Beating the Odds of Life 💛
17 November 2020
TATA Lit Fest LIVE…
Young American – Russian author Maria Konnikova of Mastermind fame, in conversation with Girish Shahane...
Poker helps strategic decision-making in real life!
Our goal is to figure out how to make the best decision possible!
As a psychologist I said to myself, how a magician confesses, how poker helps in decision-making!
Then I really wanted to learn poker, and wanted someone to teach me poker, because I saw it as a metaphor for life!
Girish asks,
In Monte Carlo, you stood on the floor of the Monte Carlo Casino explaining the idea for your new book.
You had said that you were hoping to “work from zero to the highest levels” and use the skills she had learnt to make “better decisions” in everyday life!
Maria elaborates on that.
Girish asks,
Poker was called a man’s game, and you are an exception! How is it, that a novice like yourself, managed to convince Erik Seidel to mentor you on Poker?
Maria replies,
Very good players who are playing now, started may be ten years ago!
He was the only player who had subscribed to the New Yorker, and I was a journalist. So when I approached him, he said he knew all about me from the New Yorker.
So I really did a lot of research, and I also came prepared with psychology studies, and how poker made its way into popular literature!
So I tried to prove what I could bring into the relationship too!
So first of all, when he saw an opportunity to bring the love of poker outside the poker community – I was a journalist – who wanted to write about it – so he also loved to spread the word about poker to everyone else through this media!
Poker is a game of numbers, statistics, people with a heavy mathematical background, especially people with PhD from MITs!
I think he saw in me a chance to prove a concept! Can someone be thought to think well by playing well!
That would be a huge win for him, and his philosophy.
So he said, ‘This might be interesting, and let’s see how it goes’.
That’s how it worked out, and it got around really well.
Erik taught me much more than a typical poker player.
Winning makes such a difference! To win a tournament you have to play well, but you also have to get lucky. Cos people don’t care about the second place.
I played well, but I also made some mistakes. But it’s important to convince yourself that you can give your best! 💛
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