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.

2026 Pushkin Industries & iHeartMedia, Inc. 2025 Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Nate and Maria’s 2026 Predictions

    Nate and Maria’s 2026 Predictions
    Jan 7 2026

    In the final episode of Risky Business, Nate and Maria check in on the predictions they made back in January for 2025, and then talk about what they think might be in store in 2026.

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

    The Leap from Maria Konnikova

    Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
  • Best of Risky Business: Life After Poker (with Vanessa Selbst)

    Best of Risky Business: Life After Poker (with Vanessa Selbst)
    Jan 3 2026

    We look back at Nate and Maria’s interview with former professional poker player Vanessa Selbst—the only woman ever to reach the number one ranking on the Global Poker Index. They discuss her experiences playing poker, her move into the world of finance, and why, at her first job after poker, she kept a giant bag of pennies underneath her desk.

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

    The Leap from Maria Konnikova

    Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    43 mins
  • Why Are Some Countries Happier Than Others?

    Why Are Some Countries Happier Than Others?
    Dec 31 2025

    Every year, the World Happiness Report comes out and the Nordic countries rejoice. Just kidding – sort of. Small, homogenous countries like Finland (2025’s happiest country) often top the list. But what does that really mean? Nate and Maria dive into the methodology of this research. As well as what it reveals (and doesn’t) about happiness.

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

    The Leap from Maria Konnikova

    Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver

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