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Maria Konnikova is a Russian-American writer with a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. Konnikova has worked as a television producer, written for several magazines and online publications, and written three New York Times best-selling books. She primarily writes about psychology and its application to real life situations.

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Maria Konnikova
Born	1984 (age 37–38) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Author (non-fiction)
Nationality	American
Genre	Popular science Psychology
Notable works	The Biggest Bluff Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes The Confidence Game[1]
Scientific career
Thesis	The Limits of Self-Control: Self-Control, Illusory Control, and Risky Financial Decision Making (2013)
Doctoral advisor	Walter Mischel
Website
www.mariakonnikova.com

Early life

Maria Konnikova was born in Moscow, Russia in 1984 to Jewish parents.[2] She was four years old when her family immigrated to the United States and settled in Massachusetts, outside of Boston.[3]

Education

Konnikova attended Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in Massachusetts.[4]^{[better source needed]} After graduating from high school, Konnikova attended Harvard University, where she graduated with a B.A. in psychology and creative writing. While studying at Harvard, Konnikova was mentored by psychologist and popular author Steven Pinker.[5]

She earned her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University in 2013.[3][6] under Walter Mischel.[3]

Career

Writing

Following her B.A., she worked as a producer for the Charlie Rose Show, where she helped set up the segment "Brain Series".[3][7] While working there, she also wrote the "Literally Psyched" column for Scientific American[8] and the psychology blog "Artful Choice" for Big Think,[9] both of which she is no longer involved with.[10] In April 2013 she had an article published in The New Yorker for the first time;[11] she continues to contribute regularly with articles about psychology and science.[12][13] She took a leave of absence to work on her third book.[14]

Konnikova's first book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, was published in January 2013 by Viking Press/Penguin Group, became a New York Times bestseller, and has been translated into 17 languages.[15][12] She was introduced to the Sherlock Holmes character at a young age, when her father read Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories to her.[16]

Her second book, The Confidence Game, also published by Viking Press/Penguin Group, made the New York Times best-seller list for February 2016 in the crime and punishment category,[17] and the Canadian Best-Sellers List for non-fiction for the weeks ending 26 January[18] and 2 February[19]

Her third book, The Biggest Bluff, was published on June 23, 2020, by Penguin Press; she had signed the book deal in March 2017[14] and submitted the manuscript in October 2019.[20] The book follows her immersion into the world of poker and explores the role of chance in our everyday lives.[21][22]

Konnikova makes regular appearances on The Gist podcast in her own segment called "Is that bullshit?". In early 2017, she published a 10-part podcast about con-artists and the lives they ruin, called The Grift.[23]

Poker

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 that "When I started this, I didn’t know how many cards were in a deck. I hate casinos. I have zero interest in gambling."[24]

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.[25]

Her first major tournament, in April 2017, was the PokerStars tournament 2017 in Monte Carlo.[26] In January 2018, she won the PCA National event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure No-Limit Hold'em Championship, winning $84,600.[27] The win also came with a Platinum Pass worth $30,000 to the PokerStars Players Championship in January 2019.[14] Her total earnings prior to the event were about $30,000.[27]

After that 2018 win, Konnikova decided to delay work on her book, The Biggest Bluff, to compete in more tournaments with higher stakes[25] 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",[28] with PokerStars sponsoring her in professional tournaments.[24]

In November 2019, Konnikova and PokerStars “parted ways”.[20]

Awards

• Konnikova's book The Confidence Game was awarded the 2016 Robert P. Balles Prize by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[1]
• The Best American Science and Nature Writing[29] for her article "Altered Tastes," about Heston Blumenthal[30]

Bibliography

• Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, Viking, 3 January 2013, ISBN 978-0670026579
• The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time, Viking, 12 January 2016, ISBN 978-0525427414
• The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win, Penguin Press, 23 June 2020, ISBN 978-0525522621

References

External links

• Official website
• Scientific American column
• The Grift podcast
• Maria Konnikova Poker Interview
• Tournament poker results

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