Degen 101: Maria Konnikova Teaches Kids Poker

Give me the child until he is seven years, and I will give you the man – so spoke St Ignatius Loyola. Supposedly. The founder of the Jesuits knew what he was talking about. Maria Konnikova is following suit, pitching poker to the younglings in an effort to buoy up the poker economy in ten to fourteen years when they can legally blow their paycheques in a casino.

Konnikova – whose role as an ambassador for poker is about to peak with the release of her book The Biggest Bluff in June – gave a pop-up lecture on poker for children as part of The Kids Are In Charge project.

The project is in its own words:

“A kid-driven pop-up school (grades 4-5) that started when the schools closed because of COVID-19. Run by kids, for kids.” 

Who knew kids were such degens?

Konnikova tries to downplay the gambling aspect of the game – after all, think of the children – referring to poker chips as tracking the number of “points” each player has, be then she almost immediately saying that “calling costs more money”, somewhat ruining the effect. Never mind, we can’t all think like Sherlock all the time, I guess. 

The most useful lessons come towards the end, how to engage in mathematical and avoid results-oriented thinking. 

Konnikova ends on the hopeful message that she has learned to make better decisions and her life has been improved since she learned to play.

She does not say whether that has anything to do with the book deal and $300k in tournament winnings she has accrued.