In chapter 1 of The Mental Game of Poker, Jared Tendler explains how improvement—both in poker skill and in mindset—follows a predictable learning path, which he calls the Adult Learning Model.
The Four Stages of Learning
Tendler lays out four stages that every skill moves through:
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Unaware of weakness – At first, you don’t even realize what you are doing wrong. You are missing skills without knowing they exist.
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Aware but still weak – You start to notice mistakes or are told about them, but that awareness alone doesn’t make you better.
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Able but only with effort – You can perform the skill correctly, but only if you consciously think about it. When tired, tilted, or distracted, you slip back into old habits.
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Automatic mastery – The skill becomes so ingrained that you no longer need to think about it. You just do it correctly.
The final stage is the goal, because it frees up mental energy and makes good performance reliable even under pressure.
Why This Matters in Poker
Poker decisions require juggling many things at once. Tendler points out that your brain has limited capacity, so anything that still requires conscious effort competes with everything else you are trying to do at the table. Only when a skill becomes automatic does it stop draining mental resources.
Bad Habits Are Also “Skills”
An important idea Tendler introduces is that mistakes and leaks are often just deeply learned habits. You may be very good at making a certain mistake because you have practiced it for years. That’s why changing behavior is hard: you’re not removing something weak, you’re undoing something that is already ingrained.
Example: Starting Hand Selection
He uses starting hands as a clear example. Early on, players don’t even know that hand selection matters. Later, they realize they are choosing poorly but don’t yet know how to fix it. With study and practice, they can pick good hands—but only when they stay focused. Eventually, after enough repetition, folding weak hands becomes automatic, even when tilted or tired.
This same progression applies not just to technical poker skills, but also to mental skills like controlling tilt.
How to Use the Model
Tendler emphasizes that knowing which stage you are in tells you what to work on. If a skill still breaks down under stress, it has not yet become automatic and needs more training. When something truly runs on autopilot, you can move on to another weakness.
The Big Takeaway
The Adult Learning Model gives players a simple way to understand why progress sometimes feels slow or inconsistent. Improvement isn’t about knowing what to do—it’s about practicing until correct behavior becomes automatic. Only then does real, lasting change in both poker and the mental game occur.