"The Mental Game Of Poker" - Chapters 6-8

The first four chapters of Tendler's book gives background into the learning processes and strategies involved in tackling the mental game of poker. It suggests questions to ask, exercises to carry out and deep-rooted questions that are designed to help the reader uncover, understand and then go on to eradicating the demons that crop up in the mental game. Essentially, it lays out a map to help the reader become his own psycho-analyst so that he can then go on to resolve the issues himself.

The next four chapters then cover the four central areas of the mental game in turn (Tilt, Fear, Motivation and Confidence) and within these chapters we are shown pieces, or are suggested what the pieces might be - which we can then use to fix or solve the puzzle. Chapter 5 is on tilt which I discussed in my last part. The remainder of the chapters are:

Chapter 6: Fear
Chapter 7: Motivation
Chapter 8: Confidence

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Now although I thoroughly believe that some of the sections in Chapter 5: Tilt will help the vast majority of players, by the time the reader gets to these last three chapters there seems to be quite a lot of overlap and it seems most issues have already been covered in a different guise earlier in the book. Furthermore, on a personal level, although a few minor points did resonate, I felt that the content in Chapter 6: Fear and Chapter 7: Motivation were just not relevant to my game. Chapter 8: Confidence, on the other hand, really did ring a few bells and I'll certainly be referring back to this part.

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After having read the book, even though I have not yet completed any of the exercises that are required, I like Tendler's down-to-earth approach and the fact that it brutally forces the reader to take control of his own destiny. With Tendler exposing some harsh realities and not allowing the reader to fool himself or to engage in any sort of woolly thinking, I'm confident that when I do get down to putting myself on my own psychiatrist couch, as it were, I will definitely be able to see some of my own flaws and really have confidence in going some way to removing them from my game.

--Recommended baby!