The Mental Game of Poker

by Jared Tendler

The mental game may be more important in poker than in any other form of competition. It's one of the only games in the world where you can play perfectly and lose-again and again. Hundreds of poker players have turned to mental game coach Jared Tendler's revolutionary approach to help them play their best, no matter how badly they're running. In this book you'll find simple, step-by-step instructions and proven techniques to permanently fix problems such as tilt, handling variance, emotional control, confidence, fear, and motivation. With the games getting tougher, now is the time to take these problems head on.

Discover the most definitive work on tilt ever released. Read stories from eight players who made major improvements using Jared's techniques. Get motivated with methods used by SuperNova Elites.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Self Help, Games, Personal Development, Finance, Audiobook

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Jared Tendler, MS, LMHC, is a leading expert in how your mental game impacts performance. His clients include world champion poker players, the #1 ranked pool player in the world, professional golfers and financial traders. Jared holds a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and attained a license as a mental health counselor. With over 16 years of experience coaching people from around the world and in multiple arenas, his straightforward and logical approach has been proven to help people solve their mental game problems and perform at their highest levels.

He is the author of two highly acclaimed books, The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2 and just released his newest book The Mental Game of Trading. He is also the host of the popular podcast The Mental Game and previously served as Head of Sport Psychology for for the esport organization Team Liquid. Jared’s diverse experience and proven techniques make him among the best mental coaches in the world.

Reviews

[Alexander Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a professional poker player for over a decade there is not much poker literature I actually enjoy. As the most prolific tournament coach in the game today I have to do my homework. I can not tell you how many false statements I read in most texts. It bores me. It's been a while since I finished a poker book.

This was not the case with Jared Tendler's tome. While on occasion he does seem to go around in circles this is still the best book ever written on the mental aspect of poker. I read much of the book years ago, and found it was a completely new experience reading through it again. As someone who has been overly confident, in a bad run, with low self-esteem, and then finally stable and in control I found there were parts of this book for each time in my career. I just wish I had read them then! The sentences omit needless words and get to the point. There are so many gems. At times I couldn't stop highlighting.

If I could criticize anything it was the previously mentioned circular nature of the book, but as the mental game topics frequently overlap I don't know how Tendler could have avoided this (without leaving gaps in sections). To someone who powers through the book in a few days, as I did, it becomes annoying, so it's best the book is used as an excellent reference text for each time in your career.

I loved the client stories for entertainment value but occasionally they came off as self-serving.

Still, a must-read for anyone who has ever struggled with the mental aspect of their poker game, which is to say it's a must-read for anyone who plays poker.

[Debjeet Das · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally think this is must read book.

Every chapter has been written in a way that does help in dealing with a problem in a detailed and structured fashion.

The themes of book revolve around-
1 Adult learning model- which includes inchworm principle and focus on Process model-rather result-oriented model.

a) inchworm principle- states continuous incremental improvement throughout the learning process.
It states We often tend to learn new things while avoiding, ignoring, blocking out weakness. This approach is counter-productive because if weakness persists -it takes a lot of mental effort to think through all-new concepts & it creates much confusion as the new skill/information acquired wont be used in stressful/low confidence situation
b) The process model has 5 parts - prepare-perform-result-evaluate-analyze

2- causes and strategies to tackle emotional downpour-


As emotions take a forward seat- you lose the ability to think properly,you make decision in haste,you overweigh the information provided by others & you fall back into bad habits & when emotions get accumulated over period of time-it overwhelms your mind and you get mentally blocked. Your performance all declines as the emotional system shut down your ability to think.

Some ways to deal with it- Acknowledge your problem don't play it down, Describe your problem write it down, think through the problem, deep breath, know when to quit-when things getting out of control

3 Various causes of tilt/bias and ways to dealt with it for optimum performance
Tilt= Anger+bad play
Some tilt mentioned are-
a) Running bad tilt-If you have a bad run or a successful good run-we remain in illusion that this run will continue over extended period.
way to deal- Less focus on result ,more focus on improving quality in skill, write down,take a break.
b)Injustice tilt- Instead of acknowledging that you lost due to your weakness-you tend to blame bad days, bad luck, not being given equal opportunity etc. Way out- deal with facts rather than emotion , treats failure as an opportunity to learn & improve upon it.

c)Entitlemenent tilt- You tend to believe tht your past win,past achievement give you full right to win every game -you currently playing.And when you lose- you are in state of disbelief, shock etc .This is mainly due to overconfidence, miscalculation of your skill & you tend to ignore how dynamic things are.
d) Revenge tilt- When you take your loss personally-your anger and stress gets to peak. Way out- Be less result-oriented.
e) Desperation tilt-Intent or urge to do everything possible to win immediately. It is also form of accumulated emotion. Old emotion floods in mind & intense anger continue to build up.

4 Reasons for various fear and way to deal with them.- Fear emanates from uncertainty.Certainty is the antidote to fear.

Way to deal - Take uncertainty as way to improve upon weakness by breaking down underlying flaws in your mental game, pressure remains critical to learn new things, challenges to overcome,& new opportunity in new direction in the future to achieve greater success

keep asking and writing down- what is the worst that could happen? Why is that bad? What would you do? What's the solution?

Some underlying flaws that could cause fear are- High expectations,choking in big spot, trying to control what you cant-underplay the role of variance, failing to see incremental progress, trying to win every sessions,fear of mistakes,fear of bad run etc.

Some symptoms of fear are- overthinking, second-guessing- keep doubting/questing about decisions after you make it, performance anxiety-taking too much pressure on yourself,thinking negative about future.

5Motivation- causes, reasons & solutions

Motivational problems- laziness,not identifying proper goals- it may be unrealistic, far off goals or indecisive,procrastination due to complexity/difficulty of task, burnout due to excessive work load,

Way out- clearly define your goals,make a realistic plan, prioritize your time,use boredome as cue to learn something new, treat mastery as moving target etc

6 Confidence- How to deal with illusion of overconfidence and under-confidence.

We must aim for stable confdence i.e. your confidence never swings to extreme because of variance. YOu have right amount of emotion to be focused, objective, calm & levelheaded.Your confidence is built on something more solid than just result.

Identify your strength to the level of unconscious competence.These are the skill that always show up no matter how badly you are playing.

[Susan Shipman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has struggled with tilt, Jared Tendler not only delves into the subject but goes into the why's and your own personal psychology that may be contributing to the problem (and oh, it can be a problem).

What I liked about Jared Tendler was he gives you personal excercises to work on your own to discover why you tilt. They aren't easy, they are time consuming and most definitely are for the serious student of the game.

I actually wrote him (foolishing thinking I could afford his help) and he kindly directed me to the book, rather than one-on-one coaching. His email was kind, thoughtful and definitely made me respect him so I bought the book.

I'm still working through those excercises - some I've finished, some not. For the time being, Poker has taken a back seat in my life (except for one little foray in Vegas, March 2014, where I KILLED IT) so the book/excercises are something I will have to return to.

In the meantime, online poker in the US is an issue but there are ways around it. When I return to the commitment of online poker, I will have finished his book AND excercises and be as prepared and as serious as today's online world requires.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having playing poker for many years I have become accustomed to the many ups and downs of the game. Sometimes these ups and downs (okay, usually the downs) begin to affect me emotionally. It's something I've struggled with; focusing only on results becomes a distraction against playing well and sometimes against playing at all.

The Mental Game of Poker addresses these issues. It doesn't just notice them, it examines and dissects them. For me it helped me better understand what was really going on and provided useful strategies towards working through these sorts of problems.

I've only read through it once, but intend to go over it often. It's a workbook with sections for study and exercises. Many of the lessons and notes can be applied to other areas of life as well. The author began as a golf coach, so the type of thinking and analysis involved here needn't be limited to poker.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

As every poker player knows, poker is a game where you can play perfectly and still lose. "Variance," a fancy name for long-term randomness, makes poker a game where you don't measure your skill and win-rate by a single tournament or even weeks or months of play. Serious poker players chart their performance over literally hundreds of thousands of hands, and know that a winning, professional-level player can still experience weeks or months of downswings.

The first thing you should know about The Mental Game of Poker is that its intended audience is professional players, or would-be professionals. Not recreational players, not the guy who goes to a casino now and then to gamble. The casual player may still learn a thing or two, but Jared Tendler is addressing players who are actually trying to make a living at poker and who are going to be at the tables for many, many hours.

This book addresses variance, but mostly as a factor in causing "tilt." When a run of bad luck leaves someone feeling frustrated, angry, depressed, disbelieving, or otherwise overcome by emotion, poker players say he's "on tilt." Going on tilt means you start making bad decisions. You call hands you shouldn't, you bluff when you shouldn't, you bet too big, or fold too soon... basically, you make bad decisions because you're upset. Tilt happens to every player. Sometimes it happens as a result of one hand (the dreaded "river rat" who sucks out on you with a one-outer), sometimes it happens because you've been running bad for weeks and can't seem to catch a break.

Most of the book is specifically about addressing tilt, and the causes of tilt, which Jared Tendler breaks down into several categories, ranging from entitlement ("I'm a better player than him, how dare he think he can beat me?!") to defeatism ("I'm just unlucky, of course I'm going to lose!"). There is a lot of talk about rationality, and how a perfect player will always make the correct, by-the-odds (and by your read on other players) decision, but also about how no one is a perfect player. Even professional players are humans who get frustrated and aggravated and depressed.

Are his strategies for managing tilt useful? Hard to say, I haven't tried them yet, because I'm just a casual player. I can say that I suffer from tilt just like anyone else, and I suffer from tilt in every game I play, not just poker. So learning to control my reactions would be very helpful. But as I said, this book is mostly about long-term management while playing poker seriously and professionally.

There is nothing in the way of poker strategy here - this is all about your mental state. It's a book that would fit right in on a stoic's bookshelf. But it is very dry (and the audiobook, read by the author, is flat and monotonous). It's probably a good book to consult if you want to make a serious go at poker, especially if you have learned that tilt is a problem for you. Tendler starts each chapter with "client stories" (he's a professional consultant for poker players). The lessons are short and mostly rather obvious, but there are still some good observations.

[Eric Iannuzzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

great for stock traders too

read this after seeing stephen burns reccommend it. as a day trader, the techniques the author uses for dealing with poker tilt can be used to describe going on tilt in trading...its a very excellent book every day trader should read

[Anderson Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Logical, thoughtful, and eye-opening, The Mental Game of Poker is not only for poker players, but for any person looking to take their mindset to the next level. I like to think of poker as a microcosm of life in some respects. So many of the emotions I experience while playing the game - fear, anger, injustice, confidence, motivation - are the same I experience in everyday life. To my pleasant surprise, The Mental Game of Poker addresses strategies on how to wrangle and overcome these emotions.

Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed Jared's explanations of ideas such as the Adult Learning Model, The Inchworm Model, and the Process Model. The blend of scientific background along with mental advice provides a framework on how to tackle learning in just about any endeavor.

[Henry L · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most useful mentality book I have ever consumed. Pairs especially well with Atomic Habits. I have listened to this book 5-10 times and read it as well, it is exceptional for truly getting a fundamental understanding of emotion and how to manage and use it for improvement in competition.

Unlike many other self help books, Jared dives deep into the specifics of why certain problems are happening, providing the reader with the tools needed to be able to solve their problems permanently, not with some imaginary, temporary shift in mindset. Please read this book

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for understanding the mechanisms of tilt.

[Lane Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a number of canonical books that are considered must-reads on every poker player's bookshelf. Undisputed titles would have to include Sklansky's The Theory of Poker, Caro's Book of Poker Tells, Brunson's Super System, Harrington on Hold'em, and a few others.

Since its publication in 2011, Jared Tendler's The Mental Game of Poker has also earned a place among Sklansky, Caro, Brunson, and Harrington in the poker literature canon. It has truly established itself as a new must-read for all poker players.

Rather than helping players learn how to play the cards or their opponents, Tendler focuses on internal strategies for becoming better at learning, managing emotions, and understanding motivation.

The story behind this book project begins when Tendler was better known in the professional golfing community. His Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology combined with his background as a successful amateur golfer and aspiring pro gave him a unique set of skills that he used to coach players on their "mental game."

It was during a time when golfers were not necessarily very fit. They didn't really train themselves in any way except for the skills directly required for swinging the club and smacking that little white ball where they wanted it to go. There was a significant advantage to be found by players who trained like an athlete. Physical fitness, mental preparation, and a deeper understanding of the subtleties of the game were all edges that could be found over the competitive field of players to find success.

Golf has often been related to poker as a comparable game. Tendler makes a great comparison of Tiger Woods' impact on golf to Chris Moneymaker's influence on the poker industry. These were important turning points for both games. The need to find small edges in golf by becoming health-conscious and training in the mental game has a parallel in poker where many players have become aware of the need to be physically fit, eating healthy, and mentally powerful in order to succeed in the highly competitive poker scene. Tendler's experience in mental coaching for professional golfers was found to be perfectly applicable to poker when Dusty Schmidt, professional golfer and now professional poker player, made the connection and saw the advantage he would have in poker if he had the help of a sports psychologist as he did in golf.

After coaching over 200 poker players and great involvement in the poker community through articles, videos, and forums, Jared Tendler joined forces with Barry Carter, poker player and journalist, to write The Mental Game of Poker.

The book is divided into chapters discussing learning models, emotion, coping strategies, tilt, fear, motivation, and confidence. Probably the most famous section of the book is Tendler's careful dissection of tilt. He divides tilt into seven types: running bad tilt, injustice tilt, hate-losing tilt, mistake tilt, entitlement tilt, revenge tilt, and desperation tilt. Every reader will find more or less of themselves in each of the different varieties, but there is certainly one or more that you will find will sound exactly like you. He explains the causes of each tilt, how to manage it, and even how to use it to become a better player.

The clear and conversational tone of the book makes it really easy reading, but you will also find many instances where you will stop reading and say to yourself "wow, that makes so much sense!" It carries powerful tools and it will almost definitely change your perspective on some aspects of the game.

Since reading through Tendler's book, I have definitely changed my approach to variance and have come to appreciate it rather than curse it. I also have a new perspective on my opponents and have a better understanding of why I need to respect the fishy players (fishier than me, I mean) and make them feel welcome at the table.

The mental-game skills Tendler shares in this book will definitely help you become a more well-rounded player with a deeper understanding of how to beat the game. The great news is that developing your mental game can give you a significant edge over most poker players. Even among highly successful pros there are many "mental-game fish" who haven't learned these important skills. If you want an edge on those players, this is a way to find one.

Read this book. Grab a pen and a highlighter, make notes, and engage with the material. Then read it again, and again, and again. Review what you've learned and practice the strategies. Like Tendler reminds us throughout the book, you will not master the mental game by reading The Mental Game of Poker. This book just gives you the tools necessary to do the hard work yourself. I know I'll be thumbing through these pages often to continue to strengthen my mental game of poker.

[Mohammad Ali Abedi · Rating 3 out of 5]

One aspect of poker I enjoyed, when I tried it, was the emotional aspect of it. I generally do not like to lose at things, so no matter how small the stakes are, I still go on tilt if I play badly or go on a bad run.

It was never the financial part of it, because due to my absolute distaste for actually wasting money, the max I could potentially lose was lower than a normal night out. But I don’t get mad eating at a restaurant when I get the bill. So, what is it this that gives a person such a roller coaster emotional ride?

All this was interesting to me, so I got the audiobook version of “The Mental Game of Poker” to not necessarily help me get better at poker, but to more or less, help me understand my emotional mind when playing, and hopefully be able to apply skillsets that control tilt over to my day to day life.

But this wasn’t what I was looking for. The book is aimed at professionals or would-be professionals, meaning the financial success, as a job, was the main focus. I didn’t really find it getting deep in the psychological part. Even though the book seems to have been written for professional players, I didn’t find the advices really that unique. It seemed like it would be what you expect it to be. Basically, the idea is that the mind matters, and initially, it tells you why you have a problem, such as how variance effects the game and how losses can be personal.

The author is a poker coach, and it reads like coaching material. Professional poker players pay him to improve their mental game (he claims to have coached 500 players), and I find that book from coaches always seem like they are actually promoting their (probably much more profitable) coaching gig or they are unable to really convert their coaching sessions into a book.

[Федор Кривов · Rating 3 out of 5]

Много промо собственных консультаций, мало практических рекомендаций по работе с видами тильта. Заметки:

Если поражения в покере заставляют вас чувствовать себя неудачником, то дело далеко не только в деньгах. Часто этот вид страха проявляется у игроков, которые прикладывают недостаточно усилий, тратят недостаточно времени и недостаточно работают над своей игрой. Если же они попытались и потерпели неудачу, для их уверенности в себе это тяжелый удар. Проблема с уверенностью в себе – вот первопричина этого страха. Когда вы разберетесь с причиной, то их страх тоже уйдет.
Попытки выигрывать каждую сессию. Довольно часто кэш-игроки считают, что можно выигрывать каждую сессию. По их мнению минусовая сессия знаменует поражение. Желание оканчивать каждую сессию в плюс – это слишом завышенное ожидание, и все, что ему не соответствует, ассоциируется с поражением. Для того, чтобы разрешить причину этого страха, убедитесь в том, что ваше желание неисполнимо, и почему это идет вам на пользу, а затем ставьте реальные цели вместо того, чтобы гоняться за чрезмерно завышенными ожиданиями.
Тильт «ошибочка». Не корить себя за ошибку, пометить раздачу и разобрать после сессии, иначе самобичевание вызовет новые ошибки.

[Eugene Tung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the book will help you learn to control the various mental game aspects of your poker game better. It's not a cure for your mental game issues but at least it teaches you to inject logic into situations where your emotions have overtaken logic.

[Lukas Lukac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended book NOT just for poker players but for everyone. Explains how nonsense behaviour we often adopt in a situations that are completely natural and predictable due to our short term thinking.

[Tim Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any serious poker player.Gives very practical strategies to manage the mental game, which can be quite challenging.

[Raphael Clayette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Precious written book. It is worth its reputation. I love every part of the book. I feel more "intelligent". Thank you. I will read the volume 2.

[ACRL]

Read by ACRL Member of the Week Robert Kelly. Learn more about Robert on the ACRL Insider blog.

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

it worked- now i'm rich!

[Rick Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better version of "Thinking in Bets"

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful stuff but this book is designed for full time poker professionals and it's somewhat hard to adapt to a once a month game :)

[Cherie Zhou · Rating 3 out of 5]

It provides some insights though often repeat itself. Most of the time I find it is enough to only read the bold part. And the concept is fairly simple.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mental game book for Poker, and even beyond poker, is a really useful book for anyone who wants's to optimise their routine, mental game or decision making skills around a high stakes, high pressured environment.

The largest takeaways from the book are to set up a good pre, post and during a game routine, to have study and play iterations, to recognise, note and inject logic when an emotional outburst does occur.

Notes (Largely unedited)

A list of what goes into a poker decision

Pre

Stack sizes
Player strengths and weakness
Pot size
Spr
Hand strength
Previous action
Number of players in the pot
Their range, my range
My image, their image

Post

Player tendencies
Player pool tenancies
Their range, my range
Outs of. Me and opponent
Equity
Implied odds
My image, their image
How much to bet
How much to call
Blockers

A list of what goes missing in a poker decision

Know when a mental game problem is too bad, so know when to quit

Hidden resource hog

Background issues can still affect things

Mental hand history -

Describe the problem?
Why does it make logical sense to react that way?
Why is that logic flawed?
What is the correction?
Why is the correction correct?

For example, I open too many ep
I think I'm better than others, I can outplay etc etc
I'm not, position and hand strength matter more
In more control = fantasy etc, the illusion of control
Use affirmative action etx

Accumulated emotion will come out, gradual reduce it, work hard to recognise problems, do mental hand history for anything that happened

Critical of past errors
Don't get stuck on errors
Can work with a therapist

Accumulated tilt, means you reach tilt faster, accumulation of bad beats etc, unknown confusing, understanding is the way to go

Positive emotions = trying not to lose stack etc

Tightening up after winning big etc 🥇

Complaining = making it harder for yourself because you blame it on luck and don't work on the game or tilt
It's an excuse not to learn

Injustice tilt etc, excuse not to work on your game?

A lot on the line, Channel frustration into studying and so forth

Can think you're winning at an hourly rate, aka keep playing

It's more like a lot that pays out a rate not atm a machine

Superiority factor 🏭 when you lose, tilting there

Keep striving and moving the backend of range forward, when you play well, recognise it,

You will make mistakes, errors and so forth

Current mistakes in the game, no 3betting enough in pos

Too loose
Too tight etc
Regularly evaluate game a, b and c game
Work on skill edge vs regs etc etc, keep improving and improving - Red queen

Fear = uncertainty of losing a huge pot when super deep, don't know the right play, gut = Unconscious consciousness

Fear of losing a monster stack = big downswing, never win again, make it more likely to. Succeed play more and do more work etc etc

Five whys etc to go into it, what if I'm not good enough blah blah

What will make me more likely to play well in 3bet spots, study it, know what is going on and what to do, work on it and make it better

Risk aversion, don't be afraid, go for it go for it, long term correct plays = winning 🥇

Stable motivation, different for each person, find your drive, competition, money and fun

Underlying motivational problems, don't believe lazyness is a trait you're stuck with, it's a learned behaviour, approach it like a small business

Inkect logic, do what's hard now and you'll have fun and ease in the future, coach?

Now and today is the time to practice, running good/bad effects play rate

Can burnout your mental muscles 💪 keep it consistent, seperate it out

Move up the stakes and become better if you're bored

Aware of str and weaknesses, learning, open, challenge, other players strengths and weaknesses

Note bad variance hands

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Range: we all have a range of our game play, and an exceptionally bad or good game play often will do a mean reversion to the average game play we do

- It's important to realize the reality of the physical limit of your range - not what you wish the reality would be

- Most efficient way to improve is focus on the weakness first

- Always compare bad game to bad game (never a bad game with your best game)

- Preparation: Review long term goals & goals for this session, review list with the corrections to common mistake, review strategy for improving game issues

- It's important to value qualitative results: how well you played, level of focus, degree of tilt control, improvement of weakness etc

- Write down things you want to work on in case you forget later

- Don't fight emotion: it's merely a messenger, work with it

- When emotion is high, decision making process would be ignored. Thus, emotion must be controlled first in order to make rational decision

- Steps for emotional control: 1) Recognize the emotional problem, know all the signs that you have to get into such problem (set an alarm to check routinely if have to) 2) Inject logic, by reminding yourself (often times physically through a note card or on phone) that you're not being logical

- Slow down the decision making profess when emotion runs high - make very little decisions over the long run since emotion often runs cold after a set period

- Quit: if emotion game is too strong, quit that right away and come back (much) later when needed. Only use quit when you can't control the emotion (as you have opportunity cost lost)

- Mean Reversion: emotion can't be controlled overnight, learn to increase mental game little by little: it's like a muscle that needs to be exercised in order to be robust

- Resolution: when a bad beat no longer generate anger

- Try not to look at the end result (i.e. getting frustrated) and immediately jump to the conclusion for improvement: instead, have mental history written down and see what exactly triggered it

- Steps to solve the problem: 1) Describe the problem, 2) Ask how that problem occurred, 3) Ask why is that problem illogical or problematic, 4) come up with ways to handle the problem going forward, 5) ask why is that solution correct

- Step up routine tracker for the mental game to slowly improve

- Tilt could manifest itself over time. And it's important to resolve them outside of poker (brain needs time to process them) otherwise it could explode at once

- Tilt could result from winning as well - not just from loosing. Thus, it's equally important to work on mental preparation of Tilt when winning as well

- When winning, mind has tendency to predict subsequent win (just like when stock keeps rising, people think stock can't go down). Prediction for the future is pointless. The only thing you can predict is yourself

- Often times we value fairness too much. But fairness is never real, variance could play a big role. It's pointless to focus on what you can't control. Only control what you can and adjust accordingly - there's no fairness in the world

- We assume our opposition are lucky when our oppositions are actually good, and we merely don't understand what they're doing (like many "computer moves" in chess, where's computer is far superior to human that human can't simply fathom how computer move pieces)

[Pranav · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book overall. I will say that this book is a mix of great mental performance advice (that generalizes to all fields) and some cope. The cope manifests in addressing "mental game" problems that are really just a byproduct of being a losing player. These are "I suck at poker" problems, not "mindset issues."

Controlled for:
- being a winning player
- having the discipline to stick with proper bankroll management
a fair amount of the advice doesn't apply; especially the advice targeted at combatting superstition.

I'll now go through the core useful ideas.

Useful Idea #1: Adult Learning Model
The four stages of competence, (unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious competence is brilliant. I have heard of this model before but Jared goes into excruciating detail to differentiate them. In particular, any skill that is in the conscious competence stage still requires the usage of mental resources, which builds up mental fatigue over time.

This idea forced me to look through not only my poker game, but also my mathematics skillset. Since then, I systematically went through all the sub-skills of my math/computer science knowledge as well as my poker knowledge, ranked myself based on these 4 stages and have made game plans in both areas for improvement. The adult learning model is a great way to self scrutinize your level of mastery.

Useful Idea #2: The inchworm model
The inchworm model discusses A game, B game, and C game. Implicitly, mental performance exists on a normal distribution and you can't plan on always bringing your A-game to the table. Your B game has to be good enough. A large disparity between A game and C game hints at many skills being in the "conscious competence" category - when mental performance decreases, skills go out the window and you start playing badly. Jared links the inchworm model to the stages of competence and formulates a framework for reducing the skewness of your performance.

Useful Idea #3: Warm ups and cooldowns
A warm up - whether it is a walk, a workout, or light review is a great ritual to have before any high-performance endeavor. Something I plan on incorporating in my math/coding practice as well as poker.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not the target audience for this book, but it was an interesting look into the psychology of elite players and the mental game issues that they encounter. The author started his ideas within the realm of golf mental game (where nearly everyone on the PGA has a mental game coach/psychologist) before he moved to poker at the encouragement of a friend. Through the book strategies/concepts that i learned about in other areas would pop up (like Thinking, Fast and Slow).

A new topic had not known about was the inch-worm strategy for improvement. In general, our performance at anything can be seen as a bell curve of results (sometimes our very best, sometimes our very worst but often in-between) with some people having a wide flat curve and others having a tight peak of potential outcomes. The inchworm strategy states that when you learn new techniques and get better, your front end extends out a little further, but the back end of your worst play will stay exactly where it is unless you take action to improve your worst tendencies. Through this action, improving play to extend the upper range, then removing the worst of your play to bring the bottom up, is how we truly improve. So, measuring results should not be from best-to-best, but comparing your old worst to your new worst, and seeing improvement on the bottom edge of your bell-curve.

I'll likely need to re-read the first 3-4 chapters to get this stuff to sink in a bit more. After that, it's all poker-centric and it was hard enough to get through the first time.

[Daryl Vogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike most poker books that are out of date after a few years, this book, offering no poker strategy, is timeless because it deals with the psychology and mental aspect of playing poker. While the book was written for poker players, there's a lot of content that could benefit non-poker players too. This book has a lot of exercises to help people identify and manage their different emotional profiles. I can see this book being a great resource that I will return to over and over as I navigate my poker journey. Completing the book doesn't mean you've mastered the mental game - you've only just begun. Lot's of things to work on and journal. I particularly enjoyed the sections on learning models - the Adult Learning Model in particular - and the sections on the various types of tilt and their underlying sources. While much was revealed to me about my mental state in my approach to poker, even more revealing was my approach to things away from the poker table.

[Pollies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Obviously it is written about Poker for Poker players, but I found the advice within can easily be applied to all aspects of life. I'm not a Poker player. I had flashbacks of the movie Rounders while listening to this because that movie taught me everything I know about Poker, which isn't a lot. There were terms in this book that I didnt know what they meant but I quickly caught on. I recommend you get this book as a hardcopy rather than an audiobook because there are worksheets and questionnaires to fill out. If you listen to/read this book in a day or two, it can be a little repetitive. One thing that really annoyed me with the audio was the echo, like he was too close to the microphone while reading. It wasnt there all the time, it comes and goes but its distracting. Overall, I liked the book and would recommend it.

[Alexandra Chauran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm new to the concept of sport psychology, so I'm not sure of how well supported by research any of the advice may be. That said, the content makes sense and contains lots of actionable food for thought. I will make good use of this content. Oh, and I read The Mental Game of Poker 2: Proven Strategies for Improving Poker Skill, Increasing Mental Endurance, and Playing in the Zone Consistently before reading this one. I still found great value in both works, even having read them in reverse. I am glad I own this one.

[Shakti Chauhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poker Essential. Mandatory for every human who dares to play poker for stakes/money.

This book deals with the entire Psychological aspect of Poker, which in my opinion is 30-40% of the game. If would be really irresponsible to attempt to play Poker without having the knowledge of principles and tools in this book. It could take a lifetime to master or even realise the mistakes you're making.

Reader's learning curve will be reduced by a couple of years if they apply the tools in this book.

Extremely extensive. It feels like a 600 page book, if you're paying attention, and marking what you might need to revisit. I'll certainly have to re-read a couple of times.

The only reason I give it 4 stars, is because I did not enjoy reading the book. I hope I can confront my demons and make use of the tools and strategies I have been introduced to, thanks to Jared Tendler.

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it's a book mostly focused on Poker, the sections about tilt are masterpieces and apply to all competition. Before I read this book I often tilted very easily playing games or sports. Learning more about the deeper aspects of tilt helped me to fulfill more of my potential in those areas. I would credit this book with having given me the mental platform upon which I would later go on to claim a considerable amount of 95th to 99th percentile spots on the leaderboards of a few of my favorite video games. But more than that, I can now ease myself out of deeply tilted states in my real life.