4 in 5 poker players use drugs to stay sharp at table

lilybo · Jun 7, 2010

I saw this on my Yahoo page today, thought I'd share.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health...ies+(News+-+Top+Stories)&utm_content=My+Yahoo

Marginal · Jun 7, 2010

Four out of five poker players use any one of a number of legal and illicit drugs to improve their game, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, found that alongside caffeine, energy drinks and guarana, professional and amateur players all over the world are turning to marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, Valium and a host of other prescription medications to try to gain some advantage at the table.

Damn, now I am a statistic

LombardiStix · Jun 7, 2010

It is unclear from this article if they are including Caffeine as one of the drugs used. Again bs surveys can twist their results using careful wording to sling mud on a group of individuals. I would need to see the raw data for this to impact my perception in any way. They could have found 1 guy out of 3000 on Valium and added it to the list of drugs used. Unfortunately there are many people who will blindly react and reinforce their already biased view of poker players. Unfortunate.

Stix

doops · Jun 7, 2010

marginal said:
Four out of five poker players use any one of a number of legal and illicit drugs to improve their game, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, found that alongside caffeine, energy drinks and guarana, professional and amateur players all over the world are turning to marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, Valium and a host of other prescription medications to try to gain some advantage at the table.

Damn, now I am a statistic

It goes on to say that the idea is to improve focus, concentration and stamina.

Let's see:

Marijuana -- makes me hungry, then sleepy, have been known to fall asleep while munching; focus is a bit strange (have you ever really really looked at the kings, I mean, like, wow!) -- not great for poker
Cocaine -- I dunno officially -- makes my friends all hyper, talky and cocky and makes them think they are very clever altho they sound pretty stoned & stupid to me -- none of this sounds like a good plan for poker
Amphetamines -- I dunno officially -- makes pals hyper and cranky, awake but thought processes are a bit off
Valium - sleepytime bigtime

Energy drinks, red bull, coffee, etc -- works good for awhile

Take breaks, take walks, stretch -- helps a lot, especially if you use the time to refocus and think

Having an attractive person either slap or tickle you -- wakes me right up

Debi · Jun 7, 2010

lol Doops.

The pain pills I have been on make it much easier to handle the bad beats.

suit2please · Jun 7, 2010

LombardiStix said:
It is unclear from this article if they are including Caffeine as one of the drugs used.

It is pretty clear that they are including all the legal drugs (caffeine, nicotine, etc.) along with the illegal ones (marijuana, cocaine, etc.) when they say, "Four out of five poker players use any one of a number of legal and illicit drugs".

jdeliverer · Jun 7, 2010

Most of the survey participants were men in their mid-20s, the majority of whom played the "no-limit Texas hold 'em" version of poker. Most also said the games they played involved a cash payout of some kind.

If this is your experiment, you can't say "4 in 5 poker players use drugs". You can say "4 in 5 men in their mid-20's that play NLHE for cash use drugs". That certainly doesn't describe the entire poker community, though it is probably an increasing demographic.

Marginal · Jun 7, 2010

They help one relax in situations that may be somewhat stressful.

shinedown.45 · Jun 7, 2010

doops said:
It goes on to say that the idea is to improve focus, concentration and stamina.

Let's see:

Marijuana -- makes me hungry, then sleepy, have been known to fall asleep while munching; focus is a bit strange (have you ever really really looked at the kings, I mean, like, wow!) -- not great for poker
Cocaine -- I dunno officially -- makes my friends all hyper, talky and cocky and makes them think they are very clever altho they sound pretty stoned & stupid to me -- none of this sounds like a good plan for poker
Amphetamines -- I dunno officially -- makes pals hyper and cranky, awake but thought processes are a bit off
Valium - sleepytime bigtime

Energy drinks, red bull, coffee, etc -- works good for awhile

Take breaks, take walks, stretch -- helps a lot, especially if you use the time to refocus and think

Having an attractive person either spank or tickle your genitals -- wakes me right up

FYP

suit2please · Jun 7, 2010

jdeliverer said:
If this is your experiment, you can't say "4 in 5 poker players use drugs". You can say "4 in 5 men in their mid-20's that play NLHE for cash use legal and/or illegal drugs". That certainly doesn't describe the entire poker community, though it is probably an increasing demographic.

Also, legal includes caffeine which describes anyone who drinks coffee, soda, energy drinks, tea....
Nicotine, another legal drug, so the study includes smokers....

In both of those cases the drug use is in no real way connected to poker, the majority of people falling into those categories will use nicotine and caffeine whether or not they are playing poker.

Mortis · Jun 7, 2010

So.. if I have a Pepsi at the table.. does that mean I'm using a drug?.. It has caffeine in it afterall.

Pokertron3000 · Jun 7, 2010

Mortis said:
So.. if I have a Pepsi at the table.. does that mean I'm using a drug?.. It has caffeine in it afterall.

No it just means you drink inferior drinks

Damn I am a statistic but I have an excuse mine are pescribed and og shoot one of my meds makes you drowsy

LombardiStix · Jun 7, 2010

Mortis said:
So.. if I have a Pepsi at the table.. does that mean I'm using a drug?.. It has caffeine in it afterall.

That's exactly right. Which is why the title of the study is misleading. The def. of drugs is fluid.

Stix

jbatesm · Jun 7, 2010

The survey is too broad and exaggerated to be valid or accurate. So if they are saying that caffeine is included, then I can make a statistic saying that 4 out of 5 children under the age of 10 use drugs to stay sharp on the playground.

natsgrampy · Jun 7, 2010

Should all players be required to take a urine test after all games???????:stoned: :canabis: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin:

Stu_Ungar · Jun 7, 2010

Now what would be interesting would be a study on MDMA and its effects on hand reading.

17Fabrizio17 · Jun 7, 2010

I am using a table to sharpen my drugs!

woody19 · Jun 7, 2010

Stu_Ungar said:
Now what would be interesting would be a study on MDMA and its effects on hand reading.

took that couple of years back and 2 be onest you would not be able to to pay attention or even see ya crads 2 be fair lmao

Maid Marian · Jun 7, 2010

Next thing you know, Vitamins will be included in the study!

Boltpoker · Jun 7, 2010

4 out of 5 researchers are wasting tax payer money on irrelevant studies!

jernest · Jun 7, 2010

Boltpoker said:
4 out of 5 researchers are wasting tax payer money on irrelevant studies!

more like 5/5

LarkMarlow · Jun 7, 2010

jbatesm said:
The survey is too broad and exaggerated to be valid or accurate. So if they are saying that caffeine is included, then I can make a statistic saying that 4 out of 5 children under the age of 10 use drugs to stay sharp on the playground.

Sugar and chocolate pack a pretty big punch too.

LombardiStix · Jun 7, 2010

You know what, the more I think about this the more it really pisses me off. Poker players get a bad enough rap as it is without a major news organization throwing our names back in the mud. There are some comments below the article which point out the obvious flaw in the article's headline, but you know there are tons of people who just see the headline and say to themselves "yup, those gamblers are probably drug addicts as well... etc".

It is irresponsible reporting, plain and simple. F#$%in @$$&*$#!%

suit2please · Jun 7, 2010

LombardiStix said:
you know there are tons of people who just see the headline and say to themselves.... It is irresponsible reporting, plain and simple. F#$%in @$$&*$#!%

Well I would say the problem then starts in the education systems we now use. Instead of teaching people how to think for themselves intelligently and understand, we teach people how to memorize.

LombardiStix · Jun 7, 2010

suit2please said:
Instead of teaching people how to think for themselves intelligently and understand, we teach people how to memorize.

Granted... that is a problem. I would hardly say this problem starts there. IMO the problem is one that may have influenced our own education system AND every other system we have set up in this country and that is the power of the almighty dollar. When our countries self-admitted purpose in life is to make money all other motivators tend to fall to the gutter.

In this particular case we have reporting with a misleading title to get more hits to encourage site traffic and eventually to encourage advertising which bring in the $. End of the line. And it hardly matters if this headline hurts the public image of a bunch of people who already look bad in our "christian filtered" society. Woops

Stix

4 in 5 poker players use drugs to stay sharp at table

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