Jared Tendler, MS, LMHC is licensed therapist specializing in sport psychology and is the leading authority on the mental game in poker. Throughout his nearly 10 years coaching poker players he has worked with over 500 players hailing from over 45 countries, including many of the top players in the world. He is also the author of two best-selling books on the subject, The Mental Game of Poker 1 and 2.
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The Mental Game of Poker 1 and 2, we bring you an exclusive, all new, step by step guide on the Mental Game of Poker.
Poker is not a physical game. Even if you’re a player who eats well and works out, the reasons you do are less about poker’s physical demands and more about the mental ones.
Like an electrical circuit that overheats and shuts down, the mind can’t function properly when you’re overexcited, tilted, or fearful.
Nobody starts playing poker wanting to lose, but soon you realize it’s inevitable. Of all the skill games, I have yet to discover one where players who have a significant edge over their game.
What sets poker apart from other games is variance. Poker is a game of luck and skill where the best players win in the long run, but regularly lose to worse players in the short term.
Saying you are lazy is paradoxically a lazy thing to do.It’s an excusenot to work on your motivational issue.
While most of you would probably scoff at the idea of playing poker while drunk, many of you are playing in a way that is just as bad: distracted.
In the last chapter I discussed how focus is your tool for gathering the data you need to make quality decisions at the poker table. But what if you don’t have room in your mind to holdit?
You are guaranteed to make bad decisions. But don’t worry, you’re not alone. Every poker player makes them, even the best players in the world. They are inevitable.
Trust your instincts. Follow your heart. Be yourself.Go with your gut. There is a growing trend in society recently to dish out advice that essentially says, doing what feels right, is right.
Saying you are lazy is paradoxically a lazy thing to do.It’s an excuse not to work on your motivational issue.
Now I want to put it all together and show you how to work on your decision making like a golfer would work on their golf swing.
One of the great things about online poker is that it’s always open for business. But that doesn’t mean you have a limitless amount of energy to always play.
In the last several years I’ve noticed a trend among the clients that came to me for coaching. They are typically players who read The Mental Game of Poker for help with tilt, fear, motivation and confidence, but didn’t improve as much as they wanted.
The Mental Game of Poker, holds up six years after it was published. However, there is one thing I would change. I should have made a bigger deal of the Mental Hand History.
The concept of simply downloading expertise is ludicrous, but the fascination people have about the possibility highlights a commonly held flaw about the learning process.