Fasting and Poker

So i'm trying this out and i'm about 14 hours in. I hear it increases your mental clarity and concentration. I feel pretty good so far and handled a couple bad beats pretty good. Have any of you tried this? I hear that Phil Ivey fasts during the wsop to up his game. He claims he is dead money with food in his stomach.

It's an interesting concept. I used to play pool and my coach always told me to never eat before a tournament - said it would sharpen my senses if I was hungry.

With that said at this point in my life I could not consider wreaking that kind of havoc on my metabolism lol.

For myself, attempting to keep emotions in check on an empty stomach would be like asking a baby to stop crying when it's hungry. A real bad idea.

i dont know about the fasting aspect but i can say playing poker on a full stomach could be a bad idea. sitting for several hours playing poker can be agonizing. restroom trips, possible gas(hehe) and being sleepy has to take away from a persons game.

dakota-xx said:

It's an interesting concept. I used to play pool and my coach always told me to never eat before a tournament - said it would sharpen my senses if I was hungry.

With that said at this point in my life I could not consider wreaking that kind of havoc on my metabolism lol.

Click to expand...

After not eating or drinking anything for nearly 20 hours i feel amazing. I haven't tilted during 7 hour session and actually told the people i lost to "Nice Hand". My mind is so focused and i actually feel happy inside. I am up about 74 at 10nl and i'm still going at it and have about 6 more hours till my day is over. I have never made so many good decisions playing poker as i have today. I would recommend those who haven't tried this to try it at least once. Don't knock it until you have tried it

Not eating or drinking anything? hmmm, i usually get into a really terrible mood when im hungry and start playing way too aggressive. Perhaps if I waited it out though the hunger would subside and allow me to focus more. Maybe I will try this.

frozensprx said:

Not eating or drinking anything? hmmm, i usually get into a really terrible mood when im hungry and start playing way too aggressive. Perhaps if I waited it out though the hunger would subside and allow me to focus more. Maybe I will try this.

Click to expand...

Yes absolutely no drinking or eating. That's how i felt at first especially when i have all these 10$ McDonalds gift cards. Just the thought of a cheeseburger felt like finding gold. After about two hours of not eating breakfast i didn't think about food at all.

This is my first time doing it and i feel like i'm living in the moment. I'm usually an unstable person on the table after 2 hours or so but iv'e been on here for nearly 8 hours and i feel fresh. What i won today is more than what i won in the entire month of December. Let me know how you feel if you decide to try fasting and playing poker.

I think if you do it gradually rather then just stop eating from a normal diet, like 3 regular size meals a day to it. This is a good idea, yes. If you're a live player, you may have noticed people have a meal when they start but I think for the most part, pro or addict.. playing for a 24hour session usually consist of maybe a breakfast and a small ending snack.

I've had more then a couple 24+hour sessions playing live with out eating at all and ending buying like a ice cream cone or a cheese burger to fill my appetite at 5am or 12pm, when the ses is over.

Even in my daily life I won't eat 3 regular meals a day. I almost always have a small breakfast, snack for afternoon and small dinner.

Short term fasting is ok as long as you get a lot of Kcals in before the start. Fasting for anything over about 24 hours is going to start causing you issues, you body needs the macronutrients and micronutrients so be careful.

There could be something in it.
I regularly played a live tournament and did well up to the dinner break.
Came back full and often busted out soon after.
But then again the blind structure was such that at that time there would be a lot more shoving and lucking to reduce the field rapidly.
I do think tho that if you are hungry you could be more hungry for the win.

I don't think that would work for me. I am in a low carb diet and I feel headaches all the time, imagine if I don't eat or drink anything at all.

Sounds abit silly tbh, your sugar levels would drop and you would get headaches, dizzy and feel sick....maybe instead of stuffing your face with a big cheeseburger and chips you could have a salad sammich and red bull...

depends on how skinny you are. if you are very skinny like me, sometimes i can get by on just cocacola til like 5 or 6 oclock. eating light i like maybe a small sandwich or wrap. no fried junk, cheese, milk, alcohol, etc. i eat light when on long roadtrips also to prevent drowsiness.

I don't think it would work for me. I think I would find it rather distracting to be hungry and thristy.

The worst thing you can do to your body. It's not even the amount of food, It's about people eating the wrong food.

I guarantee that if you cut out all the B.S., you will feel:
1. More energy
2. Less fatigue
3. You won't get as hungry since your body is getting all the proper nutrients.

If you really want a healthy lifestyle, real talk, look up "paleo foods". Everything most of us eat now, it's like a drug, specially HFCS. Coming off is hard, takes time, but within 2 weeks not only will you see results in weight loss, but you will feel more energy since your body is not working extra hard digesting foods you were never meant to eat.

I have more knowledge on the topic but it's nothing you can't look up yourself online. Don't starve yourself. Your brain will focus on food more than your "game".

I have low blood sugar so fasting is not an option for me.
But as many of you know hhow here already I play alot of live mtts ,and alot of guaranted proze pool multiday tourneys.
When I am in these day one qualifing tournaments I always carry protien bars around with me and smart juices,vitamin waters etc etc. I usualy drink decaf coffee and bring my own pure sugar, the protien bars tend to keep me energized up and keep my focus on everything happening around me.

Playing online, whatever I'm eating or not eating really has no effect. But I have found that when I am playing for a long period of time live, if I eat a good quality high-fiber, five bean chili With added cauliflower and broccoli chunks along with chunks of meat, It tends to tighten the overall alertness of pretty much everybody at the table for some reason.

Fasting? Yikes! Not for me!

When I sit down for a long grind I try to have high protein meals handy with slow burning carbs and lowish in saturated fat. I first like to have a good meal going into my session, then have snacks and water handy. Examples include:

Starting off with something like:

• Quinoa/meat
• Beans/meat
• eggs/meat dish

Then snacking on:

• Natural PB or Almond Butter on Whole Wheat possibly with a drizzle of organic butter
• Mixed Nuts, salt free with a few raisins
• Banana, Apple, Pear
• Keeping a shaker with a whey+casein mix of protein powder in it (add water as needed)

--
Kahn