Dare2Dream Brings Mental Fitness Regimen to Poker Lifestyle
Fifty ‘Dare2Dream’ Programs to be Awarded to Players
The mental side of poker is the overlooked aspect of the game, and getting one’s self into mental shape can spell the difference between success and failure. So says Jamie Glazier, the founder of Dare2Dream Peak Performance and Mental Conditioning, an Australian firm that made its mark with up-and-coming golf players from Down Under, such as rising international star Aaron Baddeley. But it’s in adapting and expanding Dare2Dream’s unique mental approach from golf to poker that’s beginning to make a difference for some noted players, such as 2005 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem, who’s been an ardent supporter of Dare2Dream for several months.
Glazier, the founder of Dare2Dream, is a former top-20 Australian Junior tennis player — and later, a near-scratch handicap golfer — who nonetheless candidly described himself as a “failed athlete” in an extended chat with PokerNews. Dare2Dream, according to Glazier, was born from his own experience in coming to grips with having had both the physical tools and knowledge to succeed at the professional level, but still, for mental and emotional reasons, not being able to get over the final obstacles and break through to top-level success.
Dare2Dream, which has just launched its brand new website at www.dare2dream.com.au, offers a 12-chapter program that cover and instruct participants on the mental and emotional side of poker, which includes what is billed as the world’s “first video poker mental coaching website.” The extensive video program will be augmented by articles and forums, all focusing on the mental side of the game.
Glazier’s own story, despite his early athletic success, also includes the type of significant setback that forced him to reevaluate everything, which in turn led to the breakthroughs that would in time become Dare2Dream. At age 26, Glazier completely ruptured two discs in his lower back, and was told by the surgeon that his athletic career was over, and that walking with a cane or walking stick would likely be the best recovery he would achieve. Instead, Glazier was back to athletic competitions in three months, and with a totally new outlook as well.
As Glazier describes it, “Dare2Dream is all about helping players improve their lives – mentally and emotionally – both inside and outside of poker.” Glazier added that true longterm success comes from battling through the downswings, the “life tilt,” that hounds all players. Glazier is a proponent of developing a daily routine, making the mind cleaner and improving one’s sleeping habits. Glazier also advocates focusing on the good things that come out of each day’s session, rather than honing on the bad beats or the rare occurrences that could take the edge of what would otherwise be a very acceptable day. Glazier acknowledges that he’s not the first sports psychologist to ever make his mark, and cited the ‘80s breakthrough book The Inner Game of Golf, and its author, W. Timothy Gallwey, as being revolutionary in the field. Nonetheless, it’s in poker, where Glazier increasingly puts his own teachings into practice, where he expects the next revolution to occur.
Joe Hachem points to himself as an example of someone who’s benefited from Glazier’s Dare2Dream approach. “In a nutshell,” said Hachem, “what Jamie’s doing is the future for poker. It’s the last step to make us more complete players. It’s stuff that we all know, though Jamie brought to the surface, to my attention, stuff that I known but had forgotten.” Hachem and Glazier both pointed to the hectic times following Hachem’s breakthrough 2005 triumph as one cause for the change in routine, something that Hachem, through Dare2Dream, has now addressed.
Hachem, along with PokerNews’ own Tony G, are among the 20 to 25 prominent poker players who have already begun to take advantage of the Dare2Dream teachings. In fact, as part of the process of introducing Dare2Dream to the poker world, Glazier and Dare2Dream will be distributing 50 instructional packages – priced at AU $495 for the complete program – with further details to be announced. Glazier himself is on hand during the WSOP for additional work with players who have already joined his mental/emotional revolution to the game of poker.
