I don't know about it not being bad for the teeth every time I get done having my little fun and experiment I do with it once and a while my teeth feel loose and nasty breath. I think it helped me when I was not making a living off poker yet but now it seems still help but I could do same on nothing if no one is around to bug me.

But you can sleep, concentrate, etc. without taking any drugs.

And Mason wasn't talking about getting no sleep at all. He said that in many situations that come up, a good player will automatically know what to do. There was also a little talk about players who were successful even though they did a lot of the wrong things (they didn't care about diet, sleep, etc.).

Of course you can which is why im sober almost all the time.

Right, I did not fully look into everything Mason said.

My experience with Adderall:

I tried it to help me focus while playing poker, a few years ago, and slowly increased the amount I was taking until I was taking about 100mg daily. I was really addicted to it and felt like I couldn't do anything when I wasn't on it. It messed with every aspect of life outside poker. It took a lot of tries to quit and I haven't touched it in over a year.

It does make you focus really well. It does release a ton of dopamine and makes you feel really high. But the negative impact that it can have on your life is really high, and for me, it was extremely addictive. I have friends that take it from time to time and have no issue with addiction, so i guess everyone is different, but I'd highly recommend not trying it.

I took it one time, and took down a 90 person tourney! Ha. I'll never touch it again though. Was sweating profusely the whole tourney, and hardly slept for 3 days after and felt absolutely horrible. Bad, bad stuff for my particular body.

I think betta blockers are better but have side affects too,, i wouldnt recommend adderall for grinding since grinding can range from 3-15 hours per day and basically you would be geeked out all the time, btw you know adderrall is basically a lab grown form of anphetamines(meth) and you will have some of the same side affects such as hallucinations, i wouldnt do it if you didnt need it.....try 420

Do not take any ADHD pill if you are not ADHD. You will ruin your brain. People with ADHD have lower dopamine levels in their brains' receptors. These pills increase dopamine. A normal functioning brain will counteract the increased dopamine caused by the drugs by lowering its dopamine. The result is that in order to function properly, you will need to take the medicine.

Dont be an idiot and take a drug for a disease that you arent suffering from

The steroids of poker IMO. You gotta be a winning player to have the "roids" be effective. Give adderall to a fish ...andddddd it gone. (reload please)

I have ADHD and I am prescribed (2) 20mg pills of adderall a day. I do not find it addicting like other users have stated. Currently I haven't taken a pill in over 2 months, just because I am not a huge fan of the side effects. I was feeling depressed afterwards.

As for adderall while playing poker, it definitely helps you focus and enjoy the game more.

A little cannabis can be good to relax you, not a ton though imo or it might slow you down cognitively.

I had a friend who binked a donkament while he was on an acid trip, and I would guess that microdosing acid might be interesting, though I have never tried LSD.

Edit: As for Adderall, I would not touch the stuff. It is basically lab made methamphetamine. I have had friends become addict to it, and eventually one did damage to his nostrils from snorting it so much. For most people I think it is -EV in the long run like others have stated.

i take dexamphetamine before every live session to stay alert and i think it really helps

a bit of weed works great too, you lose sense of time and you are less likely to get out of line.

I think its very hard to tell if it improves your game.

For one live poker is soooo super slow and somewhat easy (80%+ of your decisions are pretty much automatic) that by the time you see it having a meaningful effect on your win rate you will be a drug addict and will likely have a whole sluth of -ev problems negating any benefits.

Also with the game being so slow variance will be the overriding factor in whether you think it is "good for your game or not", a couple of big sessions and you will think you have discovered the secret to endless wealth but if you start out running bad it will be the drug clouding your decisions in some way, making you impatient or ansy or something.

Just drink green tea man.

The bottom line is to treat any prescription drug as medicine and avoid creating an addiction just because you wanted to gain a little extra EV in pokerz. I am posting a topic soon that may turn this topic on its head #toldyouso.

I'm prescribed adderall so it works wonders. I find myself intently watching others act and always questioning every move and if it fits with the board and such. Every. Single. Hand. Its amazing for trying to read people but damn is it hard to eat sometimes. Was in DE once and sold a player adderall once. It was a funny thing cause we could tell security was watching us quite closely afterwards as someone made a blind bet out of position next hand and the dealer hadn't even dealt the cards and security had already alerted the floor to come over and cancel the blind bet.

Psychosis from quitting is a huge downside

disclaimer:
I do not condone taking pharms that aren't prescribed for a condition you have.
that being said, everyone is obviously different in how they handle any potentially addictive substance whether it be alcohol, "drugs", gambling or anything else. but to the ppl that said they feel geeked out and whatnot, that's a reaction you experience. I personally never feel geeked out and I'm very familiar with that feeling as well. I have access to more adds then I could ever need and ONLY take them for sessions. as others have eluded to, you can stay focused on every hand played (way more info to be gained by analyzing all the hands you're not involved in than those you are...volume) and gain very valuable info on street by street plays and get to see showdowns or pick up on body language etc that others don't do enuf of. I'm 6'4 225lb and take approx 10mg for a session. in addition to the advantages listed above, when it gets late and players start losing their ability to think critically, they're exhausted and just not as sharp as they were all night, you are still on your toes ready to react to the situational decisions that come your way just as often as they do hour 1. to add to that, the end of those long sessions is typically when everyone is deep stacked and the mistakes can be massive. I play very long sessions and enjoy playing as deep as possible. I can't tell you how many times I've put in hours and hours over the course of a marathon session with players that are extremely competent and then all of a sudden you can see them wear down and boom, getting stacked off in spots they would NEVER have put themselves in.

anyway, this is only MY "relationship" with a drug that I feel makes some very strong players even more in the zone and increases their stamina levels to still be effective at times of sessions where frequently you can maximize 80% profits in 20% of your entire session.

TLDR: to each his own. it can help some be beasts and be a train wreck for others. yes work on your game, non stop if you truly love it. but this is another tool in the toolbox that for SOME ppl can be very effective and have very little, if any, side effects or long term impacts.

edit: I am a "rec" player that puts in 20-30hrs/week over usually just 2 sessions. mostly playing deep stack 2/5 or 5/10 NLE and PLO. so for someone that grinds 5+ days/week, I could see this being excessive and have blowback. just like anything else, learn your sweet spot and manage to moderation to produce the desired results. and yes, remember to eat, drink lots of water (in between IPA of course) and get solid sleep. my only real "side effect" is laying in bed replaying hands in my head for an hour before my brain shuts off. other than that, thanks for the assist add.

adderall is very effective if used sparingly. once a week at most. I've tracked my sessions on adderall vs no-adderall and the results are startling how much better i do when on addy. i only play tournaments and addy keeps me laser focused in the later stages when it matters.

Horrible to use everyday though.

I have adhd and adderall greatly affects my concentration. I recommend only use if you are legitimately add.

adderall is gto, not joking

If you can't get your hands on some Adderall. Take some pseudofed I've actually found some generic stuff that's a dollar for a package and works very similar to Adderall however definitely not as strong. Watch breaking bad for more of an explanation as to the reason why. Disclaimer I dot advocate mixing psuedofed with any thing on breaking bad haha.

adderall is to poker what steroids is to baseball

and thats not to say always bad in every case, people have legitimate reasons for using it obviously. Although too widespread it will give certain degens much more ability to function at a higher level and for more time.

i had an issue with this 2 years ago. I thought the concentration would help. Backfired however, I became paranoid with my reads and gave everyone at the table entirely too much credit.

It effected my poker instincts. Some people crush on it however, odd.

You know I can see that . Played 1st WSOP event last year . Monster stack. Made day 2 so I was happy . I always felt they had it too. And probably made some bad lay downs. The one thing is I wasn't hesitant about any of my decisions

This stuff is dope...Literally...

That being said, It's fun to try one in a while, but the risks of dependency are very high. It will however make you think some good thoughts.

Im not sure if I technically have A.D.D but ive had a script for about 3 months. After not doing well in college courses I decided to give it a try. I would use it about 3-4 times a week trying only to really use it before class. I do find myself looking for excuses take it during the work week if I need a pick me up. Currently working 40+ hours a week for my families business and taking 12 units while trying to get in 3 poker sessions in a week playing live. As you can imagine im pretty tired lol. My tolerance is slowly going up to where Im going to ask for a higher dosage. currently taking 10-20 mgs when I feel I need it. Also getting A's and B's in all my classes which I've rarely done in my academic career.