Doping (use of performance-enhancing drugs) in Poker

[jcmoussa]

i wish i was on the dope right now.

[teampursuit]

Caffeine and pseudo-ephedrine are not banned by the IOC/WADA. They used to be, but no more.

<cue joke about wanting to give Brandi a legal suppository>

[Squareview]

bad post LOL

[classicist]

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We are all aware that Caffeine (a stimulant) is the most popular performance-enhancing drug among tournament poker players, ingested primarily in the form of energy drinks. The amount of caffeine present in 2-3 cans of energy drinks (equivalent to about 5 cups of coffee consumed per hour) is sufficient for a poker player to fail an WADA/IOC-administered drug test if that drug test were administered to tournament poker players.

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I'm not sure what those ratios mean, but you have to drink about 20 cups of coffee the morning of an event in order to test positive. If you chugged a red bull on the starting line of the Olympic 100 meters you'd be fine.

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1. Sleeping pills, as a "downer" for players after a long day at the tournament table

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

[BrandiFan]

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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.

[skillzilla]

ˇi think all drugs should be legal in poker

[Nairb]

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weed really helps

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QFT

[s33w33d]

I've successfully used Ritalin during some chess tournaments with some improvement in results.

[classicist]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[olivert]

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Caffeine and pseudo-ephedrine are not banned by the IOC/WADA. They used to be, but no more.


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You are correct.

Caffeine and Sudafed are still being "monitored" by WADA, but are no longer on the WADA list of prohibited substances.

http://www.wada-ama.org/rtecontent/d...07_List_En.pdf

A whole bunch of stimulants allegedly used by poker players, including Modafinil, remain on the WADA banned list.