{"id":58601,"date":"2018-06-19T09:31:23","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T16:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=58601"},"modified":"2018-06-19T09:31:23","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T16:31:23","slug":"look-confidence-game-part-1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/look-confidence-game-part-1-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at The Confidence Game \u2013 Part 1 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

For our May 31 <\/span>Gambling with an Edge <\/span><\/i>podcast, we interviewed Maria Konnikova, a journalist with a Ph.D. in psychology who worked with Eric Seidel to become more knowledgeable about poker and ended up winning several tournaments. Maria impressed both Richard Munchkin and me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparing for the interview, I learned that one of Konnikova\u2019s books, <\/span>The Confidence Game<\/span><\/i>, is a study of the men and women who are con artists. \u00a0She also created a podcast called \u201cThe Grift\u201d where she has 10 half-hour episodes of extended studies discussing the con artists she wrote about in the book.<\/span><\/p>\n

I started to l listen to the first podcast episode, and five hours later I had listened to them all. I was hooked. I ordered <\/span>The Confidence Game<\/span><\/i> to read what else she said on the subject.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s blog is primarily about why I decided to study what Konnikova wrote. Next week\u2019s blog is about the book itself. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is arguably self-centered to describe my thought process on why I chose to read a particular book. Still, when I\u2019ve studied other professional gamblers, it was always important to me to know the \u201cwhy\u201d of their actions rather than just the \u201cwhat.\u201d So that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to start.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been conned more than once. I was never suckered in a three-card Monte game or sent money to help a Nigerian prince, but I\u2019ve been conned just the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

I started playing backgammon for real money in 1994. I was 27 years old at the time. At least twice I was successfully conned — but didn\u2019t know it at the time. Months later I was reading Danny Kleinman and read about the very hustles I fell for. I would have possibly never known had I not read about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m \u201colder and wiser\u201d now, but a few years ago I still found myself trusting a player not deserving that trust. At that time, it felt appropriate. Afterwards, there were plenty of signs I missed. I wrote here about me being conned, but in exchange for being paid most of what I was owed, I took down the articles and promised never to re-post them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In reading <\/span>The Confidence Game<\/span><\/i>, I hoped to learn about many schemes that have already been pulled on others — so hopefully I can recognize them when someone tries to pull them on me. As we will see in next week\u2019s blog, the book is chock full of examples. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have no idea what con is coming my way next. Even though I am smarter than many and not completely na\u00efve in this area, I do not presume I am immune from being victimized. It\u2019s happened before and possibly could happen again. I\u2019m hoping that the more I know about the methodology of how it is done, I\u2019ll be able to safely dodge the bullet next time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second, totally unrelated, reason I wanted to study this book is as a \u201chow to\u201d primer. I do not consider myself a grifter or con artist at all. At the same time, sometimes a bit of subterfuge is critical to being an AP — and even to success in everyday life. It\u2019s nice to learn some of the principles of how it\u2019s done. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you listen to the Kelly Sun interview on GWAE, you\u2019ll see she and Phil Ivey incorporated many elements of the con in what they did. Both Richard and I believe that what they did was completely legal and they should prevail in court. So far, the courts have disagreed with these beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my <\/span>Million Dollar Video Poker<\/span><\/i> autobiography, I described how the MGM Grand was giving away the store because their slot management department was arithmetically challenged. I gave them all sorts of plausible reasons why I was playing so many hours and never once explained that they were idiots for offering such a lucrative $500\/hour game for players with a bankroll who could play 9\/6 Jacks or Better well. Was this conning them? Maybe. Maybe not. As I said, a bit of subterfuge is critical to being a successful AP.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve used \u201cseat of the pants\u201d methodology in this regard, with moderate success. According to the book, some of the things I\u2019ve been doing are well executed, and some are not. Learning how to be more successful is always part of my agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

We asked Maria Konnikova on the air whether her book was meant to be an instructional manual on how to be a con artist. She said that certainly wasn\u2019t her intention, but she might have accomplished that nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n

I found many of her pointers quite useful. I\u2019ll tell you more about them next week.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For our May 31 Gambling with an Edge podcast, we interviewed Maria Konnikova, a journalist with a Ph.D. in psychology who worked with Eric Seidel to become more knowledgeable about poker and ended up winning several tournaments. Maria impressed both Richard Munchkin and me. Preparing for the interview, I learned that one of Konnikova\u2019s books, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[428],"yoast_head":"\nA Look at The Confidence Game \u2013 Part 1 of 2 - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/look-confidence-game-part-1-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Look at The Confidence Game \u2013 Part 1 of 2 - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For our May 31 Gambling with an Edge podcast, we interviewed Maria Konnikova, a journalist with a Ph.D. in psychology who worked with Eric Seidel to become more knowledgeable about poker and ended up winning several tournaments. 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