From Elite Esports to High-Stakes Poker Psychology

My name is Alan, and I'm an Argentine psychologist who specializes in mental performance coaching for poker players.

Sports have always been part of my family's DNA. From swimming, football, handball, and diving as a kid, to basketball and running now, I've never been far from competition. Alongside this, I have two other passions: technology—especially video games—and psychology. I've always been fascinated by understanding human nature.

My path wasn't linear. After high school, I felt lost and tried a few different majors. It wasn't until I explored Engineering and Business Administration that I realized my true calling was psychology.

In Argentina, it's common to work and study at the same time. During my college years, I went through a very dark period. I drifted away from sports and all my healthy habits; my days were consumed by work and study. I gained 30 kilos and fell into an emotional hole. It was paradoxical: I was studying psychology while learning, the hard way, what it meant to hit rock bottom. I experienced firsthand what anxiety, lack of energy, and isolation felt like. Even though I was "functional" enough to work and study, I was in a dark place mentally—highly anxious and avoidant, using video games as a refuge to escape my reality.

Before graduating, I began thinking about where I wanted to take my career. I knew I didn't want traditional clinical practice; I wanted to focus on high performance. Combining that goal with my love for gaming, I put all my effort into breaking into Esports.

The industry in Argentina wasn't as developed as it was abroad, but I landed a job at Furious Gaming, one of Latin America's most important organizations. I started with the Call of Duty team, and it was an incredible experience. As we made progress, I grew within the organization until I was working with all their teams: Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Free Fire, PUBG, and Valorant.

That experience became my training ground for understanding the high-performance mental athlete. I worked within a professional structure alongside coaches and sports directors, coordinating efforts to help teams reach their best version.

In 2020, things took a turn. A friend introduced me to a high-stakes poker player, thinking my approach could help him. That single connection turned into a snowball effect when I also started working with a study group. A few months later, I faced a crossroads: I didn't have enough time for both industries, and I've never liked overextending myself. I had to choose between Esports—the dream I had worked so hard for—and poker, a discipline I knew very little about.

Part of me felt a strong pull to give poker a try. What attracted me most was the opportunity to work one-on-one, focusing on a more personalized approach. But what truly motivated me was the challenge of understanding the game itself. I'm not a player, but when you spend every day working with them, you learn to see the game through their eyes. That's when it clicked: there is still so much work to be done in poker regarding high performance.

Mental health still carried many taboos. We were just coming out of the pandemic, and players were grinding long hours online with poor routines, exposed to the mental toll of isolation—anxiety and burnout. There was so much to build, and the best part? They wanted it. I met so many players genuinely hungry to improve and optimize their performance.

That's why I decided to specialize in this industry. A poker player is a mental athlete exposed to unique variables—like variance—that few other high-performance athletes ever face. I believe my role can add significant value to their careers.

Throughout my life and career, I've experienced competitive sports firsthand. I've felt the pressure, insecurity, fear, and frustration, as well as the joy and pride that come with progress. I've also navigated difficult personal times with high levels of stress and anxiety, which gave me a very real, human perspective on these challenges.

Today, I work with top-tier players in the industry. My background allows me to see their difficulties clearly and understand their careers as something much deeper than winning or losing. My main contribution is the ability to understand a professional journey through both its highest peaks and its lowest points, knowing exactly how the human brain reacts to those demands.

I don't just rely on theoretical knowledge—I've lived through situations that help me truly empathize with what happens in real life. My personal and professional experience, combined with a passion for high performance and a genuine vocation for helping others, allows me to offer dedicated, balanced support so every player can reach their full potential.