Quitting smoking

killphilNI · #1 06-15-2006, 03:58 PM

I am in the process of quitting smoking and the cravings are adversely affecting my game (I'm a NL cash game player). Basically, I'm getting pissed off at the table for little or no reason and this is totally counterproductive and not in keeping with my usual style. I haven't been going totally crazy but my decision making is definitely not what is was.

I know the obvious thing to do is take a break but I'm going to attempt to play through it. Has anyone else here quit smoking? Any tips? How long did it take for the irritability to go?

Many Thanks,
Phil

cold_cash · #2 06-15-2006, 06:41 PM

Blaze up a fattie.

CoryAndersen · #3 06-15-2006, 08:53 PM

This probably isn't the reply you're looking for, but I have the opposite happening to me.. Since I have started smoking, I have noticed my game has actually become better. I'm guessing because now when I take a bad beat or misplay a hand terribley I can just go outside think about my hand while smoking. Silly as it may sound, and a copout it may seem, as of now poker has definetley helped keep me off tilt..

Blowup Doll · #4 06-15-2006, 09:37 PM

I quit 10 years ago. It's hard. Anyone who tells you different is still smoking.

If it gets too difficult, talk to your doctor. There are some aids.

quarkncover · #5 06-15-2006, 10:04 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I quit 10 years ago. It's hard. Anyone who tells you different is still smoking.

If it gets too difficult, talk to your doctor. There are some aids.

[/ QUOTE ]

Quite true, I have tried a number of "stop-smoking" OTC and perscription aids. My worst experience was with Wellbutrin, it comes highly recommended by many but the stuff really messed up my system, made me feel just awful (though I didn't want a cigarette when on Wellbutrin [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img])

I still smoke about a pack a day [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Blowup Doll · #6 06-16-2006, 12:35 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I quit 10 years ago. It's hard. Anyone who tells you different is still smoking.

If it gets too difficult, talk to your doctor. There are some aids.

[/ QUOTE ]

Quite true, I have tried a number of "stop-smoking" OTC and perscription aids. My worst experience was with Wellbutrin, it comes highly recommended by many but the stuff really messed up my system, made me feel just awful (though I didn't want a cigarette when on Wellbutrin [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img])

I still smoke about a pack a day [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you have welbutrin side effects even after 3 weeks?

I'd personally rather have the common side effects from welbutrin than be a smoker.

AlanBostick · #7 06-16-2006, 12:13 PM

"Quitting smoking is easy ... I've done it dozens of times!"

I started smoking when I was sixteen and stopped when I was twenty-nine. Last year, years later, I went to Biloxi, Mississippi, for a month to help with the hurricane relief effort. I was smoking again after the first week. I quit again when I got home, but seem to be in a pattern where I smoke when I'm away from home (e.g. my recent visit to Foxwoods for a week).

My experience with quitting is that -- for me at least -- the physiological effects of nicotine withdrawal (the nervousness, anxiety, irritability, etc.) fade away after a few days and are pretty much gone after a week. (I was astonished, though, on my return from Biloxi, that I felt nothing at all of the sort.) The habitual aspects, though -- the sense that now would be a good time for a cigarette -- persist for me for rather longer. I dealt with them by snacking and chewing lots of bubble gum when I was younger. (Now that I'm middle-aged and have a partial denture, the chewing gum thing doesn't work so well.)

My advice to the OP is, if the anxiety from withdrawal is mucking up your game, then don't play for a few days. And if missing a few days of play isn't worth it to you, well, think of how much play you'll miss later in life when the emphysema cuts you down. ;-)

Pog0 · #8 06-15-2006, 10:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
This probably isn't the reply you're looking for, but I have the opposite happening to me.. Since I have started smoking, I have noticed my game has actually become better. I'm guessing because now when I take a bad beat or misplay a hand terribley I can just go outside think about my hand while smoking. Silly as it may sound, and a copout it may seem, as of now poker has definetley helped keep me off tilt..

[/ QUOTE ]

There are still people who start smoking?

Full Metal · #9 06-15-2006, 11:28 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This probably isn't the reply you're looking for, but I have the opposite happening to me.. Since I have started smoking, I have noticed my game has actually become better. I'm guessing because now when I take a bad beat or misplay a hand terribley I can just go outside think about my hand while smoking. Silly as it may sound, and a copout it may seem, as of now poker has definetley helped keep me off tilt..

[/ QUOTE ]

There are still people who start smoking?

[/ QUOTE ]
95% of people who smoke, start before they are 19. The rest are retards.

Full Metal · #10 06-15-2006, 10:02 PM

irritability goes away pretty fast, however, the desire to smoke stays with you for a helluva long time. It begins to ease up after a while but the first 6 months of quitting are miserable at times. Good luck. Remember, w/ quitting it is okay to fail, it takes most people several tries before they can get it.