The Main Event at the WSOP is seen as the ultimate event in poker, with over 10,000 people last year taking their shot at millions. The winner is shown at the poker table in front of stacks of cash, the coveted WSOP bracelet, usually a huge rail in the background of their friends and family with matching shock and joy on their faces.
A somewhat unseen factor behind that win is the endurance test that each winner has to face, while making the correct decisions for 12 or maybe 14 hours a day while also having the hottest streak of your life.
Phil Hellmuth, ambassador of poker and legend, recently told the poker community that he wouldn’t be playing at this year’s Main Event, an event he once won in 1989 and has the most bracelets of all time for the tournament series at 17. Now, at 59, he’s tapping out due in part to the pure physicality of the event.
While playing most tournament events, there’s no sunshine with nothing to remind you of the outside world. How does a player survive in the bubble that’s a poker tournament, and are there exercises you can do to feel mentally fit? An athlete trains his mind, body, and soul, and so do some of poker’s top players.
Jonathan Little, Justin Saliba, and Dr. Tricia Cardner are three experts in the field of mental strength in poker. Little is a professional poker player with over $9 million in live earnings according to the Hendon Mob, founder of PokerCoaching.com and author of numerous books including “Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Tournaments.”
When asked, “Why is a poker player’s mental health and strength an important part of poker training?” he answered:
“If you consistently make decisions that are driven by emotion instead of logic, you will be far more likely to make suboptimal decisions.”
And added, “For that reason, you should work hard to ensure your emotions are rarely swayed by things you encounter at or away from the poker table.”
He recommends that players help themselves in advance by “recognizing that all sorts of things are going to happen at and away from the poker table that could impact your mental state if you let them. Instead, recognize that most things are out of your control. Ideally, this will help you focus on things under control, like how much you study poker and how well rested you are.”
Little adds that “most players struggle with the inevitable downswings that are certain to occur if you play enough. If you know a downswing will eventually happen, you can plan ahead by keeping a proper bankroll, allowing you to withstand whatever downswing you encounter.”
Justin Saliba’s Advice
Saliba, also a professional poker player in excess of $9 million in live earnings (Hendon Mob), a two-time bracelet winner who’s been crushing poker this past year, works with Little as one of their elite coaches. “Mental strength and mental health is a very important part to becoming a great poker player,” Saliba believes.
“You can have all of the technical knowledge in the world, but if you can’t control your thoughts, if you can’t manage risk, or continue making good decisions regardless of your recent results, you’re going to struggle.”
He added, “being a successful poker player is all about sustainability and longevity. When your goal is to print a 10% ROI, you need to do it over a large sample for it to be really meaningful. Without a strong mental game, it’s easy to tilt or burn out entirely.”
Saliba follows the mindset of viewing preparation for a “series or big session is to view it as an athletic activity. You have to train hard when it’s the time to train, and then when you’re gearing up to perform, you rest appropriately, have a warm up – maybe even a pre-game routine, then go perform. After you finish, have a cool-down so you’re not just going straight from high stress to rest.”
He views a poker tournament in three sections: warmup/pre-game, session/tournament, and after-play review.
For warm-up/pregame he likes “to start with some light poker training on PeakGTO, just going through some preflop or postflop spots that I know well to get my brain moving a bit. From there, I’ll always try to check-in on my mental/emotional state. What is my level of fatigue? Am I ready to go play my best? If I need to calm myself, I’ll do some breathing exercises, if I need to increase my focus, I’ll do some visualization and really set my intention to bring my best, intense game into the high stress environment.”
During a tournament, Saliba suggests to “check-in often to make sure you’re fully focused and present. Poker is a game of small edges, and if you’re distracted or unfocused, you have to find a way to get back in the zone. For me, this can be a song that puts me in the right mindset or putting my phone away and taking some deep breaths to re-focus.”
After the session/tournament for that day is over, he likes “to have a light review of some hands, taking some notes on things that happened that day, but not studying too intensely. From there, I’ll just focus on getting good sleep so that I can go back and do it again the next day.”
For Saliba, one of the hardest mental aspects of playing poker professionally is “the amount of work you put into the game isn’t related to your results in the short-term. You can play perfect poker for weeks and still get crushed. You can improve from one year to the next and lose a pile of money, even though you’re a ‘better’ player at that point.”
Therefore, “these thoughts can lead to this feeling of wanting to make big changes to your game, or force things at the table, which can be very detrimental to your win-rate. You really have to be focused on the process, working hard to improve every day, and realize that even though it may feel long, when you zoom out your time-horizon, you will barely be able to see the blips in the graph.”
Tips From a Mental Game Coach
Dr. Tricia Cardner is a mental game coach including the live poker coaching experience the Pillars of Poker, and author of multiple books, including “Positive Poker: A Modern Psychological Approach To Mastering Your Mental Game” co-authored by Jonathan Little.
Cardner explained that “poker is one of the most mentally demanding games because it’s a battle of decisions, not just cards. Unlike games where the best move virtually always leads to the best result, poker has variance—meaning you can play perfectly and still lose. If you’re not mentally strong, poker can break you.”
And, she added, “for this reason, the best players in the world don’t just study strategy; they work to master their mindset. The players who succeed long-term aren’t the ones who never take bad beats. They’re the ones who know how to handle them without losing their edge.”
Cardner agrees with Saliba that creating a pre-game warm-up is essential. “The best players don’t just sit down and start playing; they use a structured pre-game routine that gets them in the right mindset. This could include reviewing key spots from previous sessions, visualizing success, or using breathing techniques to calm the mind.”
A second strategy she teaches after a good warm-up is “next hand mentality”. Cardner explains that
“Many players make the mistake of carrying emotional baggage from previous hands. A great trick is to take a deep breath, mentally say, ‘Next hand,’ and refocus before the cards are dealt.”
Her third strategy is to “recognize and prevent tilt early”. “Tilt doesn’t typically start with throwing chips around—it starts with small signs like increased heart rate, frustration, or dwelling on a bad beat. The best players recognize these early signals and use quick mental resets to stay composed. A simple way to do this is by counting your chips for 5-10 seconds—this small action forces you to slow down and regain focus.”
A fourth strategy she employs is to shift to a “process-oriented mindset”. Cardner reminds the player that “poker results are uncontrollable in the short term, but your decisions are always within your control. Instead of asking, ‘Did I win?’ focus on ‘Did I play that hand well?’ This mental shift makes the game more sustainable and helps reduce emotional swings.”
Her final strategy deals with “managing stamina”. Cardner adds her feelings about the endurance part of tournaments. “Live tournaments can run for days, and it’s not uncommon for online MTTs to run for many hours. Even for cash game grinders, a typical session can last 8+ hours. Endurance is a major mental skill. Just like managing your chip stack, you need to manage your energy, and you can do this by staying hydrated and taking short breaks.”
And remember, this takes time and practice. Variance hits everyone. Cardner mused that “Daniel Negreanu had an incredible 2019 WSOP series, final-tabling multiple events, but ended up with a net loss of over $1M because of buy-ins and close-but-no-win finishes. Instead of tilting, he analyzed his play, adjusted for the next series, and kept his confidence intact. That’s the mindset of a true professional.”
