Anybody else play better when they're hungry? (literally)

Daithio

This may seem a bit silly but for some reason I tend to play much better if I haven't eaten in a while. If I log on in the morning without breakfast I seem to be alot more focussed and make less mistakes, whereas if I've eaten my mind seems to wander alot more and I'll be browsing forums/ watching the telly etc. Likewise after lunch or dinner, I make way more mistakes. Pretty weird but it's definitely the case!

BigCityBanker

I tend to agree with you somewhat.. I would notice similar patterns. As a result I am very conscious of my concentration levels in the first round after a dinner break in a tournament.

ollyk1

Daithio wrote:

This may seem a bit silly but for some reason I tend to play much better if I haven't eaten in a while. If I log on in the morning without breakfast I seem to be alot more focussed and make less mistakes, whereas if I've eaten my mind seems to wander alot more and I'll be browsing forums/ watching the telly etc. Likewise after lunch or dinner, I make way more mistakes. Pretty weird but it's definitely the case!

I've read a number of pros saying how they play big live multis and a lot of them say they don't eat very much during the day to stay sharp and focussed.

I personally don't like to eat the big dinners at something like the Fitz €250 anymore as I tend to find myself very sluggish for upto an hour afterwards in the tournie. (I still love a few chicken wings though!!)

phantom_lord

I find I've better concentration when I'm hungry.

If you go and eat a big three course meal, you're always gonna be sluggish and lazy afterwards! So I guess it makes sense, probably since you're not using up energy to digest the food.

But I'm pretty sure the lack of intake will catch up on you after a couple of hours.

luckylucky

I read somewhere before that you don't play as good after food so yeah you could well be right. I'm not 100% sure if it affects me, maybe after a big dinner it does.

PiperT

Definitely true. I guess its all related to blood sugar levels. I read another thread where the poster specifically talks about only eating foods that are low on the glycemic index and only drinking water e.t.c. thereby controlling their blood sugar levels for the duration of a session. Kinda makes sense, now where's my bacon butty...:D

Bandana boy

I guess this is what all the low content moaning is about

Daithio

So what's the solution? Because I like to eat! Don't play for 1 or 2 hrs after eating, eat particular foods? Anybody know what foods these may be? It's actually quite a big leak in my game.

Daithio

Bandana boy wrote:

I guess this is what all the low content moaning is about

Lol. No seriously it's a genuine problem for me and I'm trying to figure out how to solve it.

Imposter

I suggest posting on the fitness forum - some of the posters over there really know their stuff.

I'd guess the response will be something like that you should eat a lot of small meals. Say for example you'll be playing an MTT that's going to take 12 hours. Then plan to have a meal before and then a smallish meal every 3-4 hours. The composition of the meal will also be important. I'd guess low on really fatty things and also low on starchy carbs (potatoes, white rice, white pasta etc.). You'd be aiming to be full but not feeling bloated or heavy and sugar would also be very bad so drinking lots of water would be neccessary, but as I said it's best to ask this on the fitness forum.

Daithio

Imposter wrote:

I suggest posting on the fitness forum - some of the posters over there really know their stuff.

I'd guess the response will be something like that you should eat a lot of small meals. Say for example you'll be playing an MTT that's going to take 12 hours. Then plan to have a meal before and then a smallish meal every 3-4 hours. The composition of the meal will also be important. I'd guess low on really fatty things and also low on starchy carbs (potatoes, white rice, white pasta etc.). You'd be aiming to be full but not feeling bloated or heavy and sugar would also be very bad so drinking lots of water would be neccessary, but as I said it's best to ask this on the fitness forum.

Cheers, good idea. Will do.

5starpool

Eat a lot of fruit throughout the day.

Solksjaer

IT's a natural thing, when you are hungry you are ready and sharp to attack a wild animal to feed. (or a big blind) then when you feed, the edge is gone. The only sport that's ok to play after a meal is cycling..(food = petrol)

The food you eat is what's important. I see fruit was suggested,.....Bananas are good!

You do realise we have a thread for leaks!

Hmmm when playing D'OC, feed the fkr. (another entry for my journal)

delanec8

Blueberries. The best player in whole world eats them

hotspur

Interesting. I'll tell you something that may be pertinent from another game. I used to play another card game which had all day long competitons and was more complicated and required greater concentration than poker. What some of us used to find is that we played better when we had had less sleep.

Now this may seem counterintuitive but it only affected a certain type of person. This type of person tended to have a combination of being a quick thinker and less than optimal concentration on the matter at hand. This often led to distraction. However when more tired there was less, if you like, spare mental capacity to devote to distractions, resulting in the 100% use of available mental resources on the game at hand. 100% of 80% capacity is greater than 50% of 100% capacity. This some people would play better when somewhat less refreshed and alert.

As for your playing better when hungry, not only will you have less capacity when hungry due to less energy, but also part of your brain will be concerned with "getting food dumbass", so you will be operating at less than your normal capacity. If your normal capacity is permissive of greater focus and mulitasking than playing poker then you will often get bored and surf the net. When hungry you don't have that excess capacity and so you focus all your available attention on the game at hand.

It's something I learnt many years from experience and confirmed it with many others, but I've never seen it alluded to anywhere.

nicnicnic

I like beans

califano

I remember dpommo used to say he liked to play on empty because he just felt he played better on no food. Im not sure its good though. Sometimes playing live and i find im thirsty i play on regardless. I feel it helps keep the fear up.
I think if you had a consultation with a dietician and explain the story to them and they would advise a proper detail. Thats what theyre there for and it could be money well spent.

Macspower

I should be making millions then??? I'm hungry all the time now... 70 days without a good meal!!! I find after exercise I play a lot better.. I swim for an hour each morning and walk for an hour each evening.... and concentration is much better after each....

Mac

DeVore

I find I play better when I'm more relaxed and a bit sluggish. I'm less likely to do something rash and more prepared to let the hand go preflop and wait for a better position. That can be a good or bad thing

I am trying to pull together a piece on body-chemistry and how it relates to poker playing (including legal and illegal drug usage...) but I need some medical sources to bulk out the facts. If anyone knows a biochemist or doctor who'd be interested.... let me know!

DeV.

hotspur

DeVore wrote:

I am trying to pull together a piece on body-chemistry and how it relates to poker playing (including legal and illegal drug usage...) but I need some medical sources to bulk out the facts. If anyone knows a biochemist or doctor who'd be interested.... let me know!

DeV.

You might wish to take note of the Yerkes-Dodson principle which is a psychological principle relating to the ideal arousal for given tasks. Mentally difficult taks require lower arousal for optimal performance than less mentally demanding tasks. For example optimal poker playing is difficult and requires concentration so one ought not to be *very* aroused.

For example the phenomenon of poker players being coked up is a function of the excessively long hours played i.e. fresh players taking coke would be bad, but dead tired players want to reach an arousal midrange so coke would help.

Simple tasks like monitoring a dot appearing on a screen actually require high levels of arousal for optimal performance.

Possible sources of help in Ireland may be Aidan Moran in the psychology department of UCD, he's a sports psychology guy who has done work on concentration skills in sport and how to improve them. For more chemical advice I'd say Des Corrigan from the pharmacy department in TCD would be a good guy to talk to, he's an expert on drugs and their chemical effects on the body and is used to communicating this to a wide audience.

Hawk Eye

Im the opposite if my stomach starts rumbling I'm just gonna start making reckless decisions.
I do agree though that playing on a full stomach takes your mind of the game and you begin to lose focus. I remember Doyle Brunson saying that he always wondered why he went out of tourneys straight after the dinner break and he came to the conclusion that it was down to the choice of food he ate.

bohsman

Drink loads of water, no caffeine - I cant survive without tea but I go with 1litre of water to each cup of tea or so, dont eat much during the dinner break, especially heavy food and deserts, youd be better of having a piece of fruit at each break.
Thats the basics to long tournies anyway so playing long online sessions should be similar. I personally cant focus in the morning, tend to run very badly before breakfast, play my best poker when Ive been up for 10hrs+

kpnuts

A lot of good advice already, I agreed fully with Imposter's post.

Small snacks every couple of hours, preferably with fruit (or veg, tho I'm not much of a veg man unless the veg is backing up a chunky piece of meat) involved. I often run out of food, but rarely out of brown bread, butter and bananas. 2 slices of brown toast, melted butter and half a banana mashed on each slice works a treat for me every couple of hours to keep me going for a poker session.

If I order an Indian in while I'm playing, I usually only eat about 40-50% of it at first go, then keep the rest for a couple of snacks later in the night/morning, and usually not finishing all the rice. As somebody pointed out, not good to overdo the starch, and my regular Indian order always includes a Naan bread which I do finish Spicy dishes can actually taste better cold anyway, so I hope you will find this to be a winning recipe!

Other than that, I would also endorse Bohsman's tea/water ratio. At least 2 large glasses of water for every cuppa quenched. I avoid fizzy soft drinks altogether, but if I have a nice cheeky bottle of red wine to hand, I would usually open it if I am approaching a final table. This happens all too rarely!

marius

Daitho,

A lot of good stuff mentioned already. Just to add, you mentioned you play well in the morning before eating, there are two reasons for this, firstly your body has been resting all night so you tend to have a lot of energy in the morning, secondly your body is not using any energy trying to digest. The digestive system actually takes a lot of energy to run effectively - hence the big slump after a large meal.

It is a balance though as the longer you dont eat for the less able your body will be to produce energy, this is a slightly insidious process and you tend to not notice your energy levels dropping due to not eating, but your concentration will deffo be effected after a while.

Like people have mentioned - small regular meals are best. Loads of fruit in general is good. Bananas are very light on the digestive system and give excellent slow released energy - which is exactly what you need.

Also - loads of water.....

Sirtoyou

The most focussed man alive is the starving one hunting his next meal
I dont know if anyone has ever said that but i say it now.
The hormone dopomene released by food chocolate sex etc is the scourge of a good poker player.I know being an 18 stone sex junkie