+++Q&A with Jared Tendler!!+++

Hi Jared. Great to have you back ITT properly.

Funny how things change from day to day and a relatively small decision can have such an impact - whether to get up an hour earlier, go for a run, make a phone call, write a job application, etc.

On Friday afternoon, I was walking home from work at 1pm, my mind turning towards a rare evening out to go and watch a friend deliver some stand-up at a local bar. I have made several attempts at 'writing' comedy before, mainly during drives down to the office in Manchester years ago.

By the time I had got home twenty minutes later, I had what I considered a routine that I could deliver with confidence. I made that phone call but my mate didn't answer. I got a return call and chatted around the point for a few minutes. I then asked 'would you have a spare few minutes for me to perform a set?' It was a hugely enthusiastic 'Yes' as the night is supposed to encourage people who have never got up before to have a go.

At about 9pm I got my chance. There were no nerves on my part. I wasn't doing this for anyone else other than myself.

I would love to give it another go and I think that with some practice, and some development, that a few of the jokes have some promise and could be worked into a short routine.

More importantly, it has once again awakened me to the power of taking control within your circle of influence and not spending time worrying about the things that are in the circle of concern. It has also helped me answer some questions that I have raised in my previous post.

I have gone back to poker for a few hours and am massivley clear now about what I want, having re-read the earlier Q&A with you ITT.

I watched a training video on How to be a Great Poker Player which talked about everything you need to do away from the tables and it reaffirmed some things for me. I have now written a Poker Mantra.

I have other things outside of poker this has helped me think more clearly about too and I have taken action towards these too. I already have a second comedy gig booked after being asked back.

I am also discussing some exciting things in the world of poker and giving thought to some personal 1:1 coaching and a bankroll staking deal.

Thanks as ever Jared. It is such a massive piece of value to be able to participate in this thread and get your thoughts.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by DeMarcohsp

First what is the back end of my game ? One way to look at it is to say that a poker player has x knowledge of poker and when he is playing his a game he is accessing all of it (conscious competence + unconscious competence) and when is playing his worst he is only accessing a smaller %, only that knowledge that is at UC ?

Hi DeMarcohsp,
When I went through the book, I interpreted this to mean that you had to correct the mistakes you were making, before you could make advances with new techniques etc.

In my case, I have been playing 5-Card Draw, and I had been making lots of bad calls, and playing way too many hands.

Once that was corrected, I was then able to use the saved blinds to take some calculated bluffs and so on -- this wasn't possible when I was struggling to break even.

All the best,
--VS

Hey,

Yeah I understood the Inchworm idea in the way you described it. My question was related to ways of determining the back end of our range.

Originally posted by Guthans
Hey,

First off I gotta say; love what youve done for the community with this thread, obviously its a win/win situation but the detail and effort put into the answers really is quite amazing, thank you.

Mentalgamr really hasnt been a big problem for me, but Im coming to a point in poker where I really feel motivated to crush, and even the smallest flaw in my mentalgame is unacceptable longterm, so a question of my own arose.

This issue is not only related to poker but also to life in general as it hits me there aswell, unfortunately its hard to explain as I seem to lose control pretty hard.
What happens is I play vs. Soneone I have history with, I hit a strong hand and so I continue to try to lure him in, expecting and reacting to the expectation of his move, and when he somehow differs from this I simply lose control and snapcall, without analysing the situation as it is. An example would be betting 2 streets and then setting up a check/call river perfect, expecting my opponent to bet close to 100% of his range, but then villain overshoves river instead and the situation changes, however I dont get to adapt as Ive already snapcalled.. whats up with that?
I rmember a similiar reaction so well in real life. I was playing a football match away with my team, I really sucked, but I saw my chance and I took it, and from there on until I “woke“ up having missed the shot I really never remembered a thing. this was many years ago. Might it be thesame problem?

Sorry for typos, you got me hooked so I felt I just had to write asap, android@work on New years, super degen, haha!

Edit: The loss of control, tilt, starts the second I see him overshoving instead of just betting, and stops right after I see the results, just as the football example. Often the pot has been brewing quite intensly, I probably really want too much when this happens?

Thank you!

Thanks very much. I do see this as a win/win, and glad to hear you appreciate the detail I put into my answers. To be honest, I've learned a lot over the years by answering questions and enjoy the challenge and opportunity to assist people in a different venue.

Sorry to have just missed you previously. Let's get to the bottom of this problem. My sense of what's happening is that you get triggered emotionally and that shuts down your ability to think as clearly as you do normally. As you said, it's a pretty rare occurrence, but that doesn't mean it's happening randomly. The source of emotion is always logical and predictable once we identify the pattern and reason it's happening. That's where I need some information from you. What is it about a player that you have history with overshoving on the river? (Also, make sure you keep track or have a look for where else it may be happening.) Does it feel like an attack? Like they're trying to outplay you in a way that you can't let them? What is it? Try to write out the thoughts that come to your mind, or that you say out loud when this happens.

I don't see the connection with the football example yet. Other than your emotions getting jacked up. The thing we're looking for is the reason why your emotions are rising so high. Once we know that, then, it's much easier to figure out a solution.

Post some more and let's figure it out.

Originally posted by habeichja
What would you say if Viktor Blom calls you and ask for mental Coaching?

What took you so long.

Nah, I don't have the balls to say that. I'd love to work with him. Brilliant mind and from what I understand is prone to tilting - so it would be a lot of fun to see how I could help him, and how good he could become if tilt wasn't a problem.

Originally posted by Rihard4a
Probably a stupid question, or you have probably had one these before, didn't really want to scroll all pages here... BUT... How not to care about the money when playing? Any stakes. Because I know that when you think about the money when you play especially when you lose some, it had very bad impact on your play even when winning, and also that slows down your overall progress. So how to put money aside in your head while playing?

Definitely not a stupid question - pretty common actually. I'm sure I've answered something similar before, but everyone is a little different so it's good to cover it again.

Money matters in poker and there's no denying that. The key is figuring out why it dominates your mind more than the things that ultimately make you money. Think about it in your game - why does the money matter so much? Also, what are you goals?

For many players, money represents confidence. When they're winning they feel great about their game, and when losing it's the opposite. Of course, variance makes it difficult to know whether or not they actually won/lost because of how they played. When confidence and money are very closely tied, losing becomes especially hard. The goal here is to separate money from confidence in the short-term by better recognizing when you're playing well/poorly and the relative impact of variance. The easier you can distinguish these factors, the easier it is to make money less important in the short-term when variance has a huge influence. Does this sound like it applies to you? If so, let me know and I'll post more about how to actually do this. I didn't want to get too deep into strategy before actually figuring out the problem.

Btw, other reasons include - competitiveness, paying bills, respect from other players, freedom, and success. When you lose money, you also lose in these areas. Money is usually more about just the actual value of it. Money represents other things like that. Just have to figure out what it represents most to you.

nevermind sorted

great thread - booked^^

Originally posted by double2
Hi Jared, I read your book twice now and it really helped me for a short period of time. Now I'm back to old habits, although to a much lesser degree. This time I tried to write down the problems and the possible solutions. Any feedback and suggestions would be greatly appreciated:

Great to hear you've read the book and are making some progress. It may seem like a simple thing, but the fact that your old habits are now showing up to a much lesser degree is solid progress on the back end of your range. Players often overlook this accomplishment when thinking about their progress and think that the presence of any old habit/flaw in the mental game is unacceptable. This is part of the process and it's important to see it that way, so you can maintain solid motivation to keep working. When your worst is proven to be less bad, that's an accomplishment. And it deserves recognition because it means that your strategy is working.

The reason that I'm focusing on this so much, is because I suspect that the four issues you've listed below are related to this "learning" error. If you get better at valuing progress at the back end of your range, you'll take some of the negativity out of them.

Originally posted by double2
My Mental Game Problems:

1- During a downswing I kinda lose my motivation to play, I start to doubt my skill and start to forget my long term goals. My "off the tables" work also suffers, I find reasons not to post hands for evaluation, watch less videos, etc. I start to fear another losing session.

2- Mistake tilt. When I lose a big pot that I think I played badly I start to feel anxious and I lose focus. A bad beat only affects me in a sense that makes it more likely that my session will be a losing one. The bad beat per se doesn't affect me if I'm sure I played it right.

3- Fear of Failure. I want to be successful in poker really bad, I think that puts a lot of pressure in my results and that makes me fear losing.

4- I think I have a lot of "tilt over tilt". Meaning that it tilts me that I'm starting to feel tilted, that I'm having fear of failure and so on.

Possible solutions:

- Try to measure success besides $. Literally quatify after each session the quality of my play and the quality of my mental game during the session.

- Establish and write down short term goals (ex: at least 1k hands per day, post at least 2 hands for evaluation per day)

- Plan down a rigid warm up program: review long and short term goals, make goals for the session (ex: 3bet more in BU), listen to favorite song and watch inspiring photos.

I like the solutions you've listed here and I can see them giving you some solid - and perhaps immediate improvement. It's important to also keep in mind that you'll likely need to get to the bottom of each of these problems in order for them to be resolved. That means, identifying the underlying flaws causing each one. If you want help identifying those flaws, post more details about each one.

Originally posted by DeMarcohsp
Hey sir,

I am studying your first book with a couple of friends and I am a little confused about the "improving the back end of your game" concept.

First what is the back end of my game ? One way to look at it is to say that a poker player has x knowledge of poker and when he is playing his a game he is accessing all of it (conscious competence + unconscious competence) and when is playing his worst he is only accessing a smaller %, only that knowledge that is at UC ?

So the solution would be to observe which skills are not at the level of UC while playing his worst and to drill them until they are there ?

Are you viewing this differently ? How else can a player find his weaknesses without actually playing his C (F) game ?

Vorpal made a nice post about this and hopefully it helped to explain it a bit more. If not, let me know and I'll post more.

To your last question - what are other ways to find weaknesses without actual playing your C-game. This is a challenge, but if you already have a solid understanding of your game you can start to identify C-game thinking errors. Thinking errors are thoughts you have, in a hand, about the best decision, that turn out to be wrong, but you think through the hand properly and don't go with it. In otherwords, your Unconscious Competence reacted to the hand with a thought about the best play, but you were able to use Conscious Competence to avoid making a mistake. If you can keep track/identify these thinking errors, then you can work on you C-game without actually having to experience it.

Originally posted by DeMarcohsp

I do think meditation can be helpful, but I wouldn't say for most players. Meditation, in my mind is important for building awareness/recognition, building emotional/mental control, and for keeping the mind clear. There are other ways to accomplish these benefits - so I would say to players who have a natural interest in it to try it. But I wouldn't say that all or most players need to use it.

You posted this on page 3.

What are those "other methods" ? ♦

Writing is a big one - especially writing regularly over time. Tremendous way to build awareness. Often it's easier to have specific topics to write about - for example - signs/triggers of tilt. Taking notes also helps to free the mind of this information about tilt that accumulated while playing. Of course you can do the same thing for tactical parts of your game. You can also take audio or video notes as well.

As far as building mental control - Injecting Logic is the primary tool that I encourage players to use for this. The combination of recognition, deep breath, and injecting logic is a great way to get the mind strong enough to be in control at times that are very difficult. Just like finishing off the last few reps when lifting weights in the gym, pushing yourself to be in control longer, makes you mentally stronger. The difference, compared to meditation, is that Injecting Logic directly helps you to do that in the situations where the emotional issues are happening.

Exercise and proper rest is another way to keep the mind clear.

How is Dusty Schmidt? saw his last post on his blog it looks like he's going through a bad time

Originally posted by JaredTendler

Originally posted by Guthans
Hey,

First off I gotta say; love what youve done for the community with this thread, obviously its a win/win situation but the detail and effort put into the answers really is quite amazing, thank you.

Mentalgamr really hasnt been a big problem for me, but Im coming to a point in poker where I really feel motivated to crush, and even the smallest flaw in my mentalgame is unacceptable longterm, so a question of my own arose.

This issue is not only related to poker but also to life in general as it hits me there aswell, unfortunately its hard to explain as I seem to lose control pretty hard.
What happens is I play vs. Soneone I have history with, I hit a strong hand and so I continue to try to lure him in, expecting and reacting to the expectation of his move, and when he somehow differs from this I simply lose control and snapcall, without analysing the situation as it is. An example would be betting 2 streets and then setting up a check/call river perfect, expecting my opponent to bet close to 100% of his range, but then villain overshoves river instead and the situation changes, however I dont get to adapt as Ive already snapcalled.. whats up with that?
I rmember a similiar reaction so well in real life. I was playing a football match away with my team, I really sucked, but I saw my chance and I took it, and from there on until I “woke“ up having missed the shot I really never remembered a thing. this was many years ago. Might it be thesame problem?

Sorry for typos, you got me hooked so I felt I just had to write asap, android@work on New years, super degen, haha!

Edit: The loss of control, tilt, starts the second I see him overshoving instead of just betting, and stops right after I see the results, just as the football example. Often the pot has been brewing quite intensly, I probably really want too much when this happens?

Thank you!

Thanks very much. I do see this as a win/win, and glad to hear you appreciate the detail I put into my answers. To be honest, I've learned a lot over the years by answering questions and enjoy the challenge and opportunity to assist people in a different venue.

Sorry to have just missed you previously. Let's get to the bottom of this problem. My sense of what's happening is that you get triggered emotionally and that shuts down your ability to think as clearly as you do normally. As you said, it's a pretty rare occurrence, but that doesn't mean it's happening randomly. The source of emotion is always logical and predictable once we identify the pattern and reason it's happening. That's where I need some information from you. What is it about a player that you have history with overshoving on the river? (Also, make sure you keep track or have a look for where else it may be happening.) Does it feel like an attack? Like they're trying to outplay you in a way that you can't let them? What is it? Try to write out the thoughts that come to your mind, or that you say out loud when this happens.

I don't see the connection with the football example yet. Other than your emotions getting jacked up. The thing we're looking for is the reason why your emotions are rising so high. Once we know that, then, it's much easier to figure out a solution.

Post some more and let's figure it out.

Thanks for getting back to me!
Haha, this makes me laugh just thinking about it. Yes, I feel like he's attacking me, for some wierd reason, and I get the feeling "Oh my god, no, I still have to call, he really can't have it again so he must be making a move on me." But I really don't think his range through, I just act on that feeling - makes me feel alittle retarded - After that I pretty much sit frozen and wait for the verdict, it feels like I know it's wrong, yet I can't help myself. Great feeling when I get it right, but superhorrible when I get it wrong, which most often is the case, I'm afraid.

I dunno if it's relevant, but I thought I might throw it out there; Sometimes when I look at blogs from my stake and site I get this feeling that they'll could have a hand up between me and the blogger, where he calls me a donkey and whatnot. Haha, it's pretty ridicoulus when you put it in perspective and look at it from the outside, but I swear, the feeling is real ;o

Hey!

Just got eliminated from a tournament after a stupid mistake and could use some advice to make sure I don't make the same mistake next time

Managed to make it inside the final 20 of a tournament with 600 people involved. Anyway, we are down to 18 people, im sitting 7th in the chip table, and I get dealt AQ in the big blind. Someone shoves all in which doesn't surprise me because he is on tilt from losing two big hands ended up having Q7. The small blind (chip leader) snap calls and I know he has AK but I still call anyway as I see the amount of money in the pot and think about winning it. I obviously end up losing the hand and go out in 16th. I should be happy but I find myself annoyed as I knew he had AK but still called anyway.

My question is, are there any methods to stop yourself getting a bit too carried away and excited when you see the chips in the pot and how much money you could potentially win and stay focused on the game to make the correct calls as I feel I could, and should have at least final tabled.

Cheers!

Originally posted by Calzo94
Managed to make it inside the final 20 of a tournament with 600 people involved. Anyway, we are down to 18 people, im sitting 7th in the chip table

Congratulations on a good finish, no matter what happened afterwards !

, and I get dealt AQ in the big blind. Someone shoves all in which doesn't surprise me because he is on tilt from losing two big hands ended up having Q7. The small blind (chip leader) snap calls and I know he has AK[1] but I still call anyway as I see the amount of money in the pot and think about winning it[2]. I obviously end up losing the hand and go out in 16th. I should be happy but I find myself annoyed as I knew he had AK but still called anyway.

My question is, are there any methods to stop yourself getting a bit too carried away and excited [3]when you see the chips in the pot and how much money you could potentially win and stay focused on the game to make the correct calls as I feel I could, and should have at least final tabled.

Cheers!

[1]You cannot know for sure that he had AK -- you are correctly recognizing that he has a very strong range. JJ+ even 99+ would make sense here also.
In any case you correctly recognized that vs his range, AQ is very likely not the best hand.

[2]You don't mention your stack size. When you "think about winning" also think about losing. What are your chances each way -- your equity in other words? You had already established that you were behind. If you are overwhelming chip leader, a call may still be OK. If either of the other two are behind you, folding may move you up a money bracket.

[3]In these situations, use your time bank to calm down. Think of how useful your stack might be in a better situation. I have noticed that when watching the final tables of WSOP, One-drop etc that when a player tanks, his decision is most often the correct one -- and if it is not the correct one, it is rarely extremely bad.

I think the short version is:
Take time to calm down so the emotional aspect is removed from the decision-making process.

Congrats again, and all the best,
--VS

Thanks Vorpal! Appreciate the support!

Now that I've had time to think about it, I am glad with my finish, at the time I was just disappointed.

You're spot on! Maybe couldn't have put him on exactly AK but I had a feeling that I was at least behind, like you say, either to AK or a high pocket pair. I just saw the chips in the middle and already seen them as my own.

My stack was just over 700k and the blinds were 40/80k so I was sitting relatively comfortable, around 7th in the chip count if I recall correctly. The player who eliminated me was the chip leader with around 1.5 million if I recall correctly so to call was definitely a rash move.

I think that's what I need to start doing because I think if I had took my time and thought about the hand, although it would have been a hard decision, I think I may have ultimately let my hand go. I snap called after the small blind had snap called ahead of me so I should have taken my time to settle down and compose myself, like you say, to eliminate my emotions taking over.

Once again, thanks for the support and I'm sure this advice will help me improve my overall play!

Originally posted by VBlue
Hi Jared. Great to have you back ITT properly.

Funny how things change from day to day and a relatively small decision can have such an impact - whether to get up an hour earlier, go for a run, make a phone call, write a job application, etc.

On Friday afternoon, I was walking home from work at 1pm, my mind turning towards a rare evening out to go and watch a friend deliver some stand-up at a local bar. I have made several attempts at 'writing' comedy before, mainly during drives down to the office in Manchester years ago.

By the time I had got home twenty minutes later, I had what I considered a routine that I could deliver with confidence. I made that phone call but my mate didn't answer. I got a return call and chatted around the point for a few minutes. I then asked 'would you have a spare few minutes for me to perform a set?' It was a hugely enthusiastic 'Yes' as the night is supposed to encourage people who have never got up before to have a go.

At about 9pm I got my chance. There were no nerves on my part. I wasn't doing this for anyone else other than myself.

I would love to give it another go and I think that with some practice, and some development, that a few of the jokes have some promise and could be worked into a short routine.

More importantly, it has once again awakened me to the power of taking control within your circle of influence and not spending time worrying about the things that are in the circle of concern. It has also helped me answer some questions that I have raised in my previous post.

I have gone back to poker for a few hours and am massivley clear now about what I want, having re-read the earlier Q&A with you ITT.

I watched a training video on How to be a Great Poker Player which talked about everything you need to do away from the tables and it reaffirmed some things for me. I have now written a Poker Mantra.

I have other things outside of poker this has helped me think more clearly about too and I have taken action towards these too. I already have a second comedy gig booked after being asked back.

I am also discussing some exciting things in the world of poker and giving thought to some personal 1:1 coaching and a bankroll staking deal.

Thanks as ever Jared. It is such a massive piece of value to be able to participate in this thread and get your thoughts.

Happy to help man and very happy to hear how well you're doing.

Kudos to you for having the courage to get up like that. When inspiration rings it's a shame not to answer the call. We've all done it and it's great to see you're sizing the opportunities in front of you.

All the best in the future and stop back anytime!

Originally posted by Tevezwest
How is Dusty Schmidt? saw his last post on his blog it looks like he's going through a bad time

He's doing really well. Trying to play professional golf and enjoying the process of getting there. His blog discussed a lot of the struggles he's had, but at the time he wrote it, he was already in a much better place. And doing even better now

Originally posted by Guthans

Originally posted by JaredTendler

Originally posted by Guthans
Hey,

First off I gotta say; love what youve done for the community with this thread, obviously its a win/win situation but the detail and effort put into the answers really is quite amazing, thank you.

Mentalgamr really hasnt been a big problem for me, but Im coming to a point in poker where I really feel motivated to crush, and even the smallest flaw in my mentalgame is unacceptable longterm, so a question of my own arose.

This issue is not only related to poker but also to life in general as it hits me there aswell, unfortunately its hard to explain as I seem to lose control pretty hard.
What happens is I play vs. Soneone I have history with, I hit a strong hand and so I continue to try to lure him in, expecting and reacting to the expectation of his move, and when he somehow differs from this I simply lose control and snapcall, without analysing the situation as it is. An example would be betting 2 streets and then setting up a check/call river perfect, expecting my opponent to bet close to 100% of his range, but then villain overshoves river instead and the situation changes, however I dont get to adapt as Ive already snapcalled.. whats up with that?
I rmember a similiar reaction so well in real life. I was playing a football match away with my team, I really sucked, but I saw my chance and I took it, and from there on until I “woke“ up having missed the shot I really never remembered a thing. this was many years ago. Might it be thesame problem?

Sorry for typos, you got me hooked so I felt I just had to write asap, android@work on New years, super degen, haha!

Edit: The loss of control, tilt, starts the second I see him overshoving instead of just betting, and stops right after I see the results, just as the football example. Often the pot has been brewing quite intensly, I probably really want too much when this happens?

Thank you!

Thanks very much. I do see this as a win/win, and glad to hear you appreciate the detail I put into my answers. To be honest, I've learned a lot over the years by answering questions and enjoy the challenge and opportunity to assist people in a different venue.

Sorry to have just missed you previously. Let's get to the bottom of this problem. My sense of what's happening is that you get triggered emotionally and that shuts down your ability to think as clearly as you do normally. As you said, it's a pretty rare occurrence, but that doesn't mean it's happening randomly. The source of emotion is always logical and predictable once we identify the pattern and reason it's happening. That's where I need some information from you. What is it about a player that you have history with overshoving on the river? (Also, make sure you keep track or have a look for where else it may be happening.) Does it feel like an attack? Like they're trying to outplay you in a way that you can't let them? What is it? Try to write out the thoughts that come to your mind, or that you say out loud when this happens.

I don't see the connection with the football example yet. Other than your emotions getting jacked up. The thing we're looking for is the reason why your emotions are rising so high. Once we know that, then, it's much easier to figure out a solution.

Post some more and let's figure it out.

Thanks for getting back to me!
Haha, this makes me laugh just thinking about it. Yes, I feel like he's attacking me, for some wierd reason, and I get the feeling "Oh my god, no, I still have to call, he really can't have it again so he must be making a move on me." But I really don't think his range through, I just act on that feeling - makes me feel alittle retarded - After that I pretty much sit frozen and wait for the verdict, it feels like I know it's wrong, yet I can't help myself. Great feeling when I get it right, but superhorrible when I get it wrong, which most often is the case, I'm afraid.

I dunno if it's relevant, but I thought I might throw it out there; Sometimes when I look at blogs from my stake and site I get this feeling that they'll could have a hand up between me and the blogger, where he calls me a donkey and whatnot. Haha, it's pretty ridicoulus when you put it in perspective and look at it from the outside, but I swear, the feeling is real ;o

A lot of the time these feeling - feel - illogical, but there's always a cause to it that is very logical. You've done a good job of taking the next step here in your understanding of the problem. You feel attacked and I'm guessing a bit protective of getting run over-> You don't want to let him make another move on you, right? So you go on the offensive and it costs you.

The question is why are you so protective of your game like this? I'm really glad that you mentioned the last bit about the blogger - essentially I gathered from it that you're worried that you'll get exposed as a donkey. If that's true and taken with your reaction to getting run over, it seems to me that you have some weaknesses in your confidence that show up as either anger/aggression while playing, or fear/worry off the table. What do you think? Sound reasonable/accurate? If so, post a bit more about the questions you have about your game, or the reasons that you think you may not have the kind of solid/stable confidence that you need.

Originally posted by Calzo94
Thanks Vorpal! Appreciate the support!

Now that I've had time to think about it, I am glad with my finish, at the time I was just disappointed.

You're spot on! Maybe couldn't have put him on exactly AK but I had a feeling that I was at least behind, like you say, either to AK or a high pocket pair. I just saw the chips in the middle and already seen them as my own.

My stack was just over 700k and the blinds were 40/80k so I was sitting relatively comfortable, around 7th in the chip count if I recall correctly. The player who eliminated me was the chip leader with around 1.5 million if I recall correctly so to call was definitely a rash move.

I think that's what I need to start doing because I think if I had took my time and thought about the hand, although it would have been a hard decision, I think I may have ultimately let my hand go. I snap called after the small blind had snap called ahead of me so I should have taken my time to settle down and compose myself, like you say, to eliminate my emotions taking over.

Once again, thanks for the support and I'm sure this advice will help me improve my overall play!

Glad to see you're getting solid technical advice here as well. There are limits to my powers

As for the mental side, slowing yourself down is a good idea. However, it may not be as easy as it sounds. In order for that to truly become easier, it's helpful to identify the underlying reason why you became so focused on how much money you could win, rather than the decision at hand. What do you think? Has this been a pattern for a while - where you get ahead of yourself when the money gets bigger?

If you're going to force yourself to slow down and think through your decisions, how well can you recognize when your emotions are rising so you can know when to slow down? Also, from a skill side, do you know the types of mistakes that you make when you tend to make decisions more quickly? Knowing these mistakes can be a big help in getting you to focus on correcting the parts of your game that tend to breakdown at times when emotions start to rise.

Hi Jared,

Me and two friends creat mindset development group. We work mostly with your book (with one is great btw), we made some exercise from your stoxpoker movies as well. Now we have a little problem becuase we have an issue and we don't know how to deal with it. Two of us have problems with accumulated emotions, in your book there isn't too many exercise to do deal with it I wonder maybe you can give us some tips how to deal with it. Maybe you know some nice exercise for this issue.

Regards Paweł

PS. We make Mental Hands History every week and read them over and over again on our daily basis so we are searching for something new.