Playing under mind altering substances

[CanKid]

I have a bad back, some B&M sessions hurt worse than others, a beer or two really helps tone down my shuffling in seat and makes me feel more comfortable in general.

[philnewall]

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ive never smoked pot before so i cant tell you how it helps me focus, im very interested in this discussion however.


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For the casual user, after smoking some chronic buds, your sensitivity to stimuli will increase, as will the speed and intensity of your thought processes. The main affects for me are a complete inability to tilt, ability to make unorthodox plays based on reads etc.

However, usually this phase dooesnt last long, maybe an hour for a pair of virgin lungs, more likely 1/2 an hour when I was toking heavy like.

After this you will start feeling generally down and tired, focus will go and you will end up staring blankly at the screen robotically clicking away, reverting likely to a weak-tight style.

Usally the only cure to this is go eat some food, take some uppers, or smoke more pot....which generally causes problems, especially when you start in the morning, as the cycle simply repeats itself, except the troughs are deeper, and the waves are lower.


However, when you start smoking regularly, ie at least twice a day, the problems just compound themselves, any improvement in concentration just disappears, after smoking your heartbeat will start racing, your head will be [censored] up with general haze and mindless paranoia. This is why I have completely quit the herbs now.

That has been my experiance with skunk, a particuarly potent form of weed. However, I've heard good things about hash cakes, they are milder and much longer lasting, as they go through the digestive system instead of from your lungs into your head.

[astroglide]

it does improve focus and motivation. IT IS ALSO A STIMULANT DRUG. is this really tough to grasp boris?

This drug is classified as a Schedule II controlled Substance. This means:

(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence

[astroglide]

i didn't go to college, but i lived with and hung out with many people who used or knew people who used adderall. particularly at washington university, which is basically the midwest equivalent of harvard. very prestigious, very expensive, tons of hardcore academics. adderall is huge there.

[dankhank]

i've had (have) all sorts of substance abuse problems so this is something i think about a lot. as a general rule drinking alcohol knocks some brain cells out of commission and people play worse poker when drunk. the more often you drink the better you play when you're drunk, but you'll never play as good as when you're sober. as a general rule smoking pot makes people more "consequence indifferent" and thus most people play looser and worse when they're high.

for me the game seems more fun when i'm high, so i like to get involved in pots and derive more entertainment. i focus more, but that focus usually pigeonholes into just thinking about my own hand and i end up calling down more, cold calling preflop more, etc. my hand just has to be good here is something i say to myself a lot.

people respond differently to being high. i have poker pro friends who are almost always high when they play poker, but these friends are high almost all the time in general so i can't really say they play _better_ when high. it's just that being sober puts them on life tilt, so they probably don't play poker well either in that state of mind. i honestly don't see how a person can play better when they're high but i'm not other people. nothing makes me more confident these days than being clear headed.

i would argue that being high, drunk, etc. is worse when playing limit than no limit poker. limit is about discipline and sticking to the succesful playing system that you have in place. mind altering substances weaken discipline. no limit allows for less discipline if the player is skilled, so sometimes being drunk/high can work out here.

being high or drunk is a nice state of mind to be in however, and it is fun to play poker in these states, so every player needs to evaluate the cost/benefit ratio when making decisions about what to consume and when.

[mrkilla]

I'll have to concur with the Pot comments [imporves focus]. But you can't be totally ripped other wise it some what backfires. Also I find its better online as you can keep a "sustained" high while in B+M when you crash you want to take a nap at the table or start swtiching to a stimulant [coffee,redbull etc].
As for coke, no experince but the guy's I've seen glazed over at the table always seem to be the top donators

[partygirluk]

I can't talk about poker but I am close with many of the top bridge players in the world. Many of them smoke pot. One of them is always stoned whenever he plays. And you can tell just from speaking to him that he is quite stoned. Another top player was on cocaine through the '80s but is now clean and still playing to a WC level.

[bobbyi]

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Downers like alcohol and prescription drugs are probably not that bad for young males with lots of testosterone. The one danger is that you will play too passively.

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My general experience with people who consume alcohol while playing is not that they play too passively.

[krishanleong]

I'm going to go ahead and be a dork here and say I play some of my best poker after a run. Admittedly this is a remarkably small sample size but I think clearer, the beats don't get to me at all and I feel great afterwards.

Krishan

[bobbyi]

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particularly at washington university, which is basically the midwest equivalent of harvard. very prestigious, very expensive, tons of hardcore academics. adderall is huge there.

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I went to harvard, which is the east coast equivalent of harvard, and it was around there too, although I wouldn't say it was "huge". I found it helpful for when I would need to do a lot of reading. My natural reading pace is fairly slowly. I can force myself to speed through something, but I don't enjoy it and can't do it for very long in a sitting without getting bored, so I have trouble reading a novel quickly. But after taking a little adderal, I was able to sit down and focus and quickly read through Jacques the Fatalist before I had a midterm and not only that, but I greatly enjoyed the book. Adderall also made me much much more talkative and social the few times I tried it.