Mental Game Of Poker
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Many poker players spend countless hours developing their skills by neglect their mental game. The best poker players in the world have the strongest mental game; they don’t overlook this crucial aspect.
- The Mental Game of Poker does not only help you as a poker player, but also in your everyday life.
- 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.
- Skill, luck and the mental game. Poor mental strategies are common in activities like sports, poker and investing. This includes attributing good outcomes to skill and bad outcomes to luck, or playing more or less aggressively when we are winning or losing. Success in managing one’s emotions in these areas requires some skill.
📘 Get My Free Poker Cheat Sheet: mental game is more important to your success in poker than anything else.
Being mentally tough is vital to success in many walks of life. Professional sports people need to be on point with their mental game to handle the pressure their games create. Top business people need to keep their cool while signing multi-million dollar deals.
Poker players are no different. The variance if the game is crazy and can drive you to despair. Having a A-grade mental game helps players deal with the swings poker creates and allows them to concentrate on the long-term.
What Is Meant By Mental Game?
A player’s mental game is exactly what it sounds like, the psychological side of playing poker. It doesn’t involve starting hands or bankroll management. Nor does it deal with three-bet frequencies or hero calling. It is vitally important despite this. This part of the game is the foundations on which you build your skills. You can be the most skilled player in your country but won’t succeed long term with a weak mental game behind you.
Which Aspect Of My Mental Game Should I Work On?
Everyone is different when it comes to strengths and weaknesses and this includes the mental side of the game. You need to do a bit of soul searching and make an honest assessment of what you do well and not so well.
Improving all aspects of your mental game is important, but try to work on your biggest weaknesses first. Unlike plugging your leaks instead of glaring mistakes as suggested when it comes to your playing skills, you should work on the areas of your mental game needing the most help first.
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Common Issues
The majority of mental game problems revolve around players’ emotions. Emotions are extremely powerful, so powerful they can take control of a person. Humans struggle to think clearly when their emotions overcome them. The brain reverts to fight or flight mechanism and you can only perform actions you are an expert in. This is why some players continue to play OK preflop when they are tilting but play like a lunatic post-flop, for example.
Tilt is the biggest cause of emotions taking over a poker player’s mind. Going on tilt has decimated the bankrolls of too many players to mention. There are many forms of tilt but they all result in you not playing the best poker you can.
Running bad is a common reason for players tilting. Losing to the deck and continual bad beats accumulate over time and cause problems. You play hands differently expecting a different outcome but you still lose. Ever hear anyone accuse online poker of being rigged? They are suffering from running bad tilt most likely.
Some players simply hate losing and cannot deal with it happening. They want a perfect record book and any blot on it is a major black mark against their name. We will write more about tilt in a later article.
What Can I Do To Improve?
Take a long, hard look at yourself and be honest in your assessment of your mental state. Not only that but your poker skills, too.
Mental Game Of Poker Review
I cannot recommend The Mental Game of Poker books enough. Jared Tendler and Barry Carter did an amazing job in creating these mental game bibles. You can purchase them for a few bucks on Amazon and they will pay for themselves after your first couple of poker sessions, that is for certain.
Jared Tendler
Mental Game Of Poker
Furthermore, concepts in these books can be applied to other walks of life. Stock traders sing Tendler and Carter’s praises, for example. I used some of the concepts while trying to get in shape. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on them; thank me later!