I am sure that the use of dope, particularly cocaine, is commonplace in the world of professional poker. Cocaine does enhance alertness, quick thinking, gets rid of fatigue, stimulates risk taking. It gives lots of selfconfidence or hubris, and likely takes away some of the humanity of the user. There are also detrimental side-effects in case of prolonged use, which is very plausible because of it's addictiveness.

In chess the use of drugs is prohibited, and the players are subjected to doping control.

This is not a problem in the backgammon world.

In the chess world they say the same. Denial is one of the most common defense mechanisms, but I have my own eyes. Even in the Tour de France a runner was caught because of the use of cocaine recently. I think that in case the stakes are high people are prepared to stretch their limits as much as possible.

I can hardly believe that cocaine would be a performance enhancer at poker, chess, gammon, or anything.

Perhaps stimulants could help simply to combat fatigue. Such as caffeine. But anything that involves euphoria is likely to cloud judgment and be harmful to performance overall, IMO.

Anyway, I have always thought that drug testing at chess tournaments is absurd, and I certainly think the same about gammon. I may have a couple cans of soda myself. If an opponent wants to dope up on anything harder, that's his busines. I only expect it to help me. And I certainly don't want the hassle of testing.

A big NO for me.

For me a big no either, and I would feel ashamed. But how do you know, when you never have tried?

Who told you he never tried?

A standard advance by those who want to claim something silly. You've never tried to cure cancer with magnetic bracelets, so how do you know it doesn't work? You've never looked for bigfoot in your neighbor's basement, so how do you know he isn't there?

Not everything has to be tried.


As an aside, in his autobiography, Andre Agassi admitted to a period of meth use. Some argued that his titles should be revoked, as this was in violation of tour drug rules. Andre explained that this was not a performing enhancing drug, but rather a performance destroying drug; and this was supported by his plummet from the rankings during that period.

even if you do drug testing you won't catch anyone except for a couple of potheads, circumventing it is not that hard, all you achieve is a hassle and increased cost for tournament participants

Looks like an evasive losing play. Also Lance Armstrong didn't manage to circumvent doping control, though it is a terrible financial blow for the team sponsor when a runner is caught.

Cocaine stays in the system for 2-4 days. There is a new method at present to detect it by fingerprint. Only the players who cash tournament money need to be tested.

I would never use substances, and in that case I am like an athlete who doesn't use steroids whereas the others do so. Your viewpoint invites participants to use drugs.Though the backgammon culture is less loose compared to the poker culture, it is not as straight as the chess culture.

The only problem that I see is that of "organized bribe". The problem will not be solved at once, but will take likely some time.

Lance has never tested positive, and never would've been exposed had he not come back.

Average cost of a proper doping test is north of $500. Effectiveness against someone who knows what they are doing is under 3% for a single test. Your play is to throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars to catch someone every 3 years? Thanks, I'll drop.

P.S. Not sure why you're so hung up on cocaine, it's no performance enhancer for sure and not even a drug of choice for players.
I'd start testing Wall St traders before backgammon players

He was already caught in 1999 for steroids. But his doctor fabricated a prescription for a steroid-based ointment to combat saddle sores.

North means $400.

This number is nowhere to be found.

I spoke to an experience expert, and what counts is the purity of the cocaine, which makes it very expensive. Users can be found among lawyers, surgeons, politicians and other professions which are well paid and require clarity of mind. As Max Keiser said a while ago, the world revolves around cocaine, referring to a 400 billion dollar whitewash of mexican cocaine money by a famous american billionaire.

yes cocaine gets you high what of it? who the hell is experience expert? it's no position I've ever heard of

why anyone in this world would take cocaine for performance when adderall is way more effective works 100 times longer and has almost zero side effects

and no, north doesn't mean 400, sample A is 300+ sample B is 500+ you need both

here's a little piece of research https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news63461.html

anyway time to lock this ridiculous thread

You are really suspect.

As some have pointed out, what defines a performance enhancing drug wrt backgammon? The closest I have seen mentioned in this thread is probably adderall, and nowhere is it claimed that it makes you smarter, just more able to concentrate. I can't believe you'd gain much of an edge.

As to testing for the drugs that I believe you had in mind yogi, I can't see the need, despite not having a clue how the professional world of backgammon operates. These are not performance enhancing when performance involves intense concentration and focus. Let them at it, I say.

Believing is something else than knowing. The thing is not only performance, but also culture. We live in a world that often shines at the surface. But I do like a real world, and not a fake "paying later" world.

I am curious Yogi, what has got you so excited about cocaine?

I know for a fact, but through a very small sample size, that cocaine does not enhance backgammon playing ability. It enhances belief in backgammon playing ability, but those are two very different things, and their relationship is often inverse.

This thread is going nowhere useful, so I'm locking it down. How about a good new problem that we can chew on?