A new poker podcast is aimed at the thinking side of the game. PokerStars Ambassadors Maria Konnikova and James Hartigan launched "The Tough Call" on Tuesday, October 27, with Jason Koon as the first guest. The ten-episode first season runs weekly through December 29 and focuses on decision-making under pressure, a subject poker players know better than most. For anyone who wants to think about poker more clearly, The Tough Call podcast looks like a useful addition.
The basics
According to PokerNews, the series is sponsored by PokerStars and hosted by Konnikova and Hartigan. Season 1 has ten episodes, released on Tuesdays from October 27 to December 29. It will be available on a dedicated YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
The release schedule runs weekly: November 3, 10, 17 and 24, then December 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 for the remaining episodes. The weekly cadence makes it easy to follow along as a regular listen.
The format is conversation with experts and personalities from poker, business and entertainment. Topics include how people think, assess risk, handle pressure and navigate uncertainty. Konnikova summarised the angle: "Poker gives you a unique window into people – how they think, how they handle pressure and make decisions, what drives them."
Episode 1: Jason Koon
Koon is the first guest, and the choice is a strong one. PokerNews describes him as widely regarded as one of the best high-stakes players of his generation, with 12 Triton Poker titles, two World Series of Poker bracelets and more than $77 million in live tournament earnings.
The first episode explores why intelligent people sometimes make poor decisions. Koon discusses how his upbringing shaped his instincts and how high-stakes decisions have taught him about emotion, risk and trusting his gut. One quote from the episode stands out: "Strategic thinking wasn't something that was taught to me. It was something I had to learn."
That line is a useful reminder that poker skill is largely learned. Instincts can be trained, but only if you review your decisions honestly. If you want to build that habit, our poker strategy hub and poker odds guide are good starting points.
The upcoming guests
The announced guest list goes well beyond poker. Bill Perkins, an investor and high-stakes poker player, is on the schedule. So are David Epstein, a bestselling author, Mark Goffman, an award-winning TV writer, producer and showrunner, and Samm Hunter, a performance, mindset and relationship coach.
The PokerNews article does not say which guest appears in which week beyond Koon in episode one, so it is not possible to match each name to a date. What the mix suggests is a conscious attempt to reach people outside the poker bubble who still care about how decisions get made.
Why decision-making content fits poker
Poker is a game of incomplete information. You act without knowing your opponent's cards, and you are judged by results that are partly down to luck. That makes it an unusually clean training ground for thinking about risk, and that is why people in business and finance have been drawn to it for decades.
A few ideas come up repeatedly in good decision-making content, and they map directly onto poker.
Separate decisions from outcomes. A good decision can lose and a bad one can win. Players who judge themselves by results alone learn the wrong lessons.
Manage emotion. The effect of a bad beat on later decisions is real. Our tilt explainer covers the signs and what to do about them.
Think in probabilities. Concepts such as equity and pot odds turn a gut feeling into a number you can reason about.
Protect your bankroll. Risk of ruin is a decision-making problem as much as a maths one. See our bankroll management guide.
Respect the long run. Single sessions say little. The edge shows up over thousands of hands.
Why PokerStars is doing this
Sponsoring a podcast is a content marketing choice. PokerStars gets to attach its brand to thoughtful, mainstream-friendly material, and its ambassadors gain a platform beyond tables and tournaments. It also reflects a wider pattern: operators now compete for attention with media, not just with promotions. The Tough Call joins a growing library of poker-adjacent audio and video that tries to reach casual fans.
For listeners, the sponsorship is worth knowing about. The podcast is a PokerStars production with PokerStars ambassadors as hosts, so it is reasonable to expect it to reflect the brand's interests. That is not a reason to avoid it, only to listen with the same independent mindset the show itself recommends.
What to listen for
If you decide to follow the series, here are some practical ways to get more from it.
Take notes on specific heuristics. When a guest describes how they handle a decision under pressure, ask whether you could apply the same approach at the table.
Compare the advice with your own habits. Do you review hands? Do you set stop-losses? Do you know your own tilt triggers?
Test one idea at a time. Choose a single takeaway per episode and apply it for a week of play. That is more effective than trying to change everything at once.
Remember the format. A conversational podcast is not a coaching session. For concrete technical improvement, use training sites, hand reviews and solvers, and use the podcast for mindset and perspective.
How it fits poker's wider media moment
The launch comes as poker media experiments with new formats, including streaming-focused entertainment shows and documentary series. A show about decision-making, rather than hand-by-hand strategy, aims at a different audience: players who want the habits of good thinkers, and non-players who find poker an interesting lens on human behaviour.
Konnikova is well known for writing about the psychology of decision-making, but the PokerNews article gives no biographical detail about either host beyond their roles as PokerStars Ambassadors, so we will not add claims beyond that. The show itself will be the best evidence of how the pair approach their subject.
Bottom line
The Tough Call launched with a strong first guest in Jason Koon, a ten-week schedule and a guest list that mixes poker with business, writing and performance coaching. For players, the main value is not a secret strategy but a habit of thinking: separate process from results, manage emotion and treat risk seriously. If those ideas appeal, add the show to your Tuesday routine and put one lesson at a time into practice at your next session.
Information drawn from published reports. PokerStars is a sponsor of the podcast; this article is editorial and is not a promotion.