This is just a great read all round. I've liked Konnikova's writing whenever I've encountered it - I like what she writes about (decision-making, cognitive biases, psychology, personality, behaviour and general interestingness) and I like the way she writes about it (clearly and engagingly) - and The Biggest Bluff's premise is a cracking one, namely, Konnikova herself taking up poker from scratch with the aim of playing in the Main Event at the World Series of Poker in one year's time.
Of course, as she lays out along the way, her aims were deeper than just that surface motivation, and so is this book. The 'hook' is how far her background in psychology - when coupled with coaching from a living legend of professional poker, Erik Seidel, together with what's clearly a formidable intellect and capacity for focus and hard work - would take her in a hyper-competitive world dominated by maths-y and aggressively masculine types. But there's an equally compelling narrative line built around the inquiry that her training and experiences with poker enable her to make into the respective limits of luck and control in determining outcomes (in poker and in life), with a third strand comprising the investigations into Konnikova's own insecurities and psyche prompted by her experiences in competition.
She's excellent at opening up each of those through-lines, while at the same time introducing the rules, strategy and culture of high level poker and its attendant circuit and players, and there's also a built in narrative tension associated with her overall improvement arc and performance in individual tournaments along the way. Impressively, the connections she makes to lessons for life never feel forced - taking in both really direct applications of particular disciplines and skills that she hones in poker, and broader mindsets and orientations which can help make sense of life's challenges and how to navigate them.
