"... the laws of probability, so true in general, [are] so fallacious in particular" - Edward Gibbon

In The Biggest Bluff, Maria Konnikova shares about her foray into the realms of poker and her ascent from absolute beginner to champion of multiple professional poker tournaments. With her background in psychology, Maria Konnikova presents a unique perspective on the game. The central premise of her book is on how the lessons she has acquired from poker, such as accepting uncertainty or adopting clarity in thinking, can be applied to our daily lives.

One example which I particularly enjoyed was her account on min-cashing, which is the situation where players are awarded a sum of money for making it past a particular position in a poker tournament, despite not coming up on top. Maria Konnikova explains how min-cashing is often insufficient to cover one's expenses in poker, and so rather than aiming to cash, players ought to aim to win. She reflects about how this concept is analogous to our lives; in that we should strive for the best instead of just good enough. Another lesson which resonates with me is the focus on process during the game of poker. Undoubtedly, as with real life, luck plays an instrumental role in determining our outcomes. However, Maria Konnikova purports that we shouldn't dwell on our outcomes, especially the bad ones. Rather, we should reflect on our process, and whether we had made the best decisions at that particular moment, given the amount of information we had then.

Overall, I found this book to be a really refreshing read.

Want the book? Get it now on The Book Depository.