Garrett Adelstein speaks about depression on Joe Ingram’s Poker Life Podcast
Garrett Adelstein went on Joe Ingram’s Poker Life Podcast to delve into a topic that you don’t often hear poker players talk about: depression. Adelstein has been battling the condition his whole life and shared a lot with Ingram and his listeners.
If someone looks at Garrett Adelstein’s life from the outside it may look nothing but glamorous to them. Most likely, if you know who Adelstein is, you’ve seen him on a Live at the Bike stream.
He’s playing for big bucks, usually winning. He has a big presence at the table, both figuratively and literally – a big bulky dude dominating the table.
The Poker Pro’s Struggle with Depression
However, it turns out, at times Adelstein’s life looks the exact opposite – anything but glamorous. As he admitted on Joe Ingram’s popular poker podcast, he would spend months barely leaving his apartment.
His depression would not allow him to do anything other than watch movies or TV shows and eat junk food all day.
His condition severely affected the two things he really cared about: fitness and poker. Evidently, lying in his bed and eating all day deteriorated his physique very much.
He elaborated in his podcast appearance on how it made his poker game worse. He said this to Ingram:
“One thing that a lot of people who are depressed suffer from is perfectionism. So, for me, if I were to play poker poorly one day, I were to skip a day in the gym, I would have this mindset where I go everything is fucked. The house is on fire. Like, nothing’s worth doing anymore ‘cause I’m no longer perfect, right? So that would lead me to, whatever, not play poker or play poker poorly.”
He also talked about how he believes some players from the younger generation overshare their success to feign confidence – something he admits he did in his 20’s.
Overcoming His Depression
Luckily, Adelstein is feeling better these days, according to the man himself. At the end of last year he tweeted out this:
2018 has been the best year of my life. After a lifelong battle with depression, this was the year I dedicated myself fully to beating it (CBT❤️), finding a level of peace I couldn’t imagine previously. For those of you fighting the same battle, you are not alone. Keep fighting!
— Garrett Adelstein (@GmanPoker) December 30, 2018
The CBT he mentioned in his tweet with a heart emoji stands for cognitive behavioral therapy. It’s a form of therapy where the patient is taught to consciously change negative cognitive patterns such as thought, beliefs or attitudes while dealing with the problems on a behavioral level as well.
Adelstein spoke frequently and very positively about this kind of therapy on Ingram’s podcast. He claims this is what made him able to subdue his depression after years and years.
As of now, Adelstein hasn’t been in therapy for almost over a year. However, he says he’s planning to go back soon even though his mental state has greatly improved.
He also shared how, with his improved mental condition, it is easier to deal with hands where a risky move goes south:
“And poker’s so fickle anyway, dude. Like, there’s such a thin line between when you just like rip in a 500BB bluff and it works and it doesn’t. Do you know how incredibly fucking hard it is, when that goes wrong, to be like ‘yeah, that was fine.”
Parallels with Fedor Holz
Garrett Adelstein isn’t the only poker player who understands the importance of a healthy state of mind while playing.
One of the most successful players of all time, Fedor Holz created a mental coaching company after his retirement from professional poker – it’s called Primed Mind.
Although Fedor never claimed he went through struggles of depression like Adelstein did, he did say that mental coaching and meditation significantly helps his poker game.
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