FYP

Poker career
Konnikova 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. Her newest book, The Biggest Bluff , explores "...poker as a metaphor for life in general."[28] To research this book, Konnikova made contact with Erik Seidel, who allowed her to observe him competing at an event for high-stakes players. Other players also agreed to let her watch them play. Konnikova noted, "It was a beautiful learning experience that really accelerated my ability to learn the game."[28] After starting with $20 and $40 tournaments, she began playing in higher stakes tournaments.[28] Konnikova has taken up professional poker playing full-time and is an Ambassador of Poker League of Nations, the world's largest women's poker organization. The Poker Stars tournament 2017 in Monte Carlo was her first major tournament.[29][30] The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure No-Limit Hold'em Championship, where she placed 42nd of 582 players, was a personal turning point for her. Konnikova said of her performance, "PCA was the moment where everything kind of came together...I'm learning and it's sticking and I'm playing well. It's a really wonderful feeling when you're studying and working to have that validated."[28]

In 2018, Konnikova decided to delay work on her book to compete in more poker tournaments with higher stakes.[28] She completed the tour at the Poker Stars tournament 2018 in Monte Carlo, being coached by Seidel.[29][30] Despite the fact that she has earned more than US$200,000 at the poker table, she says she will not quit writing: "I’m never going to stop being a writer. Why can’t I do both? I love poker. Why would I stop?"[31]

Konnikova told the New York Times she had no background in poker when she began this journey: "When I started this, I didn’t know how many cards were in a deck. I hate casinos. I have zero interest in gambling."[31]

Awards

First, you said something to the effect of "maybe he got a bj out of it," which is ambiguous with respect to who solicited the act. But that's not the point. The point, and the reason your commentary is highly inappropriate, is that if the author were male, you would not casting aspersions on anyone's motives. If Bob the Psychologist decided to write a book about poker and a noted poker pro agreed to coach him, your first thought would not be that Bob and the poker pro must be gay, because why else would the poker pro work with Bob except for sexual attraction.

What I am encouraging you to be introspective about is why you assume solely on the basis that the author is a woman that Seidel must have had ulterior motives for working with her.

The corollary to your assumption, which does real harm in the world, is that Konnikova must have used her sexuality to accomplish what she accomplished. I do no intend to single you out -- ever since women began entering the workplace, many people (of all genders) have assumed successful women "slept their way to the top." Have some women done so? Possibly. But when that is our default, when our first explanation for a woman's success is that it was attained unfairly, or at minimum attained for reasons other than merit, we propagate the idea that women are less capable, less deserving than men.

P.S. I know this is a derail, but I think we have an obligation to call out sexism in the poker community where it happens, most especially in the rare thread that discusses a woman in this male-dominated environment.

Maria addresses her skill level directly
https://youtu.be/xKgdHJ0NBbk?t=2109

She mincashed the 1k online buyin. Listened for 30 seconds she might be full of fps but seems smart.

i guess the real question is how many years does being coached shave off of the learning curve , id say even with them being some of the old guard and greats it wouldnt even be a full year shaved off . IF shes even capable of being taught how to beat the game.

of coarse they use tourneys as a metric of success because if she wrote a book about how shes now only -2bb per hundred loser at .5/1 that wouldnt sell that many copies so i get it but the title without a doubt is misleading but who really cares it only benefits the game.

you clearly underestimate buka



last time i checked chan trapped seidel with ease

And then Seidel went on to rack up another $37 million in live tournament cashes.

Hi rickroll:

You might want to check again. I remember several years later Chan and Seidel being heads-up for a no-limit tournament which I think was WSOP with Erik winning.

Perhaps someone can find this.

Best wishes,
Mason

ugh... guys, i would have thought the video made the sarcasm evident

Mason - really enjoying your book - had a bunch of work/travel that forced me to take a break but will post a review on amazon and in its thread once i finish it - excellent stuff

"Have some women done so? Possibly." ???? You are invalidating your position on assumptions when your argument contains absurdities.

What book is from Mason?

thread about it here

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...-have-1770158/

Appeal to authority isnt much of an argument. Ofc naturally anybody would trust the high level pro.

Im just giving granular thoughts on these tourneys. She had tons of experience of play from online tourneys. Playing 10bb tournaments at Harrahs or 20+bb at Aria is how I would have viewed what would have provided the most overall benefit knowing the purpose was to play in the ME.

The one thing you choose to home in on is how I characterized the likelihood that women have slept their way to the top? That's pretty silly. And while what you choose to nitpick might make me less credible in your eyes, it does not "invalidate" anything.

Oh wait, never mind. You're totally right. It's completely fine to make sexist comments because n>1 women have slept their way to the top!

Hi rickroll:

Thanks for the comments and I look forward to reading your review.

Now let's get back to Maria.

Best wishes,
Mason

If you'd read her book, you'd know she did not.

I’m about 1/3 of the way through her book, and certainly enjoying it. But I’m confused about her overall strategy.

She lives in NYC amd wants to play live poker tournaments. So she describes starting by travelling to New Jersey to play online tournaments for a few months, and then flying to Vegas to play live poker for the first time (other than a charity tournament), mostly playing stuff like $50 tourneys at Golden Nugget.

Why didn’t she just play first in Atlantic City or any of the many other east coast casinos that would be a reasonable commute from NYC, especially if she’s already commuting to play online? Her coach Eric Seidel also lives in NYC, so why would he give her this advice?

I was under the impression that Seidel lives in LV and has a place in NYC. So it's possible he wouldn't have been around much for any East Coast in person live coaching.

Atlantic city is a 3 hour drive.
That's a 6 hour round trip, daily

Jersey City is a quick subway ride

Also, online is more efficient than live.
Moe hands played, and multi-tabling.

OK, but when she does decide to play live for the first time, why go all the way to Vegas to play $50 daily tournaments? This can't be a good investment of travel expenses.

I guess the Seidel already being in Vegas would have to be the explanation. Come to think of it, I used to play in AC a few days every month, and can't ever remember seeing Seidel there, which is a little weird if he actually lived in NYC.

have you not seen rounders? seidel knows better than to swim in Chan waters!

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=3057

2001 WSOP $3000 NLHE

1st United States Erik Seidel $411,300
2nd United States Johnny Chan $211,210

This now concludes my kevmath impersonation.

BTW, this is kind of funny for how it shows payouts have changed over the years. In 2011, this tourney had 382 entrants and 1st was $411K, with 7% of the field cashed. in 2019, the 3K NL had 754 entrants and 1st was $414K, with 15% of the field cashing .

Probably so she could write a book about Vegas, and not Jersey.

It does deal with her time spent in Las Vegas. And Monte Carlo, the Bahamas, and Macau.