Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova cover art

Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova

Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova

By: Pushkin Industries
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About this listen

Risky Business is a weekly podcast about making better decisions. The hosts, Maria Konnikova and Nate Silver, are both journalists who moonlight as high-stakes poker players. On Risky Business, they bring their analytical framework to everything from politics to poker to personal decisions.

Maria has a PhD in psychology and is the author of several books including, most recently, The Biggest Bluff. While researching the book, she inadvertently became a professional poker player, with over $500,000 in tournament winnings. She is a PokerStars Team Pro.

Nate is the founder and former editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight, and one of the country’s leading election forecasters. He has over $800,000 in lifetime poker tournament winnings and his forthcoming book, On the Edge, is about gambling and risk.

Risky Business is a co-production of iHeart Media and Pushkin Industries.

2025 Pushkin Industries & iHeartMedia, Inc. 2024 Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Does Ranked Choice Voting Work? Plus, New AI Predictions

    Does Ranked Choice Voting Work? Plus, New AI Predictions
    Jun 19 2025

    Nate and Maria report back on the ups and downs of the WSOP. Then, they discuss ranked choice voting and the upcoming New York City mayoral primary. This voting system is supposed to help a consensus candidate win…but, does it? Finally, they talk about Nate’s recent trip to the Manifest conference in Berkeley, and why they’ve become more skeptical of the idea that artificial superintelligence might soon transform the world.

    Further Reading:

    Silver Bulletin guest post by Joel Wertheimer: Can anyone beat Cuomo? And is it Zohran?

    For more from Nate and Maria, subscribe to their newsletters:

    The Leap from Maria Konnikova

    Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver

    Get ad-free episodes, and get your questions answered in an exclusive weekly bonus episode, of Risky Business by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, exclusive binges, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows.

    Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
    Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    44 mins
  • This Year’s World Series Of Poker Is Different

    This Year’s World Series Of Poker Is Different
    Jun 12 2025

    Nate and Maria are back in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker 2025. They discuss a key rule change that will have a major effect on their strategy. Then, they’re joined by a Risky Business listener who gets a crash course in tournament play. Finally, they look back on their own early days at the WSOP.

    For more from Nate and Maria, subscribe to their newsletters:

    The Leap from Maria Konnikova

    Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver

    Get ad-free episodes, and get your questions answered in an exclusive weekly bonus episode, of Risky Business by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, exclusive binges, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows.

    Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
    Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    43 mins
  • An Elon Musk Report Card

    An Elon Musk Report Card
    Jun 5 2025

    Elon Musk has left the Trump administration. Nate and Maria talk about his brief but influential tenure, and discuss why overconfidence is a particular problem for people like Musk. Plus, they answer a listener question about how the US government can make better decisions.

    For more from Nate and Maria, subscribe to their newsletters:

    The Leap from Maria Konnikova

    Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver

    Get ad-free episodes, and get your questions answered in an exclusive weekly bonus episode, of Risky Business by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, exclusive binges, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows.

    Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
    Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
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