Jason Su, poker player, coach, author of the book “Poker With Presence” (2020) and host of the Podcast with the same name, knows all about mastering the mental game. We got in touch with Jason to talk about various topics related to the Mental Game.

Tell us about the importance of mastering the mental aspect of poker.

There are many reasons the mental game is important, but mostly because it will allow you to win more money with less stress. On top of that, all of my clients over the years have told me how much happier they are in their relationships and personal lives because the practices we trained them in for poker work just as well in other aspects of their life.

What are the most frequent questions you hear from your students?

Most people start from a place of struggling to process their emotions in a healthy way. When people are able to shift into a mode of feeling more and thinking less, their performance quickly improves.

What advice would you give to someone who receives a bad beat in a live tournament that they can apply right away?

The most important thing to do is to not try and convince yourself that you are happy about it, if that is not your true experience. So much damage has been done from people telling poker players to logically “reframe” their experience, when their emotional state is not ready to accept it. Feel your feelings fully first, focus on staying connected and present, then go from there.

Another factor that can affect the mental game is going on a losing streak. What would you say to someone who is experiencing one?

I would ask them if they are really allowing themselves to face and feel everything around their experience. If not, they should give some time and attention to that. When you give your deepest level of attention to something, true acceptance can happen. Then more possibilities open up to allow you to move forward. If you never do this, you’ll always feel stuck or trapped.

Overthinking is what causes you to get in the way of your instincts, make mistakes in big moments, and spend hours regretting it afterwards.

To increase earnings and reduce stress, the formula is simple:

Feel more, think less.

— Jason Su (@jasonbsu) September 12, 2022

You wrote a book called Poker With Presence. Tell our readers what it is about and how you think it can help players.

I wrote the book as an introduction for anyone wanting to learn how to play their best consistently in a way that lets them trust their instincts and have a great time. If you want to reach your full potential as a poker player and a person, the techniques I teach in the book are a great start.

You have a past as a tennis player. It’s another individual sport where you often see players go into tilt. What aspects do you think tennis and poker share?

Both are very individual games where you can get lots of feedback and support from others during preparation. But when it’s time to play, you have to figure it out on your own. Each player is responsible for their own performance. I like that aspect of both games a lot.

What habits would you recommend to live and online tournament players to incorporate into their routines to help them with their mental game?

I find that it depends on the person. For some people, meditation or exercise are great, and for others it could be something else. Whatever helps you to create a feeling of presence, relaxation, and readiness to play is what you should do.

Can you tell us a non-poker movie and a non-poker book that might be useful to a poker player?

• Book: The Art of Learning (2007) by Josh Waitzkin
• Movie: Groundhog Day (1993) with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell

Thank you very much Jason for answering our questions. If you want to read more of Jason’s work, we encourage you to read his book (one of the best poker books of 2020) and to subscribe to his newsletter.

Karina is active on Twitter as @karinamindset

We also go over this week’s home game results and discuss these topics:
How to help us out – https://rec.poker/support/
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Go Premium! – https://rec.poker/premium/

RecPoker is a vibrant and encouraging poker learning community. We are committed to learning the game, but our priority is building healthy relationships where we can not only grow in the game, but grow in our enjoyment of life. The membership website at rec. poker is awesome, but it’s just a tool to help us build that community. You can join for FREE, giving you access to the groups, forums, and other member benefits. If you want to enjoy the premium content, or become part of the RECing Crew, those options are available, and you can get $10 off your first payment using the code RECPOKER.

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For the sixth consecutive year, Cardplayer Lifestyle is proud to offer our readers this Holiday Gift Guide for Poker Players. In much of the developed world, things seem to finally be heading back towards what we knew as normal, and there’s a lot to give thanks for. Thus, it’s important to try and focus on things that can make us happy and bring us smiles.

As always, we’ve put together a wide variety of gift giving ideas for you to consider this holiday season, including a number of new, creative entries on our list as well as some annual stalwarts.

Moreover, many of our featured vendors are offering exclusive holiday discounts to Cardplayer Lifestyle readers, so whether you’re looking for the perfect gift for your poker-loving partner or, alternatively, just want to treat yourself to something nice, be sure to take advantage!

We hope you enjoy this year’s guide!

SKIP TO: 1. DIGITAL POKER TABLES | 2. THE GTO+ SOLVER BUNDLE BY RED CHIP POKER | 3. THE MENTAL GAME TUNE UP FOR TOURNAMENT POKER | 4. RUN IT ONCE TRAINING | 5. FADED SPADE PLAYING CARDS | 6. CAESARS PALACE POKER ROOM | 7. SHUFFLE TECH MDS-6 MULTI-DECK SHUFFLER | 8. D&B POKER BOOKS | 9. POKERCOACHING PREMIUM | 10. THE POKER FORGE | 11. FLOPZILLA PRO CUSTOM SPLITSUIT EDITION | 12. RUNGOODGEAR APPAREL |

DIGITAL POKER TABLES

Take your home game to the next level with your very own Digital Poker Table. This holiday season is the perfect time to purchase your very own electronic gaming table, where you can play up to 18 different poker variants at the touch of a button.

No cards or chips necessary! Just an outlet, WiFi, and you’re ready to play poker with your buddies!

Whether you opt for the 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, or 10-seat Digital Poker Table, you’ll always have access to the latest software updates and upgrades.

Choose to play limit, pot limit, or no-limit, whether in cash game or tournament format.

Best of all, the Digital Poker Table doubles as a family gaming table! You can play popular favorites like Rummikub, Trivia, and more with your kids, neighbors, and even invite the grandparents over for game night.

Don’t have room in your home for a table? No problem — for just $25/month you can purchase a premium subscription to the Digital Poker Table software and play on your iOS devices, even broadcasting the game onto your Apple TV!

Visit DigitalPokerTable.com or call (702) 628-1900 to order in time for the holidays, and be sure to mention Cardplayer Lifestyle!

THE GTO+ SOLVER BUNDLE BY RED CHIP POKER

Red Chip Poker has officially partnered up with GTO+ to offer you the best introduction to GTO. As game theory optimal (GTO) poker continues to increase in popularity and importance, now is the time to invest in a quality solver and training. So their new GTO+ Bundle includes a lifetime license to the GTO+ solver AND a complete course so you know exactly how to set up the tool, explore the trees, and analyze solves like a pro.

GTO+ allows you to do everything from simple solves to complex bet sizing exploration. Plus, you can “play against the solver” to test your skills between sessions. And for the more advanced players, this solver allows for node locking, various display methods, and even scripting.

Buy the GTO+ bundle for the poker player in your life (or as a nice holiday gift for yourself!) to start seeing GTO poker more clearly.

THE MENTAL GAME TUNE UP FOR TOURNAMENT POKER

The Mental Game Tune Up for Tournament Poker is a video-based course that walks players through the same steps that Jared Tendler takes his clients through to prepare for tournament play. Comprehensive yet simple, it consists of eight modules covering key topics, such as tilt, handling swings in variance, burnout, and distractions.

The most popular feature of the course are the unscripted coaching sessions called “Coaching the Pros” featuring two notable professional poker players: Diego Ventura and Matt Affleck. Go inside to see how top online and live professionals think and prepare for WCOOP and the WSOP. Now is the time to get yourself ready for 2022. Don’t wait until the next series to get started. Invest in your game and let Jared guide you through the steps to get it in shape.

“I can’t recommend the Mental Game Tune Up course and Jared’s work highly enough. I really found it valuable to work through leading up to my last WSOP trip which was my most successful trip by far. Thanks for another amazing product Jared!”

Lara Eiesenberg, 2021 WSOP Ladies Champion

Claim your special $125 discount this Holiday Season by using promo code CPL125 when you enroll in Jared’s course.

RUN IT ONCE TRAINING

If you want to start taking your game seriously in 2022 you’ll find everything you need to back up your commitment at Run It Once Training. Launched in 2012 by high stakes legend Phil Galfond, Run It Once has always been the place for dedicated poker players to advance to the next level and stay ahead of their opponents.

The slogan ‘Train With the Best’ doesn’t only reflect that you’ll learn from the highest tier coaches like Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, Kevin Rabichow, or Phil Galfond himself. It also means you’ll benefit from a community of students that have the highest aspirations in poker and are often professional players themselves.

Members of Run It Once Training Plans get access to an expansive library of over 6,500 training videos, with two brand new videos every single day to make sure you’re always learning the newest strategies. No matter which form of poker you play or which area of your game you need to work on, Run It Once has you covered.

Just starting out in poker or want to transition to a new game format? Run It Once Courses were specifically designed for new players who want to start learning poker from the beginning, the right way. The courses follow a carefully crafted learning journey until you have the proper foundation you need to expand your game to the highest levels.

If you need help planning the perfect poker gift for your loved ones, reach out to Run It Once Support and we’ll assist you every step of the way.

FADED SPADE PLAYING CARDS

As the preferred playing cards of the World Poker Tour, Faded Spade has fast become the most popular playing card brand for poker players across the globe.

Poker players in many countries and continents have switched to Faded Spade playing cards for their poker home games. The cards are known for their modern face card designs and high quality 100% plastic that has an intentional balance of strength and flexibility. Two-deck sets are available in Poker Size 2.0 (Wide), Bridge Size 2.0 (Narrow), and 4-Color 2.0.

Beyond WPT programming, you might have also played with Faded Spade cards at your local poker room! Plus, you may have seen Faded Spade poker playing cards on many popular poker live stream shows or in play on NBC Sports, PokerGO, and more during poker programs like Poker After Dark, Super High Roller Bowl, Poker Masters, and the U.S. Poker Open.

CAESARS PALACE POKER ROOM

There’s perhaps no more enjoyable time to take a poker trip than the Holiday season, and similarly there’s perhaps no more enjoyable poker room to play in than the one at Caesars Palace! Once you hit Las Vegas, head straight to the center of the famed Las Vegas Strip to the one-of-a-kind Caesars Palace Poker Room.

With 18 tables, and located right next to the casino’s sportsbook, the 4,500-square-foot poker room offers all the action you can handle at limits ranging from $1-3 right up to the nosebleeds. Comps are offered at $2 per hour, with Caesars Rewards Members also earning 34 tier points/hour.

Beyond cash games, the room also offers multiple tournaments each day and is staffed by some of the most professional, friendly dealers and floorpeople you’ll find in the city.

Staff are happy to speak with you anytime, so feel free to call (866) 227-5938 and get your name on the waiting lists this holiday season at Caesars Palace, home of champions!

SHUFFLE TECH MDS-6 MULTI-DECK SHUFFLER

The new Shuffle Tech MDS-6 is perfect for this upcoming Holiday Season. As you gather with friends and family to spend time together and play games, this makes a perfect addition to your game night.

This multi-deck card shuffler can shuffle up to 6 full decks of playing cards. Whether you play canasta, blackjack, or any other multi-deck card game, this will streamline your hand shuffling. Paper cards will shuffle, but not as well as with 100% plastic playing cards. So, quality playing cards are always recommended. And as always, our products come with a 1-year warranty.

The MDS-6 runs both on direct power or battery operated (4 x D-sized). Plus, as with all Shuffle Tech products, you also get a 1-year warranty!

We ship worldwide! For more information, visit www.shuffletech.com.

D&B POKER BOOKS

D&B Poker produces the best poker books out there and their latest publication from the highly successful coach and author Jonathan Little is no exception. Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker: The Essential Guide can rightly claim to be the definitive guide to tournament poker. As per our own review, “The poker world was ready for an age-defining poker book in a period of global flux; it has found it in this book.”

This holiday season, you can get your hands on either the beautiful hardcover edition, the ebook, or the audiobook (recorded by Jonathan), all of which can be found HERE.

Also due out in the coming weeks is an addition to D&B’s Mastering Small Stakes series, Evan Jarvis‘ Mastering Small Stakes Cash Games. Evan’s reputation as a top notch coach at Gripsed.com is well established and in this book he brings his full arsenal of knowledge and skills to help players master cash game play. Evan takes a holistic approach, recognizing that being able to master people and master yourself are equally important in order to achieve poker success.

This book makes for an excellent stocking stuffer, as the paperback edition will be publishing in December in UK/Europe and January in the US, with the ebook due out in January.

POKERCOACHING PREMIUM

This holiday season PokerCoaching.com is rolling out the red carpet and giving you up to 61% off on PREMIUM memberships!

Beyond their already massive suite of training materials, you’ll also get FREE access to two of Jonathan Little‘s exclusive courses — the all-new Cash Game Masterclass and his Tournament Masterclass — PLUS his vast library of 1-on-1 coaching videos!

Cash Game Masterclass

• 32+ hours
• 156 lessons

In this completely new course, Little teaches you everything you need to know to crush small and medium stakes cash games. Via numerous hand examples and quizzes, you’ll internalize how to consistently win in both online and live cash games, with starting stacks of 100 and 200 big blinds.

Tournament Masterclass

• 30+ hours
• 180 lessons

In this highly regarded course, Little teaches you everything you need to know to play every stage of a poker tournament optimally, maximally exploit your opponents, and maximize your tournament equity.

1-on-1 Coaching Videos

Best of all, if you act now and join PokerCoaching Premium, you’ll get FREE ACCESS to 240+ hours Jonathan Little’s 1-on-1 coaching videos!

Ring in the holidays by joining the 120,000+ poker players who are using PokerCoaching.com to increase their win rate through active learning!

THE POKER FORGE

The Poker Forge helps online small-stakes players build valuable skills for a fun and profitable journey. You will go through 9 Masterclass courses that teach foundational and advanced poker strategies in a logical progression. This will build you up as a player with useful skills one upon the other, while helping you avoid poker overwhelm: That feeling of having too much to study and not enough time. The Poker Forge helps you learn where you must focus your efforts and guides you in that direction.

You can start booking wins right away with course #1, the Quick Wins Gameplans, which help you earn quick profits with easy-to-use strategies. Or, you can bounce around from course to course. Maybe start with the Hand Reading Course (to learn poker’s #1 skill) or the Finding the Fold Course (to plug that costly leak of poor post-flop calling). The journey is up to you, but along the way the Poker Forge gives you checklists, calendars and study guides to keep you on track.

All Poker Forge training is built upon the idea of “learn then apply”. Each video teaches you important strategies to use in-game or during your study time. Plus, every video gives you action steps to take that force you to practice what you just learned because… action is the greatest teacher.

Give yourself or the poker player in your life the gift of a profitable and fun online poker journey with The Poker Forge.

FLOPZILLA PRO CUSTOM SPLITSUIT EDITION

One of the best tools for poker study is Flopzilla Pro. Flopzilla can do everything from analyzing single hands to complex ranges, break down post-flop situations statistically, and even do advanced range-vs.-range analysis.

If you’ve never used this app before, here’s an example of using Flopzilla Pro to study a common $2/$5 hand:

To make things even better, the SPLITSUIT EDITION of Flopzilla Pro not only includes a lifetime license for the software, but it also includes custom range presets and additional training videos. This bundle sets every poker player up for success to make off-table time easier and on-table time more profitable.

Get the SplitSuit Edition of Flopzilla Pro today and book yourself a winning holiday season!

RUNGOODGEAR APPAREL

This holiday season it’s time to scroll past the parody shirts send your favorite poker player something they want to wear both at and away from the tables.

Since 2012, poker players have been gearing up with RunGood, the industry’s leading apparel company. Focused on producing clothing with an emphasis on comfort and style, the RunGoodGear brand is a popular sight in poker rooms around the United States, with a wide variety of hats, hoodies, and shirts available online.

“As a poker player, we don’t make anything we wouldn’t wear ourselves on or off the table.” says Tana Karn, Founder of RunGoodGear. There is a reason items become out of stock, don’t delay and pick up an item today.

Also, be sure to visit www.RunGoodGear.com to see what’s happening next with the multi-time GPI Award-Winning Mid-Major Tour, the RunGood Poker Series, while picking up your next hat or hoodie.

Wishing all of our readers here at Cardplayer Lifestyle a happy holiday season!

Check out our review of Jared’s new course

RecPoker is a vibrant and encouraging poker learning community. We are committed to learning the game, but our priority is building healthy relationships where we can not only grow in the game, but grow in our enjoyment of life. The membership website at rec. poker is awesome, but it’s just a tool to help us build that community. You can join for FREE, giving you access to the groups, forums, and other member benefits. If you want to enjoy the premium content, or become part of the RECing Crew, those options are available and you can get $10 off your first payment using the code RECPOKER.

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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!*

This game requires constant concentration, rational thinking, and patience, so you shouldn’t neglect the mental part of poker.

Although mastering the game doesn’t come overnight by any means, there are some things to watch for if you’re in it for long-term success. With that in mind, we want to share with you the top 3 tips to control your mental state when playing poker.

Concentrate on decision making

Most poker players base their decisions on the potential quality of the outcome. If the result is good, the decision was right, and vice versa. This is NOT a good tactic in poker, as sometimes a poor decision can net you a win, while a good one can lead to a loss down the line.

For this reason, you shouldn’t base your decision on the short-term results of each hand. Instead, realize that every decision comes with uncertainty attached to it, and focus on the process. Realizing this and taking control of your emotions will make you a better poker player.

A strong poker player will notice when someone is tilting or overly-emotional and take advantage of it. Such a mindset will enable you to maximize your profits when the hands are in your favor and mitigate losses when having a bad session.

As you play more, you’ll understand the game better, and it’ll be easier for you to concentrate on the decision-making part of the process. During this time, both beginners and advanced players tend to set their brains on autopilot by automating certain moves in each game. This can be detrimental to your poker game, as no two poker hands are the same.

Another big part that plays into your concentration ability is your current mental and physical state. Generally speaking, the better you feel, the better you’ll concentrate. If you’ve had a bad night’s sleep or haven’t been feeling well, you’ll have a hard time focusing on making the right decisions. Sometimes it is better to skip the session than play when you are not feeling great.

Know your schedule

The prospect of winning multimillion-dollar tournament prizes and making a great living solely from playing a game you enjoy is very enticing. But to become a successful player, it’s crucial to create a realistic schedule you can follow long-term.

Having a schedule is a critical aspect of a good mental poker game and will make your life much easier.

Of course, all of us can sometimes sit and play for hours on end. Just remember that such situations should be rare occurrences rather than the norm.

Creating a poker schedule and sticking to it will allow you to establish a stable environment in which you know how to control your emotion and concentrate solely on making the right decisions, as we’ve talked about above. In turn, it’ll also help reduce your stress and anxiety about whether or not you should currently be playing a session.

Detach after your sessions

It’s hard to mentally switch off and entirely detach from your profession or hobby in today’s mobile era. Not only is poker a mentally taxing activity, but most of us also seek post-session relaxation through checking emails or messages, reading articles, or playing video games.

While this seems like an excellent way to unwind, all of these things are very cognitively demanding and take up your active attention.

From my experience, the best way to detach after a long poker session and reset your mind is to do an activity that involves more physical than mental activity or is at least passive. If you’ve been sitting around and playing poker for the best part of the day, the apparent diametric activity would be to engage in some physical exercise.

Of course, running or lifting weights are the best ways to detach and unwind mentally while also keeping your body in shape. That being said, there are many more less-demanding activities that can be equally effective.

Going for a brief walk, or even just listening to music or hanging with your friends or household members can get your mind off of the game and help you recharge. If you prefer more passive activities, even watching an episode of one of your favorite comedy shows or maybe one of the fun gambling movies can get your brain into a more passive mode and help you relax before going to bed or enjoying the rest of your day.

The key takeaway you should keep in mind if you’re looking to detach after your poker sessions is to stray away from any activities that require any active thinking and concentration. Overstraining will make it more difficult to control your mental state and significantly impact your success in poker.

So, how does the one stay ahead of the curve in such an environment? According to Elliot Roe and his new A-Game Master Class, which can be found on the Run It Once poker training site, there is more to beating the game than just knowing a lot about math and ranges. This Master Class puts an emphasis on what’s often dubbed the “mental game” and focuses on how one should set their goal and work towards achieving them through practice that isn’t necessarily poker-specific: setting goals, being in the right mind-frame, eating and sleeping properly, and much more.

Recognizing Weaknesses & Setting Yourself up for Success

The entire A-Game Master Class is divided into six large modules, each of them containing a number of video lessons focusing on the particular aspects of the module. Roe begins by first explaining what it is that prevents people from achieving success in poker (notably, his thoughts and ideas could be applied to many other areas as well).

The course goes on to try and identify some of the most common obstacles that prevent people from achieving their goals, such as lack of vision, lack of skills, lack of energy, and detrimental mental programming. While the first three are fairly self-explanatory, the last one is quite interesting as Roe proceeds to explain how there are certain presets in our brain that prevent us from moving forward even though they act as protection systems of sorts.

After identifying what the biggest inhibitors are, the course moves on to explain approaches and strategies to tackle these issues. Roe identifies and explains some core principles that can help with this, constantly emphasizing the importance of understanding how poker fits into your wider life journey.

Instead of focusing on just one aspect of the game (such as making money), he explains that striving for poker excellence only makes sense if achieving this goal would actually make you the best version of yourself and would correspond with the rest of your life values (family, friends, free time, etc.). Only when things are set up in this way does the journey make sense and are the chances of making it much better.

A-Game Master Class: Becoming an A-Game Player

In the following three modules, the course deals with effective methods and strategies of countering negative things in your life and adopting habits that are required to become an A-Game player. In these lessons, Roe touches upon many concepts that have been talked about time and time again, but he approaches them with a fresh perspective.

For example, he explains the importance of understanding that the only thing we can control in poker is our input, i.e., our own decisions. The outcome of any particular hand, session, or a tournament should be regarded as irrelevant as long as we’re happy with the input, i.e., with the decisions we’ve made.

The course also explains the importance of energy for your overall success. Eating and sleeping right is much more important than many players realize, and even some of the best in the game often underperform because they play without enough energy. Roe goes into great detail about what to do to achieve higher levels of energy and gain an edge over your competition.

Maintaining Your Focus

One of the biggest struggles many players have to deal with is maintaining their focus for long periods of time. Once the focus is gone, their performance starts to decrease, leading to less-than-optimal results.

Therefore, a significant part of the A-Game Master Class deals with focus and strategies that players can employ to ensure they stay focused for longer periods of time. Roe devised and explains his focus formula, which takes into account several important aspects that, when combined, are instrumental for staying focused while playing.

Decision-making, Emotions, and Tilt

Of course, quite a few lessons in this Master Class also deal with emotions and the role they play in the life of any poker player. Emotions are natural to human beings and there is no way to avoid them. In fact, Roe suggests that even if we could, we shouldn’t turn off emotions, as it would likely adversely affect other areas of our lives.

What we can do, however, is assert control over those emotions and not allow them to influence our decision-making when playing. Once again, this is nothing new, but Roe helpfully takes you through the entire process behind keeping control over your emotions, from recognizing the trigger, experiencing the emotion, and deciding (not) to act on it.

The final video in the A-Game Master Class deals with the issue of downswings, as it’s one of the biggest issues that almost all poker players face. Roe explains that it is important to be able to think outside of the box and to realize that downswings only exist within arbitrarily assigned time frames. In other words, one’s ability to change the time frame is likely to change one’s view of a downswing. A simple, but brilliant concept!

A-Game Master Class: Downloadable Motivational MP3s

In addition to all the content in the main course, the A-Game Master Class also gives you access to an extensive MP3 library. These are files you can download to your portal device such as your phone and listen to them whenever you have time or feel the need.

These aren’t theoretical lessons but rather voice files designed to help you relax and focus in specific situations like:

• Preparing for a live MTT or a tournament final table
• Unwinding after a session
• Dealing with your mistakes and anxiety
• Breaking the tilt
• Boosting your confidence
• Getting motivated to exercise, etc.

These MP3s are a nice addition to the course and definitely add to its overall value and usefulness. Designed to target very specific situations that almost every poker player has to deal with, these files will help you remember things that you’ve learned in the main course and always bring your A game to the tables.

A-Game Master Class: A Top-Quality Course for Really Determined Poker Players

Like every poker course out there, at the end of the day you want to know if the cost is worth the money? Elliot Roe’s A-Game Master Class costs $999, so it’s not really a super-cheap one. With that said, getting top-quality information, training, and tools for success costs money. This course offers 100% pure quality, and is practically guaranteed to lead to improved results at the table if you’re willing to take it seriously and work through it as Elliot Roe intended.

READ MORE: An interview with Elliot Roe

Classic poker courses focus on strategy and, as such, only require players to think about concepts discussed in the lessons and try to implement them into their game. Even if you can’t wrap your head around all of the concepts, your game will likely get better if you’re able to successfully integrate certain segments of the strategy into your game.

This course is very different, though. It tries to explain how you should change your entire approach to poker (and even your life, to some extent) if you’re really set on making it. Making changes like these doesn’t happen overnight and requires a lot of effort and dedication. Throughout the course, Roe asks the viewers to pause the videos to perform certain exercises, make lists, etc.

In short, the course will only work for you if you want it to work.

As such, the $999 price tag is justified in this writer’s opinion. Elliot Roe knows what he’s talking about, as he’s worked with some of the game’s best and has helped them achieve some really impressive results. You just need to be aware that this course isn’t some sort of a magic pill that can instantly turn you into the next great poker success story. If you’re willing to put in the work and have an open mind to accept the advice and follow the guidelines, A-Game Master Class can help you get where you want to go as a poker player.