To help her write a book about the world of professional poker, New Yorker writer Maria Konnikova began shadowing ace player Erik Seidel about a year ago.
While the book is still expected to be out next year, Konnikova was able to push the tome back a bit – because she won so much money playing poker while she was writing it.
As part of her research, Konnikova was able to peek at Seidel’s cards while he was playing and get a first-hand look as to how a card shark plays, and, by extension, thinks.
“It was an insane experience,” she told PokerNews. “It was a beautiful learning experience that really accelerated my ability to learn the game.”
Konnikova wasn’t exaggerating as she won $86,400 by beating a 240-person field at the PCA National in January and then, after revising her book schedule to accommodate more training, took home $57,519 after finishing second at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau event.
Still working on an ending for her book, Konnikova is now in Monaco for a PokerStars event.
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