How to Learn Anything Fast with Overnight Poker Champion, Maria Konnikova

Lessons on Accelerated Learning and Life

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Maria Konnikova, a two-times New York Times bestselling psychology author, former writer for The New Yorker, and most recently, a national poker champion.

What made Maria’s story all the more compelling is that she didn’t know the first thing about poker when she decided to use he game as a vehicle to better understand the role that chance and skill play in our lives.

She didn’t even know what the turn, the river or the flop was…she was by all measures, a total noob.

But she didn’t stay a noob for long. In fact, twelve months after starting her poker journey, she won the 2018 PCA National Championship. She chronicles her journey in her brand new book, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win.

What began as a conversation on her story, turned out to be a masterclass of sorts on accelerated learning.

Here’s what I took out of the conversation (you can also listen to the full conversation below).