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Maria Konnikova On Understanding Poker To Win At Life – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #736 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

When Maria Konnikova first entered the world of poker in 2017, it was tough to predict that, within a year, she would have won a major title, made multiple final tables, and amassed close to $300,000 in live tournament winnings. But that’s precisely what happened. Today, in addition to her career as a journalist, Maria plays professionally, traveling the world as she seeks her next poker title in anticipation of her recently published book, The Biggest Bluff. Maria brings a unique background to her poker career: apart from being a bestselling author (her other books include The Confidence Game, and Mastermind) and award-winning journalist, she holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University. Her doctoral work was on risky and emotional decision making in uncertain environments—the precise sorts of conditions you encounter at the poker table. Her theoretical findings, alongside her new practical experience, form a powerful combination for insight into the human decision making process in environments far removed from the poker table. Apart from playing and working on her book, over the last year Maria has developed interactive decision making workshops that use poker as a tool to explore your own mind—and help you emerge with a more complete understanding of yourself and a roadmap for improving your thought processes going forward. There is powerful connection between understanding the dynamics of poker in relation to what we need to pay attention to, how to master our thinking, how to see people for who they truly are (and not what they may be pretending to be) and where the “win” in life may actually be. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation #736.

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Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.