Book review: The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler and, er, Dave Shoelace

[Acidmouse]

£7.12 on Kindle! bought it last night and read 30+ pages, I have taken a vow not to play any poker until I have read this and go through my huge mental flaws. It's already giving me encouragement and hope on what I have read. If I get nothing more out of it I will be happy.

[cambridgealex]

Top of my list

[Sulphur man]

Love this book purchased it shortly after reading this review some months back. Nicework tighty.

[DaveShoelace]

BUMP

Thanks to Rich for allowing my shameless spam.

The book came out as an audio book a couple of weeks back, on iTunes, Amazon, and Audible. Jared is narrating 99% of it, you get to hear yours truly for all of about 3 minutes.

You can actually get the book for free, if you sign up to Audible through Amazon on a 30 day trial (And then cancel within the 30 days). Just follow this link and click on the free 30 day trial button http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies/dp/B0085Y5WTM/ref=tmm_aud_title_0

Also, I'm gonna give a couple of softcover copies away at the Blonde Bash this weekend, not sure what the criteria is yet, but will involve people being nice to my Mum (not in an Amatay way) who is playing her first ever live poker game.

[TightEnd]

Thanks Barry

You can tell us, your Mum is a ringer, right? Complete poker shark?

[DaveShoelace]

Yeah she is about as good as I am

[mondatoo]

BUMP

Thanks to Rich for allowing my shameless spam.

The book came out as an audio book a couple of weeks back, on iTunes, Amazon, and Audible. Jared is narrating 99% of it, you get to hear yours truly for all of about 3 minutes.

You can actually get the book for free, if you sign up to Audible through Amazon on a 30 day trial (And then cancel within the 30 days). Just follow this link and click on the free 30 day trial button http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies/dp/B0085Y5WTM/ref=tmm_aud_title_0

Also, I'm gonna give a couple of softcover copies away at the Blonde Bash this weekend, not sure what the criteria is yet, but will involve people being nice to my Mum (not in an Amatay way) who is playing her first ever live poker game.

 

[welsh1980]

Just got it on kindle

[Gemini Kings]

Downloaded it a couple of weeks ago on my Kindle. Haven't got around to reading it yet. Must put it on my mental To Do List!

[ManuelsMum]

As a follow-up book I suggest Barry writes The Physical Game of Poker, where he offers tips on how to move chips into the pot, how best to look at your cards, and the precise best point to punch someone in the face after they slowroll you.

Good post.

I haven't read this book so I was trying to figure out what it's about. I've seen books on the 'Psychology of Golf' (The Mental Game of Golf?) and it's saying that various mental factors like self-esteem, perseverance, calmness can affect your game as much as your physical swing etc so these need to be understood and corrected where necessary. So...does this book take that process, and apply it to Poker (in a way that could be done with any other 'sport') I guess.
I suppose this is different from what I'd call 'Psychology applied to Poker'....Poker being obviously a psychological process in essence more than anything else I can think of, and poker players 'doing psychology' (in a sense) while playing the game. If there's so much psychology involved, then the robust findings of psychology could be applied to it I guess. I'm thinking it's not part of this book (although I did see a response to Andrew's question about 'trusting the gut/subconscious process'). I've actually never seen a book that deals with poker in this way, I'm sure they're out there though.

[Jared Tendler]

I haven't read this book so I was trying to figure out what it's about. I've seen books on the 'Psychology of Golf' (The Mental Game of Golf?) and it's saying that various mental factors like self-esteem, perseverance, calmness can affect your game as much as your physical swing etc so these need to be understood and corrected where necessary. So...does this book take that process, and apply it to Poker (in a way that could be done with any other 'sport') I guess.
I suppose this is different from what I'd call 'Psychology applied to Poker'....Poker being obviously a psychological process in essence more than anything else I can think of, and poker players 'doing psychology' (in a sense) while playing the game. If there's so much psychology involved, then the robust findings of psychology could be applied to it I guess. I'm thinking it's not part of this book (although I did see a response to Andrew's question about 'trusting the gut/subconscious process'). I've actually never seen a book that deals with poker in this way, I'm sure they're out there though.

Yes, this book is comparable to the books you've seen in golf, or other sports, and applies it to poker. As you said, mental factors impact performance in physical sports and the same occurs in poker. It's funny you mention golf, as I actually come from a golfing background. I was an aspiring professional, played in 4 years in college - three-time All-American, and was derailed in my early 20's because I was choking under pressure. I went looking for answers in the traditional golf psychology that was available at the time (late 90's) and while I played better most of the time, I actually still kept failing under pressure. Determined to find an answer I dove into psychology and have spent the past 10 years getting educated (Master's in counseling psychology), working with golfers (over 300 including several PGA and LPGA tour players, and for the last 5 years working with poker players. Btw, in the middle of my working with golfers, I solved my problems and started playing professionally - shot a 63 in a big cash game at my club.

When I made the transition from coaching golfers to poker players, it was remarkable how similar the psychological issues are. The book is based around my experience working with poker players on issues with tilt, motivation, focus, fear/anxiety, handling variance, etc. It includes stories from 9 clients, including Barry, who share how my methods helped them improve their mental game problems, and play better.

The info in the book around the gut, comes from other material in here around learning. Learning isn't the sexiest thing to talk about, but interestingly, many mental game issues are created from inaccurate beliefs about the learning process. Plus, this information actually helps you to learn technical skills in poker easier too.

Hopefully I've answered your question about the book, but if there's anything else you want to know, let me know.
 

[ManuelsMum]

I haven't read this book so I was trying to figure out what it's about. I've seen books on the 'Psychology of Golf' (The Mental Game of Golf?) and it's saying that various mental factors like self-esteem, perseverance, calmness can affect your game as much as your physical swing etc so these need to be understood and corrected where necessary. So...does this book take that process, and apply it to Poker (in a way that could be done with any other 'sport') I guess.
I suppose this is different from what I'd call 'Psychology applied to Poker'....Poker being obviously a psychological process in essence more than anything else I can think of, and poker players 'doing psychology' (in a sense) while playing the game. If there's so much psychology involved, then the robust findings of psychology could be applied to it I guess. I'm thinking it's not part of this book (although I did see a response to Andrew's question about 'trusting the gut/subconscious process'). I've actually never seen a book that deals with poker in this way, I'm sure they're out there though.

Yes, this book is comparable to the books you've seen in golf, or other sports, and applies it to poker. As you said, mental factors impact performance in physical sports and the same occurs in poker. It's funny you mention golf, as I actually come from a golfing background. I was an aspiring professional, played in 4 years in college - three-time All-American, and was derailed in my early 20's because I was choking under pressure. I went looking for answers in the traditional golf psychology that was available at the time (late 90's) and while I played better most of the time, I actually still kept failing under pressure. Determined to find an answer I dove into psychology and have spent the past 10 years getting educated (Master's in counseling psychology), working with golfers (over 300 including several PGA and LPGA tour players, and for the last 5 years working with poker players. Btw, in the middle of my working with golfers, I solved my problems and started playing professionally - shot a 63 in a big cash game at my club.

When I made the transition from coaching golfers to poker players, it was remarkable how similar the psychological issues are. The book is based around my experience working with poker players on issues with tilt, motivation, focus, fear/anxiety, handling variance, etc. It includes stories from 9 clients, including Barry, who share how my methods helped them improve their mental game problems, and play better.

The info in the book around the gut, comes from other material in here around learning. Learning isn't the sexiest thing to talk about, but interestingly, many mental game issues are created from inaccurate beliefs about the learning process. Plus, this information actually helps you to learn technical skills in poker easier too.

Hopefully I've answered your question about the book, but if there's anything else you want to know, let me know.
 

That sounds great Jared, I can't wait to read this book.

I've read a fair bit on golf and have played all my life, and remain pretty bad, due to slice issues with any club above a 5 I. It's really expanded my knowledge of different types of trees I even have an indoor golf system, the Launchpad one, not sure how it rates amongst decent golfers though.

I've looked a little bit at the theories on the mental game, learning, etc. Tbh it looks like a bit of a minefield. With so many competing theories, how do you go about picking the right one when you're writing a book?

[Jared Tendler]

That sounds great Jared, I can't wait to read this book.

I've read a fair bit on golf and have played all my life, and remain pretty bad, due to slice issues with any club above a 5 I. It's really expanded my knowledge of different types of trees I even have an indoor golf system, the Launchpad one, not sure how it rates amongst decent golfers though.

I've looked a little bit at the theories on the mental game, learning, etc. Tbh it looks like a bit of a minefield. With so many competing theories, how do you go about picking the right one when you're writing a book?

Excellent, look forward to hearing what you think!

Very good question about which theories to pay attention to. You're right there are a lot of competing theories out there and I know the task as a consumer is hard. You aren't sure what works and very often choose strategies that don't work. One of things experts provide is that they not only get you to focus on the right things, they also allow you to ignore the rest. This true in any field, including poker strategy.

When it came time to write the book I selected the material that proved, over a large sample, that it created permanent improvement with a large number of people. Plus, it had to be straightforward/user friendly to implement. How did I know what worked? Experience, both with my master's education, direct work with clients, and personal golf performance. Variance in the mental game exists in the form of a placebo - a fake pill or medicine used to test the effectiveness of a new drug. In the mental game, focus can be a placebo. By focusing on something more, often it improves just from that extra attention. If you focus on not tilting as much, many players will improve just from that fact alone. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the advice is, if it gets you to focus, you'll improve. Many theories and advice in the mental game fail to pass this test. They fail to prove that they can create permanent structural improvements in a players mental game, rather than something just temporary. Finding permanent solutions has been my guiding motivation since my golf days, and so I've been testing theories, including my own, to this standard for the past 8 years. When it came time to write the book, I selected the ones that truly stands out among the rest.

[vegaslover]

That sounds great Jared, I can't wait to read this book.

I've read a fair bit on golf and have played all my life, and remain pretty bad, due to slice issues with any club above a 5 I. It's really expanded my knowledge of different types of trees I even have an indoor golf system, the Launchpad one, not sure how it rates amongst decent golfers though.

I've looked a little bit at the theories on the mental game, learning, etc. Tbh it looks like a bit of a minefield. With so many competing theories, how do you go about picking the right one when you're writing a book?

Excellent, look forward to hearing what you think!

Very good question about which theories to pay attention to. You're right there are a lot of competing theories out there and I know the task as a consumer is hard. You aren't sure what works and very often choose strategies that don't work. One of things experts provide is that they not only get you to focus on the right things, they also allow you to ignore the rest. This true in any field, including poker strategy.

When it came time to write the book I selected the material that proved, over a large sample, that it created permanent improvement with a large number of people. Plus, it had to be straightforward/user friendly to implement. How did I know what worked? Experience, both with my master's education, direct work with clients, and personal golf performance. Variance in the mental game exists in the form of a placebo - a fake pill or medicine used to test the effectiveness of a new drug. In the mental game, focus can be a placebo. By focusing on something more, often it improves just from that extra attention. If you focus on not tilting as much, many players will improve just from that fact alone. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the advice is, if it gets you to focus, you'll improve. Many theories and advice in the mental game fail to pass this test. They fail to prove that they can create permanent structural improvements in a players mental game, rather than something just temporary. Finding permanent solutions has been my guiding motivation since my golf days, and so I've been testing theories, including my own, to this standard for the past 8 years. When it came time to write the book, I selected the ones that truly stands out among the rest.

Just get the book and read it ManuelsMum.

It will open your eyes to things that will not have even contemplated before. It is very easy to read and flows very well, nothing like your standard psychology texts which are basically good for helping with insomnia.

It's not a 'how to' book, but crucially gets you to think for yourself how various mental issues affect you as an individual and imo you get the most benefit by regularly reading and reviewing sections several times and relating it to 'spots' you come across whilst playing

[johnkeen]

I am thinking of buying this book on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies/product-reviews/0615436137/ref=pr_all_summary_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I have had a look through all of the pages and wonder if anyone has an opinion on the reviews on there. Thanks