So I played this $40 buy-in NL tournament the other day. Losing the buy in obviously didn't mean anything to me and first place prize would have definitely not changed my life lol. Still, when there was an all in situation relatively early in the tournament my heart began pumping wildly. I could really feel the beat in my neck and head. Apparently I get really anxious in these kind of situations. That's how my psyche reacts to it. I couldn't even really recover from that situation. I felt kind of exhausted and had this inner restlessness. Really crazy. I'm not overweight btw.
I read about Xanax for poker. What do you think? I just want to be able to enjoy the occasional live poker tournament on the weekends. Not planning to be on drugs all the time.

Hi

How do you feel in social situations in general? Are you depressed or do you have panic attacks or anything like that ? Alcohol or drugs probably help but maybe little bit short sighted ? + It's normal to feel that way at least little bit. Try to enjoy that feeling

Interesting question. I've felt the same way when playing live poker at times in the past. Not even necessarily when all in could just be c-betting a flop or something but feel a massive rush of adrenaline and full of anxiety. Definitely exists in my online play as well. When sweating all ins or whatever just feel short burst of acute stress which manifests itself after my sessions as well.

Definitely don't think it's healthy to be feeling this stuff regularly so would love if anyone can give suggestions. I think this can have massive effects on cortisol levels with screws up hormones as well btw so very important to get it dealt with.

Possibly shifts in mindset and recognizing anxious thought patterns and stopping them would help. Maybe drugs as well but idk...let's see what some of the more knowledgeable say!

The next time you look down and see pocket aces say to yourself, "relax", and relax. Then realize that it's just another hand, that everyone gets the same cards and situations over time so there is nothing to be excited about and the only thing that matters is the decisions you make. Practice this.

Imagine that your cards are face up so you don't have to worry about giving away tells, all they have to do is look down at your cards to see what you have but they just aren't doing that. Then calm down and and think about how best to proceed.

For some, poker is a Zen game.

I do have an anxiety problem. I overthink and can get pretty paranoid. Even small things like calling people on the phone that I don't know (a doctor's appointment f.i.) or ordering in a restaurant can make me anxious. I don't have depression but the feeling that I can't reach my full potential in life because of my anxiety makes me depressed sometimes. I only got treatment for it once. The doc put me on an SNRI which had a few very bad side effects, so I quit. That was years ago. I haven't sought professional help since then.

Concerning poker, I've tried it with beers and it seems to help after at least two of them but then beer makes me tired when I actually go deep in the tournament.

I've experienced it online too. Thats even more crazy because I'm in the comfort in my home and feel like that...

Thanks. I will try this.

https://www.amazon.ca/Solution-Socia.../dp/B00F5IU5CU

check out that book. highly recommend it.

I get that too. I don't know if I've just learned it over time or what. But ill be playing and all the sudden my heart and adrenaline just get going. Sometimes it's in uninteresting unimportant spots also. Sometimes I wont even be paying attention and it will kick in. I guess i've just somehow got on auto pilot and my subconscious recognizes big spots or spots I deem important some how. I'm well into the million range of hands. probably 5 million hand under the belt and I still get this adrenaline kick playing 5nl.

I have some outlandish theory that some how i can feel other peoples psyche through the environment some how. I think the person on the other side of the hand gets an adrenaline rush and that in turn triggers mine. it's like the body is preparing for a fight or something lol. Crazy theory i know.

I'm glad other people brought this up because adrenaline/stress from poker is the reason I don't play it as much as I'd like. Even having 100+ buy-ins for microstakes and knowing I don't need the money still has me overly excited for big pots. And I feel like there's something wrong with my body after I do play, for instance not having a normal breathing pattern.

I've tried tons of approaches to this, on top of meditation (varying from 10 to 45 min). Like:
-Understanding how emotions don't make sense in modern times
-understanding that most of what I'm feeling is bull**** and completely inappropriate for the situation
-knowing that every time i play a hand well I've won
-my results on average determine how good i am
-stop taking myself so seriously since none of it f'ing matters
-changing interpretation of what I think is scary or exciting
-breaking down what triggers tilt or excitement

On top of all that, I've tried automating my decisions as much as possible to lower the amount of thinking required. The idea was sit down, play your system, don't get attached to what happens in any one hand, quit after an hour. This one is something I still do but hasn't really helped with the mental game.

So yeah, all kinds of logical approaches have failed me. I will say the best thing I've tried is using peripheral vision to take in the world around me to defocus from the computer and know that I'm in a safe room...looking at a computer screen...in an amazing society we've created...on a ball of rock in the middle of a giant universe. Of course what's going on at the poker table is unimportant. Noticing your peripheral vision seems to help with that. Still though, I was kinda zen for a moment one session even when I was all-in deepstacked like 5 times in a span of an hour, but felt the negative effects even more strongly than usual afterwards.

I'll give that technique of imagining your cards are face up a try.

Poker is exciting and your body is having a normal physiological response. The concern I have is that you are unable to come down from that response. How long do you stay in that heightened state?

Been there, done that, I would advise against it. Especially benzos. Unless you're playing this game as a serious part-time or full-time job you shouldn't even consider using psychoactive drugs. If you're seriously so anxious to the point that you feel you need xanax in order to play you probably shouldn't be gambling in the first place.

And on benzos, in particular, I have a lot of experience with that in regards to poker. Lets just put it this way, my biggest losing days were on benzos. One session in particular I blacked and woke up the next day thinking I was up a few thousand only to find out I was down like 5.

It can take the edge off, yes, but you're walking a very fine line between staying calm and making solid decisions. I took these playing in games I knew I had a decent-solid edge in. I figured that keeping calm and being able to play more hours as a result in these games where focusing too much would sometimes get me to level myself, I could afford to give up a bit of mental focus in a +ev way. I should also mention that I only started taking benzos for poker because I was already taking ritalin which would give me a lot of anxiety, so it was sort of a way to balance out the stimulant. No doubt that without the stimulants to balance out the mind-numbing effects of the benzos, my focus would have been even worse.

If you play recreationally or are playing against a field you don't know you have a big edge in, that is all the more reason to not take xanax. Also, xanax is a short-acting benzo, idk how long your tournaments are but generally in regards to poker you prefer something like valium, ativan, or klonopin.

Just stay natural and do it that way, trust me you don't want to get started with drugs for poker, just enjoy the game and breathe.

Oh not for long. When I'm in a big pot is the only time, when the hand is over it takes about 5 seconds to come back down to normal. The weird stuff tends to happen after the session that makes me think my body is having a strong adverse chemical reaction (even during upswings) and lasts about a day or two.

While this is probably normal to some extent, there are people out there who have this figured out. I remember in these old poker shows they had a heart rate monitor on the players and some guys had no change at all even during a big hand.

I hate that feeling I get though, because it's excitement but feels sorta dirty or negative at the time and afterwards.

Anxiety reducing drugs all have the long-term effect of increasing anxiety. So if you're going to use Xanax regularly for poker, expect your anxiety problem to slowly worsen over time. Read as: don't do it.

Funny enough, anxiety promoting drugs like stimulants (coke, meth, etc) also all increase long-term anxiety.

So basically, every substance you can do adds to your anxiety.

*I'm neither a doctor nor pharmacist, but I do have a tremendous deal of shall we say personal experience on this subject.

Try meditation and yoga, or just play enough such that the same sized all-in spots affect you less and less.

This is true

This may sound boring, but: play more tournaments and the issue will fix itself. don't resort to drugs.
I'm fairly sure there's no drug that will make you a better player (and no drug that will even make you play as well as you would without - only drugs that make you think you play better)

Situations like this will come up every once in a while and you'll eventually get used to it. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. There'll still be a bit of adrenaline each time, but once you accept that occasionally you'll lose according to the probabilities involved it'll be no biggie anymore.

Particularly if you got it in good (and still lose) you'll learn to laugh it off.

Tachyphylaxis is a real thing. Tolerance is a real thing. Taking one dose of benzodiazepine every couple of weeks will, most likely, never achieve either one of those definitions.

If this were the case then people prescribed PRN drugs for anxiety would all be off the deep end. Using drugs reasonably and as prescribed is not the common cause of the phenomenon you mention. Non-adherence is.

Don't.
Ever.
Take drug advice from a rando on an internet forum.

If you do you may not be smart enough for poker in the first place.

do a little research on Kratom... has helped me a great deal by suppressing my anxiety just enough while playing

Thanks for all the tips, guys.

When it's really bad I feel like I've been through a very emotionally exhausting incident. which is ridiculous obv, because it's just a small poker tournament.

Say you take that Xanax and bust out of the tournament early. Planning on hanging out at the casino for awhile? Cause you can't really go home for quite some time after popping the pill. Last thing you wanna do is bust out early, go home, and then get in an accident on the way home and be automatically held responsible if some parent slams into you while texting, kills their own kid, then gets you thrown in prison when the police rule it your fault for being on Xanax. Even if someone else drives, you'll probably be waiting on them while high which would really suck.

Just don't mess with it. It's a stupid idea that opens the door to too many bad and ridiculous possibilities.

Learn to use deep breathing exercises, releases your own drugs to relax you. If you go to an exogenous drug for anxiety, something that happens regularly in the game. get ready to be a Gabba receptor addict.

Meditation is really useful to some people. Get an app and try before a session, see how it goes. After a while you might get the results

Dude, I totally agree. I get that too.

I get crazy panic attacks and anxiety. I'm not sure what to do. I realize I get it worse when I play poker and go on the computer a lot. I start worrying and stressing wanting to do so many things and have a lot of variables on my mind.

I'm almost just thinking of giving up that lifestyle and going to a temple and being a monk or something.

Start grinding 16 tables online until getting dealt AA will be as exciting as taking a dump in the morning.

I had a funny little problem with opiates for 8 years that concluded almost 4 years ago. I took the opiate antagonist Naltrexone. Supposedly it is only to block opiates but for me it did much more. I lost all my anxiety. I responded to stress like never before. I begged them to keep me on it but they refused. I started ordering it overseas but eventually got tired of the agg with that and just stopped taking it.

Every now and then I think about going back on it I miss that "feeling" it gave. It wasn't a feeling like a high. My brain just seemed to respond differently on it.

Before anyone refers to LDN, this was not LDN. I was taking the full 50mg dose ED. I am surprised no one in mental health is using this as an alternative to a lot of drugs for mental health issues. A least from my experience with it. I wonder if any doctors will prescribe it for off label use.