Award-Winning Author, Champion Poker Player, Writer for The New Yorker
Maria Konnikova speaks about a range of subjects involving decision making, creativity, learning, and the psychology behind everyday life. She has given dozens of keynotes around the world; been a featured speaker at conferences like the World Economic Forum at Davos, TEDNYC and TEDx, and SXSW; led corporate retreats and annual meetings; and taught the key skills of optimal decision making to groups of all ages.
No two talks are ever the same, though all do draw on a combination of psychological research (much of it Maria’s own), real life examples, Maria’s personal experiences at the poker table and in the world of confidence artists, and Maria’s extensive background in journalism.
Maria Konnikova is the author of The Biggest Bluff, a New York Times bestseller, one of the Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2020, and a finalist for the Telegraph Best Sports Writing Awards for 2021. While researching The Biggest Bluff, Maria became an international poker champion and the winner of over $300,000 in tournament earnings—and inadvertently turned into a professional poker player. Her previous books are the bestsellers The Confidence Game, winner of the 2016 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, and Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, an Anthony and Agatha Award finalist.
Maria is a regularly contributing writer for The New Yorker whose writing has won numerous awards, including the 2019 Excellence in Science Journalism Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. Her writing has been featured in Best American Science and Nature Writing and has been translated into over twenty languages.
Maria also hosts the podcast The Grift from Panoply Media, a show that explores con artists and the lives they ruin. Her podcasting work earned her a National Magazine Award nomination in 2019.
She graduated from Harvard University and received her PhD in psychology from Columbia University.
"One of the truly gifted social science writers of our time."
Adam Grant
