Billionaire Jenny Just Says Poker Lessons Could Have Saved Her '10 Years of Losses'

The PEAK6 Investments cofounder believes the game teaches valuable business skills like risk management and emotional control.

Published on Feb. 9, 2026

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Self-made billionaire Jenny Just, cofounder of financial services firm PEAK6 Investments, believes that learning to play poker earlier in her career could have accelerated her success by about 10 years. Just says poker teaches valuable business skills like weighing probabilities, managing risk, allocating capital, and staying emotionally steady - abilities that directly translate to entrepreneurship and investing.

Why it matters

Just's comments highlight how skills developed through playing poker, such as strategic thinking and risk management, can provide a competitive advantage, especially for women entering male-dominated fields like finance. The rapid growth of sports betting and prediction markets has given young men more informal practice with probability and risk-taking, creating a gender gap that Just is trying to address through her company Poker Power.

The details

After graduating from the University of Michigan, Just started her career as an options trader on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, where she was often one of the only women on the trading floor. She noticed that many of the men around her seemed more comfortable taking risks, which she credits in part to their earlier exposure to strategy games like poker. Just believes 'poker can be an incredible training tool' for business, money, and life, but argues that women have not been utilizing it to the same degree as men.

  • In 2020, Just and her daughter Juliette launched Poker Power, a company designed to teach confidence and business skills to women through the game.
  • In 2023, Just told TIME that her 'goal is to get girls learning before that first rung on the ladder, where the guy already has comfort taking the risk for the next job.'

The players

Jenny Just

The cofounder of financial services firm PEAK6 Investments, who believes learning poker earlier in her career could have accelerated her success by about 10 years.

Juliette Just

Jenny Just's daughter, with whom she launched the company Poker Power in 2020 to teach confidence and business skills to women through the game of poker.

Leigh Marie Braswell

A partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, who first learned to play poker as an intern at the quantitative trading firm Jane Street.

Alexandr Wang

The founder of Scale AI who now leads Meta's AI efforts, with whom Braswell played poker while at Scale.

Charlie Munger

The late vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett's top closest business partner, who said playing poker as a young person helped lay the foundation for his investing practices.

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What they’re saying

“I think I could have saved 10 years of losses off my career if I had learned poker sooner.”

— Jenny Just, Cofounder, PEAK6 Investments (CNBC)

“Poker can be an incredible training tool, or piece of your toolkit for business, for money, for life. And right now, men are using it, and women are not.”

— Jenny Just, Cofounder, PEAK6 Investments (CNBC)

“My goal is to get girls learning before that first rung on the ladder, where the guy already has comfort taking the risk for the next job. The world is going to change and evolve. I just don't want women in the backseat. They are going to have to take risks with things.”

— Jenny Just, Cofounder, PEAK6 Investments (TIME)

“The core lesson from poker, and it's something I'm grateful for as a VC: If the odds are in your favor, you push your chips to the center.”

— Leigh Marie Braswell, Partner, Kleiner Perkins (Fortune)

“Playing poker in the Army and as a young lawyer honed my business skills.”

— Charlie Munger (Biography)

What’s next

Jenny Just and her company Poker Power will continue their efforts to teach women the strategic and risk management skills developed through playing poker, in order to help close the gender gap in male-dominated fields like finance and entrepreneurship.

The takeaway

Jenny Just's experience highlights how skills cultivated through playing poker, such as probability assessment, risk management, and emotional control, can provide a significant advantage in business. As more young men gain informal practice with these abilities through the rise of sports betting and prediction markets, women like Just are working to ensure their gender is not left behind.