How many of you have been stuck and ended up pulling a 24+ hour poker session trying to get unstuck!? My longest was probably 17 hours straight followed by a two hour nap then another full day, followed by another small nap and did this for two weeks on an online marathon session. I was running hot til I was not…haha! You see, we all know about the pitfalls of drinking while playing cards, but not many adhere to the rule of getting a good nights rest before hitting the felts.
Studies have shown that a lack of sleep is the equivalent of being intoxicated. The mind processes things slower, reaction time goes down, and one becomes mistake prone. I remember during my two week long online binge folding the winning hand (straight in case you’re wondering) in a $2k+ three-four way all in pot. It didn’t even register til a few seconds later after I clicked the fold button. Sob!!! Had a friend who grinded it out in the casino in true degen fashion for 36 hours describing how he didn’t shower, brush his teeth, etc. Apparently he quit poker after that. Then we have true poker sickness in Phil “The Unabomber” Laak who smashed the record and made it into the Guinness Book Of World Records.
1.) Liquor (what…the entire article talks about lack of sleep and how not to drink and play poker.) If it works for you then go right on ahead. After all Scotty Nguyen won the $50k HORSE while hammered…lolz!
2.) Smoking greens. If you’re in Canada it’s probably a norm. It seems to calm ones’ nerves. Personally I can’t tell whether the player is bluffing, tilting, has a hand or is too stoned to even know.
3.) Ecstasy – Probably not recommended. The only advantage I could say is that one will probably be folding 99% of the times due to the fact that he/she is frying balls. Can’t lose what’s not in the pot.
4.) Six hour power shots from 7-11. Apparently it works pretty well!
5.) Coffee – Proven elixir. Easily the most popular choice among the ‘squares.’
6.) Red Bull – Great for a 30 minute window til one crashes. *World ranked #2 GM Hikaru Nakamura usually has a can nearby while playing chess.
7.) Cigarettes – While extremely common, it is a PED imo as it helps calms the nerves of stressed out players albeit temporarily.
8.) Shrooms & Acid. Although I’ve yet to hear or see anybody play poker on shrooms or acid, I’d imagine it would be a major trip!
9.) Coke – Yep, good ol’ fashioned Coca Cola has caffeine and sugar to keep you up for a lil while for that extra kick.