Hard Work, Determination, and Positivity with Ivan Stokes

The Mindset Advantage is a weekly poker podcast hosted by mindset coaches Elliot Roe and Adrienne “Talonchick” Rowsome. Each episode they are joined by a top poker player to discuss how to become a better player by improving your mindset.

Ivan Stokes, also known as “ILS007,” is an English professional poker player who has been competing since the age of 18 and has been a two-time Supernova Elite player as well as a successful coach. Coming from a “study-minded” standpoint due to his experience with chess, this mindset has benefited Stokes’s poker career from the start.

In this episode, he speaks about how keeping a positive, productive mindset helped him become a better poker player, and offers tips on how you can improve your poker game.

Listen to a Preview

Key Takeways

Ivan’s beginning experience with poker
Ivan’s connection between poker and chess
When poker became more competitive and how becoming skilled at poker is up to hard work
How Ivan dealt with the stress of competing in Supernova Elite
Poker pros vs. gamblers — the similarities and differences
Mindset’s effect on Ivan’s success over the years
How Ivan mentally prepares to play at the table
Why a negative mindset leads to a lack of productivity
The struggle of moving up in stakes and how it can impact decision making
How Ivan takes on goal setting after Supernova Elite
How collaboration helps with motivation
Ivan’s advice for getting into poker in 2018

Tweetable Quotes

When I’m playing at my A game, my highest level, everything matters, small things matter.
Pretty much all poker pros, at the heart of their personality, are gamblers in a way.
To have this mentality that, “We need to make money today,” is not really beneficial because we can’t choose whether or not we make money today.
It is possible to become a really great poker player and make good money but it’s very difficult and you need to have that level of honesty and think, “I really want this.”
Your long-term success is going to be a function of consistent healthy patterns that you implement on a day-to-day basis.