Poker as a Metaphor for Life and Decision Making
A review of The Biggest Bluff by Maria
Konnikova Tom Farr ·⚾️ Follow 5 min read · Aug 9, 2024 -- Share
Penguin Press
As both a
writer and a teacher, I’m always trying⚾️ to find connections between ideas that aren’t
obvious if you’re not looking for them. In my mind, that’s the key⚾️ to creativity and
generating new ideas or finding new solutions to old problems. Because of this, I’m
always searching for⚾️ new things to read that will challenge and hopefully expand my
current thinking.
Which is why when I kept seeing variations⚾️ of the headline
“Successful Writer Becomes Successful Poker Player” repeatedly as I scrolled through my
Twitter feed for a period⚾️ of several weeks, I became intrigued. The headlines were
referring to science writer for the New Yorker, Maria Konnikova, who⚾️ chronicled her
unlikely journey of learning how to play Texas Hold ’Em poker without any previous
knowledge of the game⚾️ and becoming a pro in a just a year in her new book The Biggest
Bluff: How I Learned to⚾️ Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win.
I have to confess that I
knew nothing about poker and didn’t really have any⚾️ interest in it either before I read
this book. But when I read the synopsis of the book, which is⚾️ all about poker as a
metaphor for life and the kinds of thinking that should go into the decision-making
process,⚾️ I was convinced I had to read it. Reading as a present-tense chronological
narrative of Konnikova’s journey to learn how⚾️ to play poker and make better decisions
in her own life, The Biggest Bluff is not only a compelling Hero’s⚾️ Journey story; it’s
an extended treatise on the biggest areas of growth people struggle with in making wise
decisions for⚾️ their lives.
As a father of a son (9 years old) with diagnosed anxiety
disorder, I found so much in this⚾️ book that will help me to help my son better cope
with the worries that often leave him paralyzed and⚾️ unable to make good decisions.
Toward the end of the book, Konnikova talks about a poker concept called “tilt,” which
⚾️ is basically when you play poorly because you’re allowing yourself and your
decision-making to be driven by emotions that cloud⚾️ your judgment rather than by calm
rational thought. She talks about tracking emotional triggers and learning how to
control the⚾️ automatic reactions she has to those triggers to think through how to
properly respond…
