The “Look Inside” option isn’t on your book, boss.

Not sure what “hate” you’re referring to. I’m probably one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet on or off the felt. I just call out BS when I see it and, frankly, there is a lot of it on this site.

Then move to RGP, or cardplayer. You won't be missed.

And the "look inside" function works just fine.

Naw, I think I’ll stay. I can call out the BS and have nice chats with gullible kiss asses like you

Arguments from ignorance. And the correct spelling is "kiss-asses".

The look inside option is their junior. Sometimes on an iPhone it won’t show on the printed book but it should be there on the kindle. It should also be there on a laptop or desktop. If you can’t see it, complain to Amazon. But virtually everyone else can see it.

There’s no BS in my stuff, but I suspect you already know that.

MM

I think it would be interesting to see Mason and Jared Tendler in a debate on their respective books. That, or to hear a psychologist vouch for the concepts expressed it Mason's book.

My guess is that both authors would still feel the same afterwards, but I think their audience would get a good sense of which book might best help them.

Hi Venice:

Tendler did participate in some threads a while back. If you want to do a search he posted under Jared Tendler. Here's an interesting thread especially (starting after Post 100) where we talk about "unconscious competence." I don't think he did very well in the thread but your opinion might be different.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...aches-1678554/

Mason

The idea that choking or the "yips" can be solved through more reps is incorrect. Otherwise, baseball players like Chuck Knoblauch or Rick Ankiel would have been able to take more repetitions and return to their former excellence. Chuck Knoblauch was a Gold Glove second basemen who got the "yips" and started to make errors on short throws to first base. He was so bad that he eventually had to switch to the outfield and never returned to 2B. Rick Ankiel was pitcher who was a runner-up for Rookie of the Year. He got the Yips and was never able to regain his pitching accuracy. Ankiel eventually played at the MLB level as a position player, but again, repetitions did not solve his issues.

It's also interesting that you said about tender Tendler, "I now don't think he contributed much value to poker." There are quite a few high stakes players who have referenced him specifically as helping them dramatically improve their mental games. Does he charge way too much? Maybe.

To use a tennis analogy, what about when John McEnroe would get upset and argue etc. If you were his tennis coach, would you tell him he nees more repetitions? How about Serena Williams when she was arguing over a point and threatened an umpire, more reps required?

I do agree that some of this poker mental stuff might help a top notch player who's playing high stakes against other top players. In games like these, the win rate of the player in question will be small in terms of bets. But since the money is so high even a small gain can be a significant amount of money over a large period of time.

On the other hand, this poker mental stuff was mostly being sold to players who were not yet expert players. And I do believe in most cases it was probably detrimental to them. And from the "Conclusion" of Real Poker Psychology - Expanded Edition:

Poker psychology, as presented in much of the current material that has made its way to market, probably has a little value. It certainly won’t hurt to be a little more confident, to pay attention to a higher degree, to have a good diet, or to even get a good night’s sleep. But if it means that you as a poker player latch on to this stuff and neglect to do those things that can improve your understanding of all things poker, and this includes the strategic concepts that govern sound play, then it really is quite detrimental to your long-term results.

Put another way, as long as this recent poker psychology material doesn’t hurt you, if you’re someone who plays live, in my opinion, it might be worth as much as one-tenth of a big bet an hour in a limit game. But if it causes you to neglect those areas of poker where you need to improve, and this is especially true if you’re someone struggling to beat the rake in a small stakes game, then its negative effect will lower your potential future win rate by much more than one-tenth of a big bet per hour. And if it encourages you to participate in games where your expectation is negative, then it’s beyond bad.

Mason

I would agree that it would be of far more help to a winning player than to a losing one. However, I'd say it's been worth far more than 0.1BB/100 for me. Probably more like 2-3BB/100 easily in my games.


Entitlement tilt is probably the one that I struggled with the most. If I started off a session up a few buyins, that number became "my" money in my head. After that, I'd start getting upset just for losing a flip, or even getting it in bad and losing. Having a specific label for what my issue was helped because from that point I could work on correcting my mindset.

Our brains are hardwired toward rewards, so if we allow ourselves to view that bankroll number as "our money", the Amygdala is going to fire bigtime when that money is "taken" by someone else. Maybe you'd disagree, but I doubt there's any amount of poker repetitions that will stop the Amygdala from panicking when it feels our rewards are being threatened, perceived or otherwise.

What worked for me was having a much higher bankroll and not looking at the cashier during sessions. Also if I got it in with a flip, I'd minimize that table until the board ran out. That way, there wouldn't be any highs and lows if the turn or river helped or hurt my hand.

A minor correction. I said one-tenth of a big bet per hour in a limit game. "Per hour" means it's live and I'm talking about 35 hands per hour. I'm also talking about games where even though you may be an expert, so are your opponents. Thus, your base win rate should be quite small to begin with.

Mason

Ok, I misread that. I think we're closer to agreeing on that as well then.

I agree with your post and my own. In brief, what I would say, is that I do not follow most sports very closely so that my definition of "mental toughness" is very much related to resilience- you will note I described resilience as a sexy quality and not " mental toughness". My interest in mental toughness insofar as I am interested in mental toughness relates to the ability to survive. I believe in the overall concept because I feel I have "lived it" whether that's true or not; I was very mentally weak and a very suggestible person who somehow grew to be strong. I am 100% sure and can prove that I took a lot of "hits" that others took and are no longer with us but I am still alive.

None of this means that primary knowledge in poker ( statistics) or domain specific knowledge( how to react to certain behavior at the table) don't take precedence in poker and define your results more than mental toughness.

In addition , I tend to think that if someone believes they have a problem with mental toughness they are right. For example, I play worse when I look sloppy. This is a personal issue and not directly related to poker but because of my own psychology it's a problem that needs to be solved. Most people who say they have a lack of mental toughness actually do.

Agree that THE COMMITMENT to study and improve one's understanding of the game correlates with the commitment not to tilt. This wouldn't be so much that improved skill prevents tilting directly, but that to the extent one applies the same commitment to maintaining a level head while playing, tilt will diminish greatly. And to the extent one doesn't, it won't reduce tilt. But the two are correlated in this way. Strongly for some personality types, not very strongly for other.

Probably the most beneficial thing I have done to improve my general resilience is to 'keep my own house in order'. I believe that looking after my health is fundamental to everything else. And practically, this begins at home, cooking healthy food and getting enough rest primarily. And staying organised and keeping good routines.

A few years ago, I moved from a chaotic shared house to a quiet single-bedroom flat. There was drug use and people coming and people coming and going at all hours at the shared flat. But at my new place, I had complete control of the space and didn't have to share anything. I was able to set up better routines for myself, and it is probably the single most beneficial thing I have done for myself ever.

Im not recommending everyone live by themselves; I'm just making a different point that I believe it's important to prioritise basic human needs.

Another way to become more robot is to train oneself not to react. I don't know how those outstanding players have become that way. But I imagine that 'being a robot' at the felt means that everything is information rather than something you have an emotional response to.

I think one exercise to become more robot is to train yourself not to react to actions / your immediate emotional response. And another one is to pay attention to the information that matters. For example, being aware of position and where the betting is coming from. Pot odds. And what is happening on every street. And being able to use that information as the hand proceeds.

Some of these (perhaps all) are things that someone who has played for many years doesn't need to think about any more consciously. But speaking for myself as someone who has played for about 10, I still struggle to focus on basic information playing live such as being able to calculate pot odds.

I was walking along the road lost in thought and saw a young handicapped woman in a wheel chair outside a care home looking at the view getting some fresh air.

She will be in that care home the rest of her life unable to have a romantic relationship, career or full independence of her own.

Someone out there always has it worse than you.

People get diagnosed with incurable cancer every day.

If your healthy your blessed and you can create a future starting tomorrow.

All other negative feelings come from entitlement and envy.

Self-control and knowledge are two different things. We do not automatically apply all our knowledge and execute the corresponding action when an impulse strikes.

You do when you spend the time, effort and energy required to master the knowledge.