With the World Series of Poker coming up, PokerStrategy.com spoke to poker Mental Game expert Jared Tendler. Whether you're planning to play dozens of events or want to prepare for your first Main Event, Jared has some great advice for how to approach the WSOP mentally.
"It's easy to find ways to destroy yourself" - the WSOP grind
PokerStrategy.com: Hey Jared, thanks for your time today to talk about the WSOP. So, how easy is it to burn out playing 20-30 tournaments in a row over 3-4 weeks?
JaredTendler: It's super easy, especially if you have very little experience with that kind of a grind - because it's not just the events it's what you're doing outside of the time you're playing.
It becomes really easy to find ways to destroy yourself - both within poker and... well, it's Vegas, so the partying can do it too. Poker players can very easily get caught up - it's exciting, there's a lot to do, there's a lot of people there and it's definitely a lot of fun.
PokerStrategy.com: So how should players combat that and make sure they don't "destroy themselves?"
JaredTendler: Have a gameplan going in - set some guidelines, set some goals, what you're looking to accomplish, how many events you're going to play, how fresh you are. You can kind of make some decisions based on that. If you want to get the most out of it, you want to play all the events, you kind of just go balls to the wall and see how long it takes to burn out.
The other way would be to really schedule things out, know how much you can play before you get too tired and then set some very strict goals and guidelines for how much you're going to go out and socialise. I think bringing that figure to zero is a mistake, have fun - just don't do it four nights a week or the night before a tournament, give yourself a bit of a buffer.
"To push yourself at the WSOP is hard" - training and recovery
PokerStrategy.com: That's the next question - between tournaments, should you be grinding cash games and eat, sleep, breathe poker or take time off and get poker out of your brain?
JaredTendler: Each person should look at what they do to relax - playing cash should be relaxing, but don't turn it into a marathon, don't stay for 12 hours. Play a couple of hours to relax and that's fine. For some people, it's important to spend some time outside of the casino. Even though it's hot as balls, maybe you want to hang by the pool, go to the gym... you're looking to recover and that's what that rest is about.
Whatever you do in your day-to-day life, try to find a way to do that in Vegas. While that can certainly be hard, because it's such an abnormal place, if that also includes going out and having a few drinks then do it. Again, in moderation, with the idea towards recovery.
PokerStrategy.com: The exercise analogy is easy for the mental side of the game and you used the word "marathon". If someone's planning to go out and play several events in this short space of time, which they've never done before, would you recommend that they practice for that by playing a lot of live poker or tournaments beforehand?
JaredTendler: I would suggest training for it. With the timing now it's a bit late to do it now but it's certainly not too late to do one or two "training sessions" - if you're not used to playing live poker or long sessions, getting in one or two sessions now is a good idea.
But to really go through and try and push your capacity at the WSOP is really hard - it's like saying "I want to run a marathon" and just going out and seeing if you can do it. The concept I would give is like mental workload - you want to be able to increase your ability to think about poker for long stretches of time and it's hard, if you don't have enough of it.
If you're unprepared then you'll really have to dig deep within yourself to manage your mental workload better.
PokerStrategy.com: What do you recommend players do on the break in tournaments after a 3-4 hour grind? How do you spend that 15 minutes?
JaredTendler: I think poker players actually do what I would recommend them to do and that's to talk about hands, to vent. It's a good thing because it helps your mind to process what's going on - sometimes you can get tired because of what I call "bloated brain", the mental equivalent of eating too much food. You're not tired physically, but you've stuffed your brain with too much information and it weighs you down.
Talking about hands, getting things out of your head, "digesting", is good but you need a buffer of about five minutes - a window to relax, so at the beginning of the next level you can reconnect yourself to your goals for what to do in the tournament or the WSOP as a whole. Goals direct focus.
"Goals direct focus" - be prepared
PokerStrategy.com: What should you be wary of if you're not fully prepared?
JaredTendler: You don't want to be too jacked up before an event. Maybe it's your first time at the WSOP or you're really excited about playing the Main Event, which is a good thing, but you don't want to be expecting to be locked in and focused for the whole 10-12 hours. You should ease your way into the event and look at shifting between gears.
Jack Nicklaus said this really well: his focus went through waves, where it would peak when he was in a golf shot but fall off when he was not. That's the idea when you're a poker player - let's say 0 is totally unfocused and 5 if your peak. You want to range between 3 and 5 where you're not sitting there trying to pick up on every little nuance because that's a recipe for burning yourself out and you'll be more tired in the latter stages when you really need it.
Conversely, you shouldn't be so unfocused that you're reading books and completely distracted, but have a "loose focus" where you're picking up on things in a relaxed manner. I've walked around the Amazon room and I've seen players who I know won't go deep, they're reading books and distracted at the table - even reading my book and I'm thinking "what the fuck are you doing?!"
PokerStrategy.com: Most people tend to talk about bad beats rather than anything constructive, though.
Yes, there's a difference between venting about a bad beat and actually doing something constructive. If you're really pissed off, venting can be a good thing. Do it with the idea and intent that you're recovering so you can get back to playing well, not because you just want to bitch to your friends for the hell of it.
The pressure's on - how to prepare for your first Main Event
PokerStrategy.com: OK, let's switch focus to the more common player - someone playing just the WSOP Main Event for the first time. What do they do to make sure they don't waste their opportunity?
JaredTendler: I think the most important thing is for them to understand what their weaknesses are. That means both tactically and mentally - are you going to show up and feel pressure? Will you be easily tilted by the pace of live poker? Go out and playing some live poker to gain experience, understand how you may react when under the magnifying glass that is the Main Event.
Pressure exposes weakness. That's why we love sport at the highest level - it's because all the attention and the magnitude of the event places pressure on these sportsmen. Some of them rise to the occassion and play beyond their normal ability, while some completely break down. You're trying to be in the former category and that can only happen if you understand your weakness and are prepared to correct them with some work ahead of time.
PokerStrategy.com: Speaking of pressure, let's wrap up with a question about the unprecedented $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop. No one is bankrolled for that and it's huge money - what kind of pressure does that put on players even at the highest level?
JaredTendler: I think it's the exact same deal. Hopefully some of the players at that level won't be surprised by the pressure they'll experience. Some of the better players are often more insulated, more likely to think things are fine. If you don't know your weaknesses, even as one of the best players in the world, then there's a chance you'll be exposed and for it to severely incapacitate their ability to make good decisions and succeed.
PokerStrategy.com: OK, thanks a lot for the advice and your time Jared!
Jared Tendler is a mental game coach for poker and golf. His first book, The Mental Game of Poker (co-authored with PokerStrategy.com editorial staff member BarryCarter, can be purchased via his website.