[classicist]

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Sleeping pills like ambien are not IOC/WADA banned substances.

[/ QUOTE ]He didn't say they were, he's just asking if people get an edge by using drugs/medication.
I drink Red Bull at the tables lest I fall asleep during the slow ass play of every donkey who thinks he's on tv and I have an over the counter sleeping pill before bed.
It gives me a small edge, but that's alot different than getting prescription ADD meds or something like that.

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Sleeping pills would have the same "performing enhancing" effects for a poker player and an Olympic athlete - "artificially" allowing an athlete to catch up on rest on the eve of an event (I can't believe I'm using olivert's quotation marks). I originally mentioned this to point out that the IOC has determined that sleep-aids are not performance enhancing.

Passing over the issues of whether tournament poker is a sport (I don't think it is), the actual logistics of drug testing would be ridiculous. Imagine testing 6000+ competitors at the main event, or even just testing the final table and a random selection of participants (similar to the USATF process of testing medalists and a random non-medalist).

Another consideration is that the large majority of performance enhancing drugs are designed to benefit the training cycle of an athlete, and are not of the game day type variety that could be beneficial to a poker player. It's very difficult to compare the doping situation in sports with poker.

Of course, I want people at my table hopped up on whatever stuff they can grab and think might help them.