Digging Deeper with Jared Tendler's Mindset Coaching

Jared Tendler is one of the top mindset coaches in poker with two books to his credit joined Remko Rinkema for the Heads Up Podcast. Tendler and Rinkema cut the interview on the floor of the Brasilia Room at World Series of Poker.

While other mindset coaches have come and gone from the industry, Tendler has a wide net of clients – both in and out of poker. “I work with around 50 players a month,” he said. “It could be different – what’s been nice is I’ve got more consistency. I’ve got a roster of about ten to 15 players I see weekly or monthly and it’s been very regular.”

“I’ve probably got a sum total of over 500 guys total on my roster and some I’ll never talk to again,” he added. “But I’ve got some guys I’ve been talking to monthly for nine years, so it’s a mixed bag.”

Tendler admittedly is not a poker expert or claims to be; he trains players to remove emotions from decision making. “I train players to make the best decision possible under the most difficult circumstances,” he said.

Tendler’s roster of clients began with golfers, he’s been working in poker for nine years and is carving out a space in the eSports community. He wrote “The Mental Game of Poker” in 2011 and followed it up with “The Mental Game of Poker 2” in 2013 – which afforded him the opportunity to work with players in big spots.

Tendler spoke at length about his 2014 November Nine experience with Jorryt van Hoof. “It was a little difficult for me because it was a new scenario,” Tendler said. “We negotiated that he would come to me if there was a problem, so I’m trusting that was the case. But on the surface, it looked like there was some struggle going on.”

In reality, the stage lights were in his eyes blinding him, which was something they had prepared for but they were brighter and hotter. “What was gratifying after the fact was that everything we had prepared for was ticked off,” he said. “On Day 1 there was one moment where he got a little rattled and we talked about it off stage. The correction we talked about previously worked like a charm.”

Tendler’s entire 50-minute interview is an engaging and helpful podcast for any level poker player. Be sure to subscribe to “Heads Up with Remko” and the “Poker Central Podcast.”