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. 3d ago

    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

    1h 25m
  2. Jun 5

    The Poker Skills That Apply to Everything In Life

    Today on Seeking Balance, Jared sits down with Melanie Weisner! Melanie is a accomplished tournament player, performance coach, and one of the most thoughtful voices on the mental side of the game. In this episode she sits down with Jared to talk about why the best players never play their B-game, how the skills that make you great at poker transfer far beyond the table, and why your biggest breakthroughs might actually be doing nothing for you. Check Out The Poker Performance Field Kit! https://jaredalderman.notion.site/poker-performance-field-kit Learn More About The Coaching Group: https://www.jaredalderman.com Join Our Discord Server! https://discord.gg/mDZuCxcgzv Coaching With Melanie: weisnercoaching@gmail.com Timestamps: 00:00 — Intro 00:55 — Melanie's poker background and career timeline 04:17 — How the game has evolved and finding your edge 06:35 — Why Melanie stepped back from grinding and what replaced it 08:45 — The difference between good and great players on tilt 09:57 — Crossing over to trading and finance performance coaching 13:38 — Trusting live reads and the epistemological side of poker 18:52 — Why every hand is practice, not performance 29:15 — The fog of war and judging your own decisions 33:37 — Why aha moments don't actually change anything 40:21 — Anchoring bias and how to use it instead of fight it 46:08 — Check Out The Poker Performance Field Kit! 46:51 — Normalizing decisions under pressure 01:05:49 — Freedom requires discipline 01:10:18 — Learn More About The Coaching Group! 01:10:43 — The holistic human experience 01:12:31 — Is there anything in Buddhism you disagree with?01:16:46 — Interpersonal relationships as the real test of practice 01:22:22 — Where to find Melanie Find Melanie: 📸Instagram: @melanieweisner 🐦X: @melanieweisner Host: Jared Alderman Performance Coach 🌐Website: https://www.jaredalderman.com/ 📸Instagram: @jared.alderman 🐦X: @jaredalderman #poker #podcast #performance #finance

    1h 26m
  3. May 23

    Beating Isildur1, Winning 6 Bracelets, and Finding Fulfilment Outside of Poker — Brian Hastings

    Today on Seeking Balance, Jared sits down with Brian Hastings! Brian is a 6 time bracelet winner, former high stakes online cash game specialist, and one of the most respected mixed game players in the world. In this episode he sits down with Jared to talk about beating Isildur1 for $4M at the height of online poker, the best frameworks for making tough decisions, and why he believes a rich life outside of poker makes you a better player at the table. Check Out The Poker Performance Field Kit! https://jaredalderman.notion.site/poker-performance-field-kit Learn More About The Coaching Group: https://www.jaredalderman.com Join Our Discord Server! https://discord.gg/mDZuCxcgzv Coaching With Brian: https://forum.octopipoker.ai/author/Brian-Hastings-1-58/products Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 00:59 – When does RNGing actually make sense? 02:42 – Breaking decisions that feel 50/50 06:16 – Balance vs. exploits 10:37 – Why aggressive players still get folds from great players 11:34 – Beating Isildur1 for $4M at 500/1000 PLO 13:58 – The Black Friday era 14:39 – Brian's dedication to mixed games and tournaments 19:56 – Brian's framework for tough decisions 24:29 – Check Out The Poker Performance Field Kit! 25:13 – RNGing as a hedge on your own confidence 28:52 – Are poker players obsessing over frequencies that don't matter? 40:16 – How personal growth made Brian a better coach 50:44 – Brian's remaining goals in poker 58:57 – Balancing poker and family life 59:45 – Learn More About The Coaching Group! 1:00:10 – Why a rich life outside poker makes you better at it 1:10:16 – The right mindset after a bad session 1:14:41 – How much do you actually need to study? 1:18:35 – Studying smarter not harder 1:19:22 – Multiway spots and unintuitive bluffing Find Brian: 📸Instagram: @brianchastings 🐦X: @brianchastings Host: Jared Alderman Performance Coach 🌐Website: https://www.jaredalderman.com/ 📸Instagram: @jared.alderman 🐦X: @jaredalderman

    1h 23m
  4. Apr 10

    Are You Ready for Poker's Next Frontier?

    This week on Seeking Balance, Jared sits down with Charlie Carrel — poker pro, live tell specialist, and one of the game's most unconventional thinkers — to discuss the hidden edges most players never explore. From a $15 first deposit and binking the Sunday Million to thousands of hours playing and coaching, Charlie opens up about what really separated him from the field. A fascinating conversation about live tells, intuition, meditation, and why mastering your mind might be the next frontier in modern poker. Learn More About The Coaching Group: https://www.jaredalderman.com/poker Join Our Discord Server! https://discord.gg/mDZuCxcgzv Charlie's 50K Promo! https://www.charlescarrel.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. 00:00:00 – Intro00:01:00 – Charlie's Origin Story & First Deposit on PokerStars00:03:55 – Binking the Sunday Million & The Start of a Career00:05:05 – What Made Charlie Click With Poker From the Start00:07:10 – Live Tells: The Perverse Incentive to Keep Them Secret00:09:15 – The Two Categories of Live Tells & What's Actually Teachable00:11:20 – Parallel Problem Solving & The Art of Reading a Table00:13:55 – Intuition vs. Intellect: The Creative Process of Poker00:17:50 – What Got You Here Won't Get You There00:19:35 – Why Poker Culture Resists the Intuitive Side of the Game00:26:30 – Spirituality & Navigating Your Own Path00:33:30 – Meditation Before a Session: More EV Than Solver Study?00:36:00 – Strong Energy at the Table & The Taekwondo Story00:39:00 – Empowering Students: What Most Poker Coaches Get Wrong00:44:08 – Join The Coaching Group!00:44:33 – Childhood and the Lasting Impacts of Early Relationships00:46:10 – The Truth Series & Reviewing Today's Poker Creators00:48:56 – Charlie Announces He's Coming Out of Retirement00:54:25 – Jungleman Stories & Charlie's Flute Battle on Coin Poker00:58:30 – Where to Find Charlie & The $5K Staking Promotion Find Charlie: 🌐Website: https://www.charlescarrel.com/ 📸Instagram: @charliecarrel 🐦X: @Charlie_Carrel ▶️YouTube: @CharlieCarrel Host: Jared Alderman Performance Coach 🌐Website: https://www.jaredalderman.com/ 📸Instagram: @jared.alderman 🐦X: @jaredalderman

    1h 1m

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