But coming off of the PokerStars Players Championship at Poker Caribbean Adventure 2023, it is clear that live tournaments are back in full force. While players have shown their readiness to come back to the tables, it seems that there are new factors at play shining a spotlight on the biggest events across the poker industry.

Over the last year, the industry has done more than introduce high-value extravagant events like the PSPC and WPT World Championship. The widespread marketing for these tournaments has returned to former heights, broadcasting these tournaments in full to the poker masses. With the new attention to detail and access to watch from the beginning, it seems that the industry has rekindled the recreational player’s drive to chase the dream in tournaments.

A history of televised poker tournaments

For as long as poker broadcasting has been available, the WSOP Main Event has been the crown jewel. From 1973 through the 90s, the WSOP Main Event was one of the few tournaments receiving any national broadcasting attention. But it did not receive the full beginning-to-end broadcast treatment until 2003, once WSOP partnered with ESPN and one year after televised specials had introduced hole card cams.

As fate would have it, online qualifier Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event the first year this innovation was brought to the masses on ESPN. As a satellite-winning recreational player, Moneymaker’s win unleashed the all-time poker boom showing the casual audience what was possible. The charged public interest created lucrative sponsorships for the players and broadcasts alike, and WSOP became a television mainstay throughout the 2000s.

For many years, the Moneymaker boom would inspire a variety of televised poker content from online poker operators like PokerStars while organizations like the World Poker Tour showcased their events on mainstream TV stations like the Travel Channel. But public interest in poker waned following ‘Black Friday’ on April 15, 2011, when most poker clients were infamously frozen in the United States. This left many American casual players without a credible place to play online, leading to a decline in sponsorship money and a paucity in televised tournament play.

Later as poker became a niche interest and audiences consumed television in new ways, PokerGO led the way. After launching in 2017, PokerGO became the streaming home of fan favorite poker shows and tournament broadcasts from years past along with all-new live coverage. In addition to becoming the new home for full WSOP Main Event coverage, PokerGO became the place to watch Aria’s premium invite-only tournament event, the Super High Roller Bowl. Once a year, this $300k buy-in tournament attracts the wealthiest and well-studied players to compete for multimillion dollar payouts. And once again, fans were able to watch coverage from Level 1, following the action as players built their starting stacks toward the Final Table.

In 2019, Triton Poker followed in PokerGO’s footsteps, bringing a premium feel to an ultra high stakes tournament. The Triton Million: Helping Hand for Charity boasted a £1 million buy-in, with £50k “rake” toward charity. The event featured business men and women playing on one side of the field, each of whom were able to invite one professional player for the pro side of the field. The event broke a record for the largest payout for first at £30,670,000 (which was chopped between the top two finishers), broadcasting from beginning to end online. The event set a new standard for production value with the elaborate tournament room of tables and player interviews providing context for the action.

By the 2020s, broadcasts had become common through PokerGO and live streaming, but cameras were typically reserved for final tables. At that point, the full broadcast illustrating the hope and excitement right at the beginning of the industry’s most exciting events was reserved for the WSOP Main Event.

A return to peak poker

As players have become eager to return to live tournaments, the standard for tournament broadcasting has set new heights over the last year. The WSOP debuted to universal fanfare at its new home on the Las Vegas Strip, with an all-new, expanded broadcast setup. Later in the summer, the World Poker Tour announced their $15 million guarantee for a surefire December spectacle: the WPT World Championship. Then after four long years, PokerStars Players Championship returned to the Bahamas in its glory after an Olympics-length sabbatical.

Throughout 2022, the WPT and PokerStars innovated to bring the common player to these high stakes arenas and feel the thrill of playing in the largest prize pools in poker history. WPT Global unleashed loads of giveaway packages through a variety of Twitter challenges while PokerStars distributed loads of $30k Platinum Passes prize packages in innovative ways, including partnering with Poker.org to send players on a detective quest to find a disguised player in the wild.

READ MORE: Poker’s Plus One Platinum Pass PSPC Experience

But in addition to running incredible series that attracted poker regulars from around the world, WPT and PokerStars went above and beyond during their events. They broadcasted these spectacles throughout to all their fans online to recapture their imagination. Both the WPT World Championship and PokerStars wasted no time bringing in top media personalities to commentate, social media personalities to promote on the sideline, and podcasts to recap the day-to-day madness. Whether you prefer Jamie Kerstetter’s commentary, Joey Ingram’s comedy, or the OnlyFriends podcast’s banter, these events worked overtime to ensure they show you they were the center of the poker world.

And once they hooked you in, these events showed you the field right from the get-go. Seeing these rooms full of hundreds of entries, green players with starting stacks and a twinkle in their eyes, showed a fresh perspective to casual players across the world.

It has been a welcome sight, as only watching a Final Table can feel like having a bucket of cold water being dropped on you in comparison. Normally, final tables are full of stoic professionals. And believe me, I love intense ICM decisions and advanced play. And I am a fan of learning from so many of these players, as a serious recreational player myself. But I don’t think that is what the average player is looking for.

In fact, it may be the worst stage of the tournament to show off what’s great about the game. Only seeing this point of play suggests to audiences that reaching the Final Table requires them to be something they aren’t interested in. Showing players from the beginning gives us the opportunity to meet the common fan. Audiences are captivated by the dream that’s alive early in a tournament and the stories along the way. It’s great if they manage to hang on until late into tournament coverage, but it is rarely the later stages of coverage that will spark curiosity.

Building on tournament hype

After this recent stretch, the poker world now has two major events to look forward to aside from the WSOP, hopefully on an annual basis. Their early results have been so promising that one can’t help but imagine how the industry can continue building the hype and generating new interest.

While the WPT World Championship and PSPC set a high standard for showing what a major tournament can look like, we are still talking about $10k and $25k buy-ins. Even with all of the giveaways and satellites available to reach these heights, these are price points that are going to escape all but the most successful poker personalities in the community.

However, there is a “fab foursome” of mid-stakes tournaments ripe to capture the imagination of weekend warriors across the United States and the rest of the world. The Mid-States Poker Tour, WPT Prime, Run Good Poker Tour, and World Series of Poker Circuit have solidified themselves as the go-to options for tournament players chasing glory in tournaments with buy-ins of $200-2,000. And while they are well-known by those paying attention, finding a way to simplify broadcasts of their Main Events to the masses could be an excellent way to show all those curious about poker what is actually within their reach.

4th Global Poker Awards Nominees – Best Mid-Major Circuit/Tour
RUNGOOD Poker Series (@RGPokerSeries)
Mid-States Poker Tour (@msptpoker)
World Series of Poker Circuit (@WSOPC)
WPT Prime (@WPT)
https://t.co/PXQl0EXvBn pic.twitter.com/yQEcpqxyLz

— Global Poker Index (@gpi) February 14, 2023

Broadcasting a tournament from beginning to end with professional commentary and production value is no simple task, of course. Asking these organizations to do so from the ground up would be a tall order. However, if the details could be worked out, imagine if these organizations were able to schedule stops at locations with established streaming setups.

For example, the WSOPC Main Event in Los Angeles streamed its Final Table from Live at the Bike. But imagine if the series had been promoted and hyped with the promise of full coverage for months ahead. Pairing with destinations like Live at the Bike, Hustler Casino, The Lodge, and Texas Card House, which are equipped to handle the burden of this coverage, could be a win-win for the organizations and locations alike.

I can admit, this may be a pipedream for the time being. But only because these organizations haven’t been given a roadmap to follow to make the vision happen. With PokerGO already providing Final Table coverage of many WSOP events and full coverage of the Main Event, just imagine if they were able to pair the full coverage approach with one other small event.

In 2023, the WSOP is introducing its latest large field budget event: Gladiators of Poker. This $300 tournament is the cheapest numbered event on the schedule and boasts a $3 million guarantee, all within the first week of the WSOP schedule. What better event to showcase from beginning to end? At this price point, you are sure to find the passion, wild play, and drama from recreational players that creates TV gold.

Glen Craigen is living every poker player’s dream!

Craigen has turned a pure freeroll into over $35,000 pic.twitter.com/jNbRCDEo69

— Poker.org (@pokerorg) February 1, 2023

Think of the new names you actually remember from recent years. Aaron Zhang. Nicholas “Dirty Diaper” Rigby. Glen Craigen, in disbelief turning a freeroll into over $40k. These aren’t the pros we are familiar with. They are the most creative, passionate players in the fields that we couldn’t ignore. They remind us why we fell in love with the game in the first place. If the poker industry takes anything away from the last year of success, I hope that it’s realizing they are only scratching the surface of how they can bring these players’ stories to the masses.

Finally, just recently I was able to book an 8-night poker vacation to Las Vegas by myself (with the loving consent of my wife, who has somehow gotten used to my eccentricities over the years).

Getting There and Selecting a Poker Room

I live half a world away, so after a 14-hour flight, 3-hour stopover and another 1-hour flight, I finally arrived in Las Vegas after a very lengthy journey. Originally, I had thought I’d jump in to my first tournament on the day I arrived, but that was pure idiocy from my standpoint.

I chose to stay at a hotel within walking distance of Caesars Palace, as that would be my tournament poker hub. Why Caesars Palace? I liked the fact that they ran five tourneys per day with relatively low buy-ins. I did use Uber to venture to a few other spots in the city, but for the most part, I lived and breathed tournament poker at Caesars Palace for a full week.

My first two tournaments were the $100 buy-in and $150 buy-in daily events, in which I finished 6/46 and 10/31, respectively. I am not a high roller, but my intention was to play in at least two tournaments per day, $100/$150 buy-in daily tournaments were just my speed. It was nice to make it into the money in my first tournament; perhaps a good omen for things to come?

I did try playing at one other venue, but quite frankly the vibe there just wasn’t as friendly as at Caesars Palace. Everyone at that other place just seemed to be in their own world, focused on their cellphones, or trying to show off their chip tricks to prove just how long they’d been playing poker for. To be sure, the other venue’s tournaments are significantly larger; I played in a 183-person $150 buy-in deep stack tournament there. But there were just too many “minuses” there: no automatic shufflers at the tournament tables, no USB ports to charge your phone, and chairs that weren’t adjustable. In short, just not a pleasant experience.

My elimination hand in that sole tournament I played at the other venue was indicative of play there. I had AJ and bet 3BB. There was one caller. The flop came A-3-5 and I moved all-in. My opponent snap-called with A5, and neither the turn or river improved me. Not a single word was said by anyone at the table. Not “wow, bad beat”, not “bummer”, and not even a “nice seeing you” or “good game” as I packed up to leave the table.

So back to Caesars Palace it was, where I remained for the rest of my tournament poker vacation.

Distinct Elements I Liked in Caesars Palace Poker Tournaments

While I enjoyed the tournaments immensely, I should point something out about their structure. The tournament really speeds up after about four hours of play: already at level 7 the ante equals the big blind (1,000/1,000) and by the fourth hour, they reach level 12 where BB/ante is 16,000! So none of the daily tournaments last much longer than five hours. I suppose this makes sense though, allowing the room to run so many daily tournaments in the first place.

The friendliness of the games at Caesars Palace is particularly welcoming. Everyone I played with throughout my week there always introduced themselves. Players apologize for knocking someone out or rivering a hand. I even played in one tournament where an elderly gentleman with severe Parkinson’s was unable to throw in chips or stack them on his own, so players sitting beside him were more than happy to assist. I don’t think that’s something that I’d ever see at that other poker room I played at on the trip. Again, overall just a super friendly vibe.

Another aspect of the tournaments I played in, which probably exists at other poker rooms – is the player deal.  Suppose the tournament pays out the top eight players and there are nine left. Often it gets proposed that everyone left puts in $20 (total $180) so that the person knocked out on the bubble pockets the $180. It’s a nice consolation prize. The poker room staff doesn’t get involved in those negotiations, but a staff member always made sure to state that everyone at the table must agree to the deal.  Once the bubble bursts, after 2-3 more knockouts, someone will usually make an offer for some sort of chop, either equally or via ICM, based on chip stack sizes.

REVIEW: Endgame Poker Strategy — The ICM Book

One Player Per Hand, Mama!

At one of the numerous tournaments I played in, I noticed a mother and two of her children playing. She was sort of a Ma Barker type and her son was sort of bear-like. The field of 60 was down to 27 and I ended up in seat 8. By luck of the draw, Ma was in seat 5 and her son was in seat 6. I noticed twice that when he riffed his cards he held them open for about an extra couple of seconds, allowing his mother to peer in and see his hole cards (which I literally saw her do).

I quietly mucked my cards and went to tell the pit boss. She thanked me and after 30 seconds she arrived at the table and quietly whispered to the dealer. Karma’s gonna get you, I suppose. After about one orbit the son busted out, to be followed by his mother a few hands later. In the end, the lady’s daughter, who was playing at a different table, made it to the final 6 along with me. The six of us decided to chop, for a nice payout.

The Poker Trip of a Lifetime

With so much else to do in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, some might say that I missed out on what the city has to offer. But I came to play tournament poker, so I stuck to my plan. I did absolutely nothing else on my trip aside from play tournament poker.

I hate cash games and enjoy the fact that a $100 buy-in can buy me four hours of fun play time, whereas that same $100 at a cash table might evaporate in the span of five minutes.

Adding to what made the trip more special and enjoyable, I had a group of no fewer than 25 people from back home railing me on WhatsApp. The participants ranged from my home game poker buddies, to longtime friends, to my immediate family. It was fun to run deep and make it into the money (ITM) pretty often. After eight nights, and 14 tournaments, I ended up ITM in five of them (ITM 35.7%) with an overall ROI of 30%.

Best vacation ever!

The WSOP and other major tournaments attract thousands of players every year, so some of you might be wondering how can all these people afford to shell out thousands of dollars to play in these events.

The truth is that some players have massive bankrolls, while others find alternative ways to buy into events and compete at the highest level.

After all, we all play poker for different reasons and have different bankrolls, but the love for the game is the one thing that unites all poker players.

For that reason, I want to share the three ways you can get into tournaments that may normally be too big for you to buy in to without having to save up money and spend it all at once.

Online Satellite Tournaments

One of the easiest ways to get into the bigger tournaments is to play satellites on the best online poker sites to qualify for the event you want to join.

Online poker sites throw qualifiers for all sorts of bigger live events, including those at the WSOP.

The great thing about online satellites is that you can start at the very lowest of levels and potentially qualify for a $10.000 tournament for $1 or less.

Online satellites are the only way to get into big live events so cheap, and while you may only have a small chance of doing so, you can also easily keep playing until you finally qualify.

If you want to go hardcore, you can play the more expensive qualifiers to live events and simply try to build up some extra equity in the event by entering it cheaper than you would if you had to pay the full buy-in.

Remember that satellite tournaments require a slightly different skill set than regular MTTs, so make sure you learn about satellites and how to play them before you jump into these too seriously.

READ MORE: Review of Bernard Lee’s Poker Satellite Success!

Playing in Home Games

Home game satellites to poker events are especially popular in the USA, but they are also played around the world. Even if you don’t have access to one, you may be able to put a home game like this together yourself.

A home game satellite consists of a group of players looking to play in a certain event, let’s say the WSOP Main Event.

The players can decide to come together just once, each bringing a portion of the buy-in, or many times over a period, buying in for a small portion of the total buy-in each time.

Poker leagues in which the WSOP seats are the main prize are very popular, and players across the USA organize such leagues on a regular basis.

While a poker league won’t let every player competing take a seat in the Main Event, the league’s winner will get their seat, which they could normally not afford.

If you think about it, a group of players could play a simple $20 tournament throughout the year and be able to afford the massive $10.000 seat in the WSOP Main Event for the best player in their group.

Players often even agree that all participants in the league get a small portion of the winnings, should the winner of the league manage to cash in the big tournament. That way, everyone ends up quite happy to rail “their person”, as they’ve all got a vested interest in that person’s success.

Even if you can’t get together with your friends, you can easily organize such events online on most serious sites, many of which offer freerolls, another helpful way to boost your bankroll. Incidentally, here’s where you can learn a bit more about poker freeroll strategy.

Selling Your Action

Another way of getting your bankroll to go and play the bigger live events, especially if you are a serious poker player, is by selling your action to other players, friends, or family.

There are many ways to sell action these days, and more options are open to those who are already proven and successful poker players.

If you are not a known player, you may be restricted to selling action to your friends and people who know you from the poker community. They may be interested in buying a piece of you or staking you altogether, even if just for the fun of it.

As you get more established, new options will start to open up. For starters, the players in your local community may realize that there is value in staking you or buying pieces of your action in the big tournaments.

Furthermore, you may be able to sell action on online poker forums or staking sites dedicated to this type of endeavor.

READ MORE: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Selling Action but Were Afraid to Ask

If you want to play tournaments online, there are plenty of online communities where you may need to prove your skills first but will be able to sell plenty of action once you are a proven poker tournament winner.

As you see, there are plenty of options to participate in your dream event, even if you can’t afford to buy in directly. So brush up your skills, and see you at the tables!

A thoroughly modern marvel, Little’s book takes each player through playing poker tournaments with a number of sections dedicated to each stage, from the fundamentals of tournament play, through the early deep-stacked levels and right through to final table. Maximising your advantage at each stage, the book not only makes you want to play better poker, it makes you yearn to play more and improve at a rate of knots to do so.

Jonathan Little is the perfect author for this sort of book, where a lot of work is required to achieve maximum results. After all, he’s the quiet man who fostered a playing career that has taken poker by storm. It’s not only that, however. Little’s ethos is one of the most patient of teachers; that teacher you had at school who you actually didn’t mind listening to. The book is one of several Little has published in his career and we think this book may well stack up as the best he’s ever produced, with sections on so many key areas of the tournament game.

READ MORE: Interview with Jonathan Little

One of the core fundamentals of becoming a professional poker player closes the book and it’s spoiling nothing by offering this pearl of wisdom to you now as it also applies to the book itself. Little writes:

“If you make the difficult decisions now, like going to sleep instead of partying all night, you will have an easy life later. If you make the easy decisions now, you will have a difficult life later.”

Never has a truer word been written about poker, but perhaps life, too. The same applies to reading the book. Skim through and while you may pick up a few nuggets of information, you’ll miss out on the complete picture. Buy the book and make it your bible however, and the lessons you learn will stand you in great stead to make a huge profit based on the knowledge you acquire.

The book is broken down into several sections of what is a terrific value, 463-page tome. From explaining how poker tournaments work to what do through each level of play, before the flop, after the flop and of course, the latter stages, Little makes you look at poker differently. It’s as if you can have an approach to poker that is flawed and rather than tell you to rip it up and start again, he will walk you through the structure of tournaments and allow you to see clearer which parts of your own game are strong or weak.

READ MORE: Jonathan Little’s Cash Game Master Class — A Thorough Review

If you enjoy the book and make it to the end of the training, then Little doesn’t stop there and presume that you know everything about turning these new-found skills into an instant bill-paying job or enjoyable money-making hobby. Indeed, such is his systematic approach to helping you, Little describes how and why you should make important choices about what to do in the game as a neat conclusion to the book.

Becoming a profitable player in poker tournaments is an ambition that still drives the majority of players, but the natural ability for people to achieve this goal has changed drastically over the years. There was a time, for example, where knowing to c-bet even if you hadn’t hit the flop was advanced strategy; today it is the most standard of moves.

The best thing about Jonathan Little’s Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker: The Essential Guide is that while poker will undoubtedly change over the course of the next two or three decades, it’s impossible to conceive of someone not benefitting for the advice within these pages. Little’s book could and should become definitive to tournament players over the coming years and if you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, we’d recommend that you do.

With multiple facets of every tournament twist and turn explained, you’ll enjoy poker far more than you already do as you play it while reading this book. If you apply the knowledge therein to your own game, you’re bound to be a lot more successful at the felt, whether its live or online.

The poker world was ready for an age-defining poker book in a period of global flux; it has found it in Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker: The Essential Guide by Jonathan Little.

The second crucial skill set pertains to what’s broadly defined as “mental game.” It encompasses a variety of factors that are hard to pinpoint to begin with, let alone master. And that’s where the Mental Game Tune Up for Tournament Poker video course by Jared Tendler comes in.

*Use promo code CPL to save $50 on your course purchase!*

As you can probably guess from the name, this course is designed to improve your mental game, focusing particularly on tournament players. After taking it, I can say with confidence that it could definitely benefit cash game players as well with a few fairly simple tweaks.

Jared Tendler enjoys a reputation of being one of the leading authorities on mental game issues. His seminal works, The Mental Game of Poker volumes I and II are still widely considered to be among the top poker books (read our review here). He’s spent years coaching poker players and helping them improve their results on the felt, and this course provides you with access to all that knowledge presented in a condensed and easy-to-follow manner.

READ MORE: On meeting Jared Tendler in person

Mental Game Tune Up for Tournament Poker is divided into eight modules, each covering a specific segment of your gameplan. Every module contains two sections: one featuring Jared’s lessons, explanations, and recommendations, and the second showing the actual mind game coaching process he went through with pro poker players Matt Affleck and Diego Ventura.

The course also contains several worksheets designed to help you get the best results out of lessons. There are hands-on examples on how you should approach filling these sheets as well, so there is no mystery. It’s all laid out for you, but you’ll still need to put in the work to improve.

Modules 1 & 2: Setting Goals and Knowing Your Game

This course wasn’t envisioned as something you watch once and then forget about. Instead, it should be used as a useful resource before every tournament series to help you build your plan, fix any new issues, and make sure the old ones are still under control.

As mentioned, there are eight modules in total, but Tendler puts the most emphasis on the first two, as these are the ones you should try to watch before every series, even if you’re short on time.

The first module talks about setting goals and the right way to do it. It invites you to take notes, come up with realistic goals, and an actionable plan to achieve them. It also talks about thinking ahead about any problems you expect to face along the way and what would be the best way to tackle them, either ahead of time as they arise.

A big emphasis in this module is on having connection to your goals. Tendler explains why this is of the utmost importance for your success and clarifies how to establish goals that are actually relatable.

The second module focuses on your game. To achieve the best results, you need to have a clear view of your game, and the only way to achieve this is by focusing on the process instead of results. Tendler helps you understand the ways to establish objective feedback with a useful A- to C-game Analysis tool.

Completing exercises from this module will help you understand where your game is at and how it tends to fluctuate (and why). This won’t just help you improve your play but should also lessen the emotional intensity in the long run.

Modules 3 & 4: Tilt, Emotions, and Burnout

The next couple modules of Tendler’s Mental Game Tune Up for Tournament Poker are designed to help you dig deeper into your emotions and mental state, and eventually make you a sturdier player ready to play your best game for a prolonged period of time.

Module 3 leads you to explore the biggest emotional problems you’re likely to face during a tournament series. These are different for every player, ranging from being overly upset over suckouts and bad beats (injustice tilt) to overconfidence.

Too much emotion can clutter your brain, preventing access to important information during play. So, in this module, you’re encouraged to create your tilt profile, identifying different levels of tilt and how these affect your performance.

The way to do this is by getting to the root of the problem, figuring out what causes it, and then coming up with strategies to remove it.

While Tendler admits that the ideas in his mental game course aren’t revolutionary on their own, he explains that developing the right process is what matters the most and what most players struggle with.

Module 4 continues on the theme of the previous one but expands to cover burnout and the most effective ways to deal with it. Poker can be very intense — tournament poker in particular — and getting burned out at some point isn’t uncommon. But, with the right strategy, you can recognize it early on and address the issue immediately.

Tendler presents six effective ways to tackle burnout, such as improving your routines, not trying to learn new stuff days before the tournament, having proper diet, and exercising. He suggests trying to get rid of everything not related to poker and to rather fully focus on the game while playing. This will help conserve your energy.

Modules 5 & 6: Getting Into the Zone and Thriving Under Pressure

Anyone who’s played poker for a little while knows what it means to be in the zone. It’s that great state where you simply know what to do every hand. Decisions come easy to you and more often than not, they’re correct ones.

But getting into that zone isn’t easy. It takes just the right amount of energy to get there, and that amount differs for every player. For some, emotions play a big role in the process as well, even “bad” emotions like fear and anger.

In this module, Tendler provides a way to create your zone profile, which will help you identify the steps that work for you and come up with the right formula. It may seem a bit random at first, but over time you’ll start to recognize certain patterns and improve your ability to get in the zone almost at will.

Following on these ideas, Module 6 talks about performing under pressure, which is another huge factor in poker tournaments. Tendler provides some useful insights and explanations, even offering examples for certain high-pressure spots like final tables, heads-up play, and being the chip leader.

One interesting point in this module is that being nervous is perfectly normal and not something you should battle. Instead, you should learn how to contain this energy and use it to fuel your A-game.

Modules 7 & 8: Focus and Decisions Making

The final two modules of the Mental Game Tune Up for Tournament Poker cover two topics that go hand-in-hand: maintaining your focus at the tables and understanding your decision-making process.

The first is something we all know: we need to stay focused at all times to perform at the highest level, but this isn’t always easy. There are many distractions, and to improve you need to figure out what distractions are your biggest problem and find a way to get rid of them.

When it comes to decisions most of us focus on the end result, and we rarely think about the actual process that brought us to the conclusion. Here, Tendler also discusses the idea of intuition vs. instinct and how these two are significantly different.

The Mental Game Tune Up – There’s a Mobile App for That!

How Good Is Mental Game Tune Up for Tournament Poker?

Developing a strong mental game is key to long-term success in poker, there’s no doubt about it. Every top-level player will tell you so. The question is, how do you do it. More importantly, can Jared Tendler’s course help you get there?

What I’d say is that the course presents you with all the necessary tools to significantly improve the mental aspect of your game. Tendler is an experienced mind coach and he knows what he’s talking about. For this to work, however, you’ll have to get with the program and follow the steps.

Just watching the video course won’t do much for you. It may give you a few solid pointers, but to get the real value you’ll need to download those worksheets and take the time to answer all the questions. Then you’ll need to do it all over again before the next tournament series.

It’s a quality product but it’s designed for those serious about improving their game and winning titles, and Jared says as much at one point. So, if you find yourself fitting the above description, then go for it – you won’t regret it!

Jared’s course isn’t designed for recreational players who’d like to get better but don’t have the time or the will to put in serious work. The material isn’t as much of a course as it is a journey. I’m positive it can work wonders, but you have to really put your mind to it. So if you are ready to take your poker journey to the next level, you should strongly consider purchasing the course. The $499 price tag will be a wise investment worth making.

*Don’t forget to use promo code CPL to save $50 on your course purchase!*