose Show, where she helped set up the segment "Brain Series".[3][7] She also wrote the "Literally Psyched" column for Scientific American[8] and the psychology blog "Artful Choice" for Big Think.[9][10] In April 2013, she had her article on uncertainty in decision making was published in The New Yorker, [11] where she continues to contribute.[12][13]

Konnikova at the IdeaFestival (2013)

Konnikova's book was Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.[14][12] She was introduced to the Sherlock Holmes character at a young age, when her father read Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories to her.[15]

Her book, The Confidence Game, published in 2016 in the crime and punishment category[16][17][18]

Her third book, The Biggest Bluff, in 2020, follows her active participation into the world of poker.[19][20][21]

Konnikova makes regular appearances on The Gist podcast in her own segment, "Is that bullshit?". In early 2017, she published a 10-part podcast about con-artists and the lives they ruin, called The Grift.[22]

Konnikova has said that she became interested in poker after reading John von Neumann’s work on game theory. She described it as a way to examine the mind’s responses to conditions that involve both skill and chance. Konnikova told The New York Times, "When I started this, I didn’t know how many cards were in a deck. I hate casinos. I have zero interest in gambling."[23]

In the late summer of 2016, she made contact with Erik Seidel, who agreed to become her coach for her goal of spending a year as a competitive poker player.[24]

Her first major tournament, in April 2017, was the PokerStars tournament 2017 in Monte Carlo.[25] In January 2018, she won the PCA National event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure No-Limit Hold'em Championship, winning $84,600.[26] The win also came with a Platinum Pass worth $30,000 to the PokerStars Players Championship in January 2019. Her total earnings prior to the event were about $30,000.[26]

After that 2018 win, Konnikova decided to delay work on her book, The Biggest Bluff, to compete in more tournaments with higher stakes.[24] She took up professional poker playing full-time. Beginning in the summer of 2018, she became affiliated with PokerStars, an online gaming site; in June 2018, she became a PokerStars "Ambassador"[27] with PokerStars sponsoring her in professional tournaments.[23]

In November 2019, Konnikova and PokerStars “parted ways”.[19]