Seeking Balance

Jared Alderman

Welcome to Seeking Balance, a podcast that delves into the art and science of performance in poker—and life. Hosted by Jared Alderman, a seasoned performance coach with a unique blend of experiences, this show explores what it truly means to succeed. Drawing from years as a Navy EOD tech, professional poker player, and now a mindset and lifestyle coach, Jared brings a depth of understanding to high-pressure situations and the mental game behind peak performance. With an extensive background in meditation, Jared takes listeners beyond typical strategies to explore how inner well-being and mindset fuel real achievement. Each episode offers insights into the soft skills that separate good players from great ones, uncovering the hidden edges found in emotional regulation, healthy habits, and peak performance strategies. With a focus on balancing achievement and personal well-being, we’ll challenge conventional definitions of success and look at how to thrive both at the table and beyond it. Join us for candid conversations with poker pros, industry leaders, and performance experts as we explore how to cultivate the habits, mindsets, and skills that lead to real, lasting success. Whether you're chasing poker greatness or looking to level up in your life, Seeking Balance is your guide to mastering the game within the game.

  1. Sep 25

    Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Poker Pro?

    In this episode of Seeking Balance, high-stakes regular Nick unpacks the turbulent reality of climbing the poker ranks. From grinding micro-stakes to facing massive downswings at $40KNL, Nick explains why surviving at the top demands a psychological resilience most people simply don't possess. We also dive deep into high-level strategy, covering the dangers of misusing HUD stats, how to exploit live private games, and a fascinating debate on whether players should prioritize perfect frequency stats or precise combo selection when making critical river decisions. Check Out The Seeking Balance App!https://jaredalderman.com/app Learn More About The Coaching Group:https://www.jaredalderman.com 👉 If you found this episode valuable, don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe to the newsletter at https://www.jaredalderman.com/ for more deep dives into poker, performance, and personal growth! 🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss a new episode. Timestamps: 00:00 — Intro 00:55 — Nick’s Poker Origins 05:41 — Building a Bankroll & Sky Stakes Variance 09:37 — The Grind: Burnout & Volume 14:09 — Work Ethic and Emotional Toughness in Poker 22:31 — Solvers, Exploits, and Fact-Checking Plays 27:50 — The Danger of Misusing HUD Stats 29:59 — Live Hand Breakdown: Ace-Eight Suited 36:57 — Live Poker Reads vs. Theory: Why Pot Odds Matter 46:00 — Exploiting Live Pools & Cultural Poker Trends 54:11 — Targeting the Top vs. Bottom of Ranges 56:48 — Common Study Mistakes & Database Reviews 01:07:52 — The Dichotomy of Stats vs. Combo Selection 01:16:20 — Advanced Solver Mechanics & MDF 01:19:43 — Outro Contact Nick: 🐦X: @slumdiggitydude Host: Jared Alderman Performance Coach 🌐 Website: https://www.jaredalderman.com/ 📸 Instagram: @jared.alderman 🐦 X: @the_jaldermann

  2. Aug 17

    "Job's Not Finished" - How Lucas Jumalon Won the 2026 WSOP Main Event

    This week on Seeking Balance, Jared sits down with 2026 WSOP Main Event Champion Lucas Jumalon fresh off his historic $10,000,000 victory! In this episode, Lucas opens up about the brutal downswing leading up to the series, the pivotal phone call with his dad that kept him in the tournament, and the "if we die, we die" mindset that carried him through a field of thousands. They also break down his 11-day final table prep with Patrick "Pads" Leonard, the psychology behind his "job's not finished" approach, and what he hopes to achieve in poker. Check Out The Seeking Balance App! https://jaredalderman.com/app Learn More About The Coaching Group: https://www.jaredalderman.com 👉 If you found this episode valuable, don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe to the newsletter at https://www.jaredalderman.com/ for more deep dives into poker, performance, and personal growth! 🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss a new episode. Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:04 - Welcoming WSOP Champion Lucas03:50 - Grinding from Age 12 to College07:07 - Overcoming Heartbreak: "If We Die, We Die"08:14 - Rock Bottom in Austin & The Pivotal Call with His Dad12:30 - Manifestation, Mindset & Day 114:12 - The Day 3 Cold 4-Bet: "This Is My Tournament"21:01 - Psychological Priming & Finding the Zone22:11 - Day 7 Crisis & The 2-Hour Reset28:44 - Sudden Fame & Handling Life-Changing Money32:20 - Why His Dad Is His Rock36:47 - 11 Days with Patrick Leonard: Solving the Final Table39:54 - "Job’s Not Finished": The Kobe Mindset43:14 - Proving It Wasn't a Fluke: Bigger Tournaments & Future Goals46:17 - Becoming the Next Poker Ambassador53:50 - Lightning Round Questions Find Lucas: 📸Instagram: lucasss.jumalone 🐦 X: @LukeJu22Host Jared Alderman Performance Coach 🌐 Website: https://www.jaredalderman.com/ 📸 Instagram: @jared.alderman 🐦 X: @jaredalderman

  3. Jul 3

    The Traps Even Elite Poker Players Fall Into

    Check Out The Seeking Balance App!https://jaredalderman.com/appLearn More About The Coaching Group:https://www.jaredalderman.com Join Our Discord Server! https://discord.gg/mDZuCxcgzv 👉 If you found this episode valuable, don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe to the newsletter at https://www.jaredalderman.com/ for more deep dives into poker, performance, and personal growth! 🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss a new episode. Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:00:50 — WSOP Prep: Stevie's Triton Cool Down & Footage Review 00:08:29 — The Mythos of Elite Players 00:17:50 — Playing Against an Image: The Adamo Story 00:23:32 — Confidence, Self-Belief & Delusional Self-Trust 00:27:33 — Should Profitability Even Matter? Fixed Views & the Razz Hypothetical 00:33:59 — EV as a Useful Convention, Not a Truth 00:41:07 — Day-to-Day Variance & Trusting the Path 00:44:20 — A Game / B Game / C Game: Why Labeling Hurts You 00:48:44 — Was It Even a Mistake? 00:55:30 — The Buddha on Speaking Truth 00:58:00 — Truth vs. Utility: The David Deutsch Argument 01:05:09 — The Performance Coach Story: What's Useful vs. What's True 01:12:17 — Fixed Views & Buddhist Relative vs. Ultimate Truth 01:18:52 — Attention, Memory & How We Evaluate Decisions 01:27:43 — Agency, Free Will & Tendency vs. Choice 01:35:39 — Relative Truth, Ultimate Truth & the Two Questions 01:38:16 — Outro Find Stephen: 🐦 X: @ChidwickStephen Find LuckyChewy: 🐦 X: @luckychewy 🌐 Website: https://www.luckychewy.com/ Host: Jared Alderman Performance Coach 🌐 Website: https://www.jaredalderman.com/ 📸 Instagram: @jared.alderman 🐦 X: @jaredalderman

  4. Jun 19

    How To Adapt Without Losing Your Edge

    This week on Seeking Balance, Jared sits down at the WSOP with Kevin Rabichow and Owen "PR0DIGY" Messere fresh off their matches in the $25K Heads Up Championship. The conversation dives deep into what makes heads up poker uniquely mentally demanding — from how you build an exploitative strategy on a tiny sample, to knowing when a read is real and when you're fooling yourself. Owen breaks down why playing against type is one of the most underrated skills in poker, Kevin shares how an hour of "nothing working" turned out to be his most productive stretch of the match, and Jared crystallizes why the pressure to act on information every hand might be the most common mistake live cash players make. Check Out The Seeking Balance App, Lifetime Access 50% Off! https://jaredalderman.com/app Check Out Kevin's Course, The Heads Up Edge! https://www.kevinrabichow.com/headsup Check Out Owen's Coaching With Guerilla Poker! https://guerrilla-poker.com/ Join Our Discord Server! https://discord.gg/mDZuCxcgzv 👉 If you found this episode valuable, don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe to the newsletter at https://www.jaredalderman.com/ for more deep dives into poker, performance, and personal growth! 🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss a new episode. Timestamps:00:00 – Intro 01:12 – Kevin's $25K heads up match 08:11 – The meta of heads up tournaments: building an exploitative strategy on limited info 14:55 – When to trust a read vs. when it's just variance 28:11 – Is gathering information worth the EV cost? 31:41 – Owen joins 36:11 – Aggression as a data-gathering tool 40:28 – Kevin's plan falls apart in the first 20 hands 41:36 – Playing the WSOP Main: Exploits in Tournaments 49:11 – When to accept a risk vs. protecting your edge 55:00 – Playing against type: how switching it up raises your EV floor 56:44 – Balance, patience, and the politics analogy 01:02:48 – The pressure to act on reads (and why patience is the real skill) 01:03:11 – How Owen accidentally turned his students into rabid dogs 01:05:48 – Owen on coaching: raising ceilings vs. floors, and Guerilla Poker 01:11:11 – What it's like playing against someone who has you in their head 01:22:11 – Decision fatigue and repetition in heads up poker 01:24:30 – Outro Find Owen: 🐦X: @OwenMessere Find Kevin: 🌐: https://www.kevinrabichow.com/headsup 📸Instagram: @krabichow 🐦X: @KRabichow Host: Jared Alderman Performance Coach 🌐Website: https://www.jaredalderman.com/ 📸Instagram: @jared.alderman 🐦X: @jaredalderman

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Welcome to Seeking Balance, a podcast that delves into the art and science of performance in poker—and life. Hosted by Jared Alderman, a seasoned performance coach with a unique blend of experiences, this show explores what it truly means to succeed. Drawing from years as a Navy EOD tech, professional poker player, and now a mindset and lifestyle coach, Jared brings a depth of understanding to high-pressure situations and the mental game behind peak performance. With an extensive background in meditation, Jared takes listeners beyond typical strategies to explore how inner well-being and mindset fuel real achievement. Each episode offers insights into the soft skills that separate good players from great ones, uncovering the hidden edges found in emotional regulation, healthy habits, and peak performance strategies. With a focus on balancing achievement and personal well-being, we’ll challenge conventional definitions of success and look at how to thrive both at the table and beyond it. Join us for candid conversations with poker pros, industry leaders, and performance experts as we explore how to cultivate the habits, mindsets, and skills that lead to real, lasting success. Whether you're chasing poker greatness or looking to level up in your life, Seeking Balance is your guide to mastering the game within the game.

You Might Also Like