Playing when hungry - what I do

[Misja]

I have put onto myself another duty: When I play I don't go tot the toilet until I'm ahead. This can give some inconveniences when I can't hold it up anymore, but then I apparently have deserved it. That will serve as a movitation to improve my play!

[nineinchal]

Chocolate doughnuts.

That was John Beluchi's secret when he won the 100 yd dash on SNL. Remember he was smoking a ciagarette and holding a box of chocolate donuts when he was giving that advice?

[goodgrief]

Carl, hon, do you have an eating disorder? I don't play these games with myself any more. I could come up with a thousand excuses for not eating. But I don't post them on the internet any more.

[omaha]

OP, a question for you (a serious one!)

You said you dont play too well for an hour after eating.

Good stuff for thinking about your body clock, and how you are reacting to your body.

I cant help but think that it must affect your play. Being on an even keel is essential for my game, and getting hungry is a sure fire tilt generator for myself.

Have you ever considered starting your play an hour after you main meals? I would think this would be better.

[CarlSpackler]

[ QUOTE ]
Carl, hon, do you have an eating disorder? I don't play these games with myself any more. I could come up with a thousand excuses for not eating. But I don't post them on the internet any more.

[/ QUOTE ]

No sweetie, I don't have an eating disorder. Glad to hear you don't play games with yourself anymore.

[CarlSpackler]

[ QUOTE ]
OP, a question for you (a serious one!)

You said you dont play too well for an hour after eating.

Good stuff for thinking about your body clock, and how you are reacting to your body.

I cant help but think that it must affect your play. Being on an even keel is essential for my game, and getting hungry is a sure fire tilt generator for myself.

Have you ever considered starting your play an hour after you main meals? I would think this would be better.

[/ QUOTE ]

I usually try and eat about an hour before I play. When I'm playing live, however, it's usually for several hours and at some point I get hungry.

Playing hungry, however, doesn't have a negative effect on my play.

Actually last night while playing online, I was hungry and ate a meal right after I began my session, just to experiment. I went on to have my first losing session online in over a week. While it's possible it's a coincidence, it's highly doubtful.

[JJNJustin]

What I do when I am hungry-

eat something.

That being said, I believe that playing poker does something to your blood sugar. Adrenaline and hormones and all that. Most players I know take constant breaks to either go to the bathroom, eat sandwiches, drink soda, eat preztels or cookies, go to the parking garage and smoke marijuana, etc.

-J

[goodgrief]

You could very easily test it and see what really does affect your blood sugar. They sell the test strips behind the pharmacy counter at WalMart. Just ask. You'd be amazed at how easy it is.

They tell you not to play when you're tired, hungry, in pain etc. The trouble with being old is that you're always tired or in pain relative to how you were when you were younger. If you can't play when you are recovering from the flu, you aren't going to be able to play your A game when you're old. You just need to get over that stuff, in my opinion.

I still think the OP may have an eating disorder but since he says he doesn't, I won't offer any more advice at this time. Not that I said much useful to begin with, I suppose. It's anti-evolutionary not to eat when hungry, if you consistently find excuses for not eating when hungry, at some point you're going to have to do the old searching and fearless examination of self blah de blah. But nobody can do it for you.

[ratel]

I kind of like playing hungry...it just feels more intense. (It's not like you're going to be burning a lot of calories sitting in front of the computer, anyway.) Washing down a Hydroxycut Hardcore with massive quantities of Diet Sunkist: definitely +ev.

My food of choice is protein meal replacement bars...when I get on a real online bender, I hardly eat anything else. No kidding, the ones from ISS Research taste better than most candybars. Low in carbs and sugar, 27 grams of protein, 4 g fiber, all your vitamins...works for me!

http://www.issresearch.com/prod_ohyeah.html

You could do a lot worse than bring a case of these suckers to your next tournament.

[goodgrief]

Yeah...be a little cautious. 31 grams of carbs per bar is still a little high for me. It very much depends on the person's individual chemistry and response to carbohydrate. To be honest I'd just as much eat a hamburger patty or two, no fries, no bread. But you can't beat the protein bars for the convenience factor.