Psychologist’s poker adventure a winning hand

‘Konnikova. Maria Konnikova.”

That’s the real-life journalist, author and psychological scientist, riffing on a fantasized James Bond-like version of herself, one who operates effortlessly in a world of international intrigue. The real Konnikova has just hopped a chopper from Nice to Monte Carlo for a high-stakes poker game, and in her fantasy, she is as glamorous as the setting.

But once on the ground in this world-famous gambling mecca, the real-life version reasserts itself — jet-lagged, disheveled, insecure and terrified. This self-doubting Konnikova has serious reservations about even being here, for the European Poker Tour, and for good reason. Just eight months before, she was basically poker illiterate. She had never played a single game of poker in her life. Yet here she was, about to match wits with some of the world’s cleverest and cagiest card players.

This delightful scene comes halfway through Konnikova’s quest to conquer the tournament of all poker tournaments, the World Series of Poker, in Las Vegas. What would motivate someone with zero experience in card playing or gambling to drop everything else in her life to take on such a quixotic pursuit? “The Biggest Bluff” is Konnikova’s attempt to answer that question and to describe her journey. And what a fascinating journey and narrative it is.

Real life is always front and center in Konnikova’s story, and indeed she was nudged in part by her family’s streak of bad luck in 2015. Her mother unexpectedly lost her job. Her husband’s start-up failed. Her vivacious grandmother took a fall and died two days later. And she herself came down with a bizarre and mysterious autoimmune disorder. This run of misfortune seemed unfair, and improbable, and reinforced her interest in chance and control — and poker. She set an improbable goal, to compete in the prestigious World Series of Poker just one year later.

I was all in for Konnikova, charmed by her honesty and selfdeprecating humor. I found myself cheering even her small victories and feeling the disappointment of her losses. In the end, Konnikova’s winning hand is dealt out not in aces and jacks, straights and flushes, but in self-knowledge, acceptance and serenity.