kindle?

I'm working on getting a Kindle version now that I'm back. Hopefully not too much longer.

Thought I was done reading poker books, but there was some value in The Mental Game of Poker. If people are interested in actively participating in improvement with their mental game, then this book is worth reading. The repeating theme that I felt it offered, were all the testimonials from students that found lots of value in writing/reviewing their journal. I haven't made the journal yet, but there were some advice in the Fear, and also Motivation chapters that have helped me frequently in the last few weeks. Enough benefit from reading the book to justify its expense. Coincides with one of my favorite quotes in the book, about how Michael Jordan never made a single penny in the weight room.

My Vegas housemate this summer hated the book when I lent it to him. Told me to burn it because it cost him $10k.

I received the book yesterday and have read the first four chapters. I hope this post isn't too long but I have reviewed what I have read so far, on my blog, and thought I'd share with 2p2: (On second thoughts, I'll post in two parts.)

"The Mental Game of Poker" - Chapters 1-2
Right, so yesterday I took myself off to the local pub garden, armed with my copy of "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler, to finish chapters 3-4. Here is my review of chapters 1-2 with a look at chapters 3-4 to follow.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Tendler sets out his stall by explaining what the ultimate goal of the mental game is. i.e. Identifying the causes of your mental game problems and resolving them so that they can be permanently removed. By developing strategies to facilitate this process, the idea is that you can remain calm and focused at the table - and are able to always make the right decisions. The metaphor he uses, which personally drew me in, was that "weeds grow back if you don't pull them out by the roots" just in the same way that causes of mental game problems pop back if they are left unresolved.

Chapter 2: Foundation
In this chapter, he reveals three theories to make solving the mental game problems simpler. The first (Adult Learning Model) is all about being conscious or unconscious of your competence or incompetence; the second (Inchworm) mainly focuses on the importance of working on the weakest part of your game; and the final theory (The Process Model), for me, highlighted the importance of reviewing the quality of your play rather than being preoccupied with results.

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The first two chapters were a breeze to read through and hit all the right notes. If you read the second chapter as intended (to make solving the mental game problems simple) then it's not so daunting. The first three chapters just require passively reading the text but when you start on Chapter 4, you realise that a bit of extra effort is required if you want to really get the best out of the book.

"The Mental Game of Poker" - Chapters 3-4
Here is the second installment of my review of the above mentioned book:

Chapter 3: Emotion
This chapter was definitely the smoothest and most absorbing part of the book thus far and struck all the right chords. First off, he pointed out that negative emotions are the symptoms NOT the causes of why we play poorly and should be seen as an alarm or as a messenger bringing warnings that we should be on our guard. Negative emotions cause problems but are created "when flaws in your approach to poker are triggered by certain events or occurrences at the table."

He then goes on to write about how these negative emotions can cause the player to play with a "malfunctioning mind". In a nutshell, when your emotional system becomes overactive, it shuts down higher brain functions such as thinking, planning, awareness etc - and consequently really bad decisions are made at the table. Essentially, when the emotional threshold kicks in, your brain shuts off the ability to think. The idea, is that you must develop strategies to prevent yourself from going over that emotional threshold in the first place.

This chapter just made a lot of sense and really pinpointed how the destructive force of negative emotions can wreak havoc with your game. It was really interesting to note that it's crucial to address mental game problems before you go beyond that emotional threshold -and how important it is to recognise when this occurs at the table.

Chapter 4: Strategy
This chapter is the heaviest of the first four chapters, by far, and really demands quite a lot from the reader if you wish to get into the spirit of what he is attempting to do. You will get nothing out of it if you just read it superficially and gloss over his suggestions. I found myself having to go back to make notes when I realised that I hadn't absorbed the information properly. (These are exercises you are required to do in order to solve your mental game problems. I didn't actually DO the exercises there and then, mind you, but wrote down all the details of what I need to do to fix my problem(s).)

This chapter lays out approaches to resolve mental game problems. There is the short-term approach, which Tendler entitles "Injecting Logic" and the long-term approach called "Resolution." Injecting logic is what you do at the table when you catch yourself having a build up of emotion and it's vital to tackle before hitting the threshold. There is a 6-step formula to go through when injecting logic with the first of these steps, "Recognition", requiring the writing up of a profile and a bit of naval gazing beforehand. That's where the work and extra effort comes in.

Resolution is the long-term process and involves pulling out those pesky weeds from the roots so that they don't return. This revolves around the reader striving to permanently remove those demons by using what he terms the Mental Hand History. Again, this involves the reader being pro-active. As Tendler says, "you have to understand the problem well enough to prescribe a solution" so to facilitate this process he supplies us with a 5-step protocol to go through in order to identify the root cause and to correct it. (Again, this is where I felt compelled to actually write down the process so as to get into the spirit of Tendler's program.)

Initially, I read Chapter 4: Strategy fairly swiftly and ploughed straight into Chapter 5: Tilt without really reflecting on what I had read. It was only until I started reading more of Chapter 5: Tilt, that I realised I really had to go back and make those notes if I was to make proper sense of what Tendler was trying to do AND to do the whole mental game thing justice.

Chapter 5: Tilt, at around 80 pages long accounts for about one third of the book and, is by far the book's longest chapter. As I say, I have only written the details of what I have to do (rather than have written them out) so it remains to be seen as to whether I'll need to stop and write out things in depth first (as part of Tendler's program) before cracking on with said chapter. Anyway, regardless, I'll let you know what I think of Chapter 5 in a later installment.
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To conclude with a few closing comments based on what I have seen so far, the book will definitely help those players who can be bothered to get off their arse and put the effort in. It will also appeal to players who don't object to the idea of a bit of naval gazing in order to improve. BUT, it can be a little confusing as to the chronology of when you should complete the questionnaire and profiles in relation to how it fits in as you read the book. Anyway, I'll get back to you as I press on.

"The Mental Game Of Poker" - Chapter 5: Tilt
As I mentioned in my previous post, this key chapter totals about 80 pages and occupies about one third of the book. The first thing that is established in this chapter is that tilt is an anger issue and should be seen as a symptom NOT the cause of problems. The reader is also asked to contemplate their own game and to complete a "Tilt Profile" which I'll mention later.

Here, Tendler covers 7 different types of tilt and dissects and explores all the features that make up each one. Sometimes they do sound similar and there does seem to be a bit of overlap but nevertheless, the information covering each type will resonate more for some than others. For example, what he wrote on "Mistake Tilt" and "Hate Losing Tilt" made a lot more sense to me and had me identifying much more with the material than what he wrote on "Revenge Tilt" or "Desperation Tilt" which are types of tilt I don't suffer from as much. This obviously shows the area I need to refer to when I make my own self-examination / diagnosis.

The information that he supplies in this chapter is essentially like the spreading out of all the different pieces of the logic puzzle that could be used to help plug the gaps in the mental game. It's then up to the reader to identify his own problems and then possibly use some of these pieces to help him complete or work out the puzzle himself. My interpretation is that, therefore, as you go through the exercises needed in preparing the "Recognition" stage of the Injecting Logic strategy (in Chapter 4) as well as the "Mental Hand History" as part of the Resolution strategy (in Chapter 4) - the pieces of information in Chapter 5 serve as keys to help you identify and/or unlock those problems in those exercises. To make matters clearer, it is my belief that these pieces can also be used to build up the "Tilt Profile" which appears at the start of the chapter. Yes, this, once again, asks for more effort from the reader - but I'm willing to go with the old "You get out what you put in" adage.
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Personally speaking, I have still not pro-actively gone out to complete any of the tasks that Tendler asks the reader to complete yet as I still wish to get an overview of the book by reading it from cover to cover first. For me, Chapter 5: Tilt seems to serve best as a kind of reference manual to be referred to when diving into the aforementioned exercises.

One of the shortcomings of the book is this uncertainty of knowing if my approach, outlined above, is the correct way of going about getting the most out of the book or whether it's anywhere near what the author actually intended his readers to do. I think if Tendler had actually outlined a more structured program of study for his readers, as it were, then I would have an even greater degree of confidence in the book. Don't get me wrong, I still think it surpasses anything Hilger or Angelo put out.
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Review of Chapter 6: Fear to follow.

"The Mental Game Of Poker" - Chapters 6-8
The first four chapters of Tendler's book gives background into the learning processes and strategies involved in tackling the mental game of poker. It suggests questions to ask, exercises to carry out and deep-rooted questions that are designed to help the reader uncover, understand and then go on to eradicating the demons that crop up in the mental game. Essentially, it lays out a map to help the reader become his own psycho-analyst so that he can then go on to resolve the issues himself.

The next four chapters then cover the four central areas of the mental game in turn (Tilt, Fear, Motivation and Confidence) and within these chapters we are shown pieces, or are suggested what the pieces might be - which we can then use to fix or solve the puzzle. Chapter 5 is on tilt which I discussed in my last part. The remainder of the chapters are:

Chapter 6: Fear
Chapter 7: Motivation
Chapter 8: Confidence
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Now although I thoroughly believe that some of the sections in Chapter 5: Tilt will help the vast majority of players, by the time the reader gets to these last three chapters there seems to be quite a lot of overlap and it seems most issues have already been covered in a different guise earlier in the book. Furthermore, on a personal level, although a few minor points did resonate, I felt that the content in Chapter 6: Fear and Chapter 7: Motivation were just not relevant to my game. (Not an objective criticism, just a personal opinion.) Chapter 8: Confidence, on the other hand, really did ring a few bells and I'll certainly be referring back to this part.
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After having read the book, even though I have not yet completed any of the exercises that are required, I like Tendler's down-to-earth approach and the fact that it brutally forces the reader to take control of his own destiny. With Tendler exposing some harsh realities and not allowing the reader to fool himself or to engage in any sort of woolly thinking, I'm confident that when I do get down to putting myself on my own psychiatrist couch, as it were, I will definitely be able to see some of my own flaws and really have confidence in going some way to removing them from my game.

--Recommended baby!

--I hope y'all enjoyed reading the review and that I did the book the justice that it deserves.

I'm definitely buying this book, but was also looking at 'The Poker Mindset', does reading this book make it unnecessary to read the other one?

Cheers!

There is a discussion thread for just that

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/33...poker-1047076/

"The mental game of poker" is pure gold and steal for $50. thx for writing this Jared.

Waiting on Kindle version

Bought one of these. It's hardly noticeable so save $20 bucks while you can.

Great to hear, thanks. Worked hard on it for 2 years, so comments like this mean a lot.

First off, it was good of you to write such a thoughtful review of the book in this thread, you've done the book justice (for the places that it was relevant to you) and anyone thinking about purchasing will be more likely to because of your post. Thank you.

Regarding the uncertainty of knowing if you approach is correct, the best way to find out is to try it and evaluate the results. In chapter 4 I talk about tracking mental game progress and that's the section which can help you to have greater certainty about whether the steps you're taking are correct. Ultimately, if the issues are getting better, you're doing something right. If it's not, and your struggling to figure out what material is most relevant, that's where I extend the offer (in the conclusion) for people to post questions for me.

I don't take this as a criticism. Uncertainty about how to apply the material correctly in this book, or in any poker book is a reality because it's impossible to write the perfect book for all people. My goal was to write one that was easy to apply for the most people possible, and offer help when needed. That's true for you too - so if you have questions when you start digging into the strategies feel free to post them here.

Sorry to make you wait so long - it's coming and I promise to let you know as soon as it's available.