into what he does that not only did Ijump at the chance, I got so involvedI ended up helping him write it fromstart to finish.

ALL JARED, ALL THE TIME

I would like to point out at this junc-ture that although I may have had asmall hand in helping Jared developsome of his theories, my own abilityand insight as a poker player isNOWHERE to be seen in this book.Please do not be put off because myname is on the front – my role wasmerely to help Jared put his workacross in a manner that the pokeraudience would understand. I essen-tially consider myself the exact sortof person who would buy this book,so it would seem I was the exact sortof person who could make sure pokerplayers would get the message. As a consumer I can tell you that

there is nothing else like this book onthe market.Most poker psychology books will

simply say things like “don’t go ontilt” or “play fearlessly” without actuallyexplaining how to do it and assuming thatthe audience can just change mindset withthe flick of a switch. Our book is all about

44 POKER�PRO EUROPE

BY BARRY CARTER

THE YEAR 2011 has started off with a hugesigh of relief because as I write, I am aboutto put the finishing touches to my firstbook. What I originally anticipated wouldbe on the shelves in April 2010 didn’tquite go that way, and instead took almostexactly a year to do, but it all feels worth itnow.I guess the first thing to say is that it’s

not really my book, it started off as some-one else’s book and ultimately became ajoint collaboration. About 18 months ago Imet performance coach Jared Tendler,who is the leading mental game coach inthe poker industry. Jared has worked withhundreds of professional players andmade many videos for Stoxpoker andDragtheBar. He is the only performancecoach in poker who is from a genuine psy-chology background, with a master’sdegree in psychology, thousands of hoursof experience as a traditional therapist andprevious work as a sports psychologyexpert in the golf industry. Jared transformed some major mental

game issues I had at the tables, curing meof a tilt issue I never thought would goaway, and as a result we became good

friends. So much so that he asked if Iwould edit his first book on the pokermental game. I was so fascinated by thesubject after he had given me a glimpse

Thanks to Mental GameCoach Jared Tendler, 2010Was a Year of Personal And Professional Growth

Me (left) and Jared. The book’sdone; we can smile.

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POKER�PRO EUROPE

understanding things like tilt, motivation-al issues, confidence and fear at the tablesand how to not only resolve them, but toalso use them to become a much betterplayer. The tilt chapter alone is bigger thansome books, all of which may sound hardgoing, but we have worked very hard con-densing it in such a way that it’s easy tofollow. Which is why it took so long. The writ-

ing part was no problem – the tough partwas stopping. We had most of the wordswritten down months ago, and the lasthalf of 2010 was mostly spent trimmingthings down and eliminating the stuffpeople didn’t really need to see.

FRONT-ROW SEATGetting first-hand insight into the life’swork of the top performance coach in thepoker industry has been a dream and anincredible stroke of good luck for me. Youwould probably think that as a directresult my poker game has soared to a levelthat most people could only dream of –not quite.My game is light years better, of that I

have no doubt, but it wasn’t exactly world

class in the first place. The biggest impactthis experience has had has been a big sur-prise. It has actually freed me from poker.I was one of those people who could notput poker down. When I wasn’t working Iwas playing, when I wasn’t playing I wastalking or thinking about poker. Workingwith Jared has helped me realise thatpoker will be there tomorrow and hasallowed me to take a long break from thegame while we finished the book, whichhas also let me pursue other things. For example, it’s helped me concentrate

on my work with PokerNews, rather thanhinder it, as you might think. I read morebooks now in a month than I would previ-ously read in a year. I have lots of otherhobbies now, but when I was poker-obsessed I had zero. My relationships arebetter, my ability to learn has improvedtenfold and my attention span – some-thing I thought years of TV and poker haddestroyed long ago – is significantlyimproved.

BIGGEST DIFFERENCE

Perhaps the biggest positive impact, how-ever, came during the worst period of mylife. My dear father unexpectedly passedaway towards the end of 2010 andalthough it is something you probably cannever get over completely, the mentalskills we advocate in the book are trans-ferrable to anything in life and have reallyhelped me come to terms with my grief.

So to describe this experience as a jour-ney is a bit of an understatement. I firstwent into this project thinking it would befun, help my game and hopefully make mea bit of money. As it’s reaching its end it’slooking like all those things have hap-pened and so much more. I have a newattitude towards the game, Jared hasbecome my best friend in poker and I havelearnt so many new skills I can’t begin tolist them. (I also joke that I have becomethe second biggest authority on the pokermental game by accident).If we don’t sell a single copy it will still

have been worth it for me (but please stillbuy a copy!).The book is called The Mental Game of

Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving TiltControl, Confidence, Motivation, CopingWith Variance and More (“The MentalGame of Poker” for short).I would like to remind you that my own

poker skills are thankfully nowhere to beseen, hence my name rightly being muchsmaller on the front cover. �

“The Mental Game of Poker” will be availablein April. You can find out more and pre-ordera copy at www.thementalgameofpoker.com.

45

‘Jared curedme of a tiltissue I never

thought would go away, andas a result webecame good

friends’

‘The writingpart was no

problem – thetough part

was stopping’

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