Jared Tendler has been a driving force behind the rapid advancement of theories and strategies surrounding poker’s ‘mental game’ over the past five years. His books, The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, have been a vital resource to many poker players struggling to overcome tilt issues, striving to achieve peak performance, or simply seeking to make more money.

He’s also coached hundreds of players on an individual basis, including some of the best in the game. To quote Jared’s first book, when poker players run into trouble, he’s their mechanic – the one making sure the machine runs smoothly, and getting them back on the road.

Recently, I had the chance to ask Jared some questions about his work, an opportunity any poker player would surely not pass up. I hope you’ll find his answers as enlightening as I did.

Hi Jared, thank you for talking with me. I noticed from Barry Carter’s Twitter feed that the two of you are working on a third book. How’s it coming along? Can you give us any early insight into what kinds of topics it’ll cover?

We are working on a new book, but it’s still in the raw development phase and I’m not ready to go into much detail yet. I am very excited about it, although it’s coming along slower than the first two books did mainly because I’m busier and have a wife and daughter now. Different deal when my time is more limited, but we’re slowly working through it and it’ll be an exciting day when I can discuss the new book with you and everyone.

Excellent. I’m sure the poker world will be excited to hear what’s in store. Your second book covered the idea of ‘the zone’ in great depth. As someone suffering from anxiety issues (like a lot of other players) I’m curious if you feel there’s anything people in my position can do to mitigate the effects of anxiety on their play, and get into ‘the zone’ more often.

Unfortunately no. Anxiety is an incurable disease. Kidding of course…hopefully reading that didn’t cause you anxiety. As I mentioned in the second book, they key to getting in the zone consistently is that you have corrected or are correcting any more severe mental game issue – tilt included. Anxiety and tilt, have the power to limit your mental upside and prevent you from getting into the zone. That’s where you’d want to go back through the first book and work through the fear and tilt chapter to get at the root of those issues.

Anxiety and fear are complex issues and I think I’d be doing you and anyone else struggling with it a disservice by giving a couple tips that may temporarily help, but not actually get at the root. The good thing is that there is a solution. So you don’t have to worry that you may never fix it.

Well, that’s certainly good to hear! On another note, my own experience outside poker lies mostly in language and linguistics. What’s your view on the role of language and self-talk in the poker learning process?

This is an interesting question. I think language is both the window into understanding unconscious flaws/processes and key to correcting them. For example, whenever a client uses the word “should” I know an expectation is present. Whenever they use the word “if” or the phrase “if I just” I know that they’re oversimplifying the solution and likely have some illusion that’s affecting their perception. I’m constantly paying attention the the words people use as cues to understand what’s going on beneath the surface. Not always the case, but certainly helpful.

On a poker learning side, I think it’s important that people put things in their own words rather than just copy/pasting into their mind. When you’re able to put things in your own words it’s an indication that you understand the theory/concept surrounding what you’re learning – mentally and tactically – at a deeper level. This isn’t true for everyone, some people don’t want to get to that level, they just want to know what to do. It’s an interesting and complex topic and one that I’m continually learning about.

Some great insight there, for sure. Do you find yourself adapting your own methods to people who learn more effectively in different ways? For example, have you had experiences where language alone wasn’t the right tool for the job in the case of a more visual or kinaesthetic learner?

I definitely adapt my methods to each person and I’ll say things in ways that I think that person will be able to best internalize it. That includes both an understanding of how they learn and their interests. Making comparisons to a movie they like, a sport they play, or place they’ve visited helps to bring these sometimes esoteric concepts to life. Makes them more real and that helps them learn. Definitely, some people learn better seeing something, others from hearing it and some need to experience it.

Since you mentioned movies, Do you think the way poker is portrayed in media and the social perceptions surrounding poker contributes to people’s false expectations when they get into the game, or is it more just that poker is so different from most other sports, games or hobbies?

I think the media feeds off of the issues people have or their lack of education, they don’t create these problems. Many people, consciously or unconsciously, want the fantasy. They want to believe they could make money without having to work much for it. Hypothetically if those fantasies/illusions were eliminated within the majority of people in society, those mass marketing techniques would need to come up with alternative messages to target.

That certainly makes a lot of sense. Going back to the idea of tilt and anxiety problems, do you think the kinds of mental game issues most commonly suffered by poker players have changed and evolved over the years as the more strategy-based aspects of poker theory have developed rapidly?

Simple answer, nope. The mental game issues may look different in terms of how they show up, the things people say, or the causes, but the roots of these issues are still all the same. I will add, that clients who have worked with me in the last year or so, more often have worked a lot on their mental game using my books but their progress is stuck or they haven’t improved as much as they’ve wanted to. What I’ve done with them is help them to identify the roots of their issues and help them problem solve in ways that they couldn’t do on their own. Plus, they sometimes have deeper personal issues that they didn’t realize were contributing to their poker problems.

Finally, I believe your first book contains the phrase, “there’s no Holdem Manager for the mental game”, or some variation on that. Do you think there ever will be, or could be, a piece of software that would help players with their mental game?

More a question of when, not if. Could be 30 years from now, but technology will advance and someone, possibly me, will find a way to make it happen in a way that is as robust as working with a coach or therapist.

Does this mean you’re one of the many people in today’s society worrying that their job will eventually be replaced by a robot?

Not at all. I’m constantly trying to grow and adapt. That’s the best defense I know and I’ve got plenty of contingencies planned based on how the market evolves.

Well, I think I speak for all poker players when I assert that no level of technology could replace the impact you’ve had on the development of poker’s mental game. We all look forward to your future work in the poker world, and beyond. Thanks for taking the time to speak with me.

Thank you, I enjoyed it!

Jared Tendler is a Poker Mental Game Coach and Author. You can find information about his coaching services, as well as his podcast, The Mental Game Podcast, at www.jaredtendlerpoker.com. He is @jaredtendler on Twitter.