I have a hard time believing that people are consistently breaking down spots accurately / combinatorically in situations where they don't already have it down to autopilot, as weed basically keeps you locked into what you already know subconsciously, so you're gonna have a hard time as far as actual improvement, or working on the things your conscious mind had not learned to unconscious competence yet. I suppose not everyone is striving to be the best reg in the games at all times. I would say its more of a "perhaps for some people it leads to them grinding more without hating life" with a winrate that doesnt suffer too much, or maybe slowly begins to decrease, and for some it probably just sucks, but for some of those people, if they adapted how they think about the game and started to love actually learning it, the game would become fun and they wouldn't even want to be ripped anymore.

^thanks mom

Not sure as to why you think smoking weed puts you on "autopilot" Im assuming here you don't smoke weed on a regular basis how would you know?Smoking weed has nothing to do with your ability to improve your game. For you to say "as weed basically keeps you locked into what you already know subconsciously, so you're gonna have a hard time as far as actual improvement" makes no sense and i would love to hear what info you have to back this up.

I'm not saying it puts you in autopilot. Re-read my post, and read the one I made before it, like 10 posts back. I'm a proponent of BALANCE. I've had many prolonged stretches where I went overboard with it, stretches where I kept it more reasonable, and stretches where I reduced use to none at all. Smoking weed has plenty to do with your ability to improve your game if you are CONSTANTLY RIPPED -while- playing.

"Cannabis is believed to increase intrusion errors in memory resulting in false positives during recognition recall in prose memory tests."

"Cannabis has been shown to significantly decrease prose recall after immediate and delayed testing compared to a placebo group. In a two day study, participants who had received cannabis on the first day showed decreased prose recall on the same day as well as decreased recall on the next day, even if they received a placebo on day two. This study not only demonstrates the effects of cannabis on recall but also suggests longer lasting effects."

"Cannabis has been found to produce impairments in word recall tests by means of interrupting the consolidation of words presented early in the lists."

"The primacy effect—recall of words presented at the beginning of a list is better than recall of words presented in the middle—was significantly decreased by cannabis while the recency effect—recall of words presented at the end of a list is better than recall of words presented in the middle—was unaffected, a finding that seems to indicate that the cannabis is impairing the recall of information that should have been consolidated into long-term memory"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_and_memory

Note that this all has to do with SHORT TERM MEMORY, and for the most part, this all goes away after stopping.

As for long term memory:

"There have been no direct links to the effects of cannabis on LTM; however, more direct links have been found at earlier stages in the processes that underlie LTM: attention, short-term memory, working memory, and episodic memory.[47] This association results in impairment, caused by cannabinoids, in all stages of memory including encoding, consolidation, and retrieval.[3][5] The majority of these research findings have shown impairments in attention and encoding (Note: encoding impairments).[5][47] Although studies of the effects of cannabis on memory are limited, it is widely accepted that encoding is essential for proper consolidation and retrieval in memories; thus, information that is poorly encoded is seen as less likely to be effectively consolidated and stored in long-term memory."


"Thus, if an individual is under the influence of cannabis during the encoding or retrieval stage and is not under the influence in the retrieval or encoding stage, then they are much less likely to match internal states and, thus, are less likely to successfully retrieve the information in LTM."


Basically, by kicking your short term memory in the face, the things you were keeping at the forefront of your learning, things you were maybe focusing on doing "better", which weren't fully ingrained into the 4th level of "learning", unconscious competence, aren't exactly being focused on how they should be, along with new information not being hammered in correctly and unable to really make it to where you'd want it to go.

play poker when ur in a positive state of mind
if weed does that for you than weed is the way to go

this is a fair point, all other things being equal, which they likely aren't.

I've been arguing with myself, trying to talk myself out of this but ....yes. I believe 420 = +EV in most cases. As long as there's a caffeinated pick-me-up available at all times, I truly think continuously staying lit throughout the tourney/cashgame will increase your stamina and enhance your overall sense of the game.

Meh, I smoked for awhile when I was grinding and tried to convince myself of this as well. I can't speak for everyone but it's pretty clearly -EV for me overall and I think that would be the case for most people as well.

The real question is not 'does weed make you better @ poker', but whether weed can improve your reads and mood so that even with less cognitive speed and depth you can reap an advantage over your sober state at a poker table.

I think personally the quantity and type as well as form are all important variables. It can be a great antidote during a tough grind but can also cause me to spazz out or make a significant mistake if treat it like a performance enhancing substance, rather than a measured medication.

just my 2 Cents.

anybody in Toronto got a high quality hookup? pm me

Alpha Brain and Bulletproof coffee can solve the less cognitive speed problem.

I quit smoking before playing live. It was making me less sociable and making the game move slower, leading to me getting bored. Weed is fine while playing online unless I overdo it and fatigue.

Heroin?

it goes hand and hand for me... if I dont got it, i just dont grind that day

Nice question, I have not read all of the replies as it is a pretty long thread - I just wanted to put my thoughts.

The bottom line of it for me is that if you need weed to get you into the right zone for playing your best poker - then you have a problem and are not addressing it, weed is not the solution to the problem, it is a short term fix that postpones the problem and when it runs out - you have to take more and every time you take some you are damaging yourself, taking a tiny bit of that top end of your potential.

The brain needs oxygen for it to work. Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that gets to your brain. That's just a scientific fact and how the human body works.

I smoked weed everyday for 2-3 years? of my life whilst playing poker "full time". Once I stopped smoking weed, yes it was **** for the first month or so and **** me I got cravings, but the impact stopping has had on my poker has been amazing (and my whole life). I can concentrate for longer, I can identify and fix areas of my mental game that need improving, I just through and through have more energy that can be used to further improve my poker game.

I still smoke sometimes when I have days off but never when I am playing.

You may already have been smoking weed and playing poker, doing well, 'winning!', reading this and thinking ("whatever, I can win when I smoke weed and play")
I was the same and yes, yes you can smoke weed play and win.
Here is my advice for you speaking from personal experience and as my opinion on the subject (so take from it what you will):

Smoking weed while playing is a leak in your mental game, which just like leaks in your strategic game, will prevent you maximising your profits until it is fixed.

Be responsible for your own success.

Going through this, smoked everyday for 2-3years and trying to quit because I know it hasnt helped one bit. This post definetley makes me feel good about my efforts and just motivates me more to finally drop the addiction I guess

I think I said it's +ev earlier in the thread, but in hindsight I think it's a spotty thing at best. I smoked almost every day for a year and my conclusion is this: sometimes it's very +EV but in general it's really bad for my clarity and energy levels.

I'm only going to do it once in a while like 2x a month or something. To be enjoyed, not abused.

Happy new year guys! It will be four years without smoking for me in February and this is how I feel about it's relation to poker.

I have certainly improved immensely as a poker player over this time and I think my brain now functions in a much clearer way. I am able to process thoughts and ideas so much more lucidly and actually think things through as opposed to just kind of doing them out of habit.

The big downside is that being high generally kept me emotionally unattached from poker, which is obviously huge in terms of dealing with the swings and tilt. Over the past 4 years I've found myself becoming much more angry easily, and having trouble moving on from losing sessions and putting them behind me.

In general though I am a much happier person without weed. You guys should all try it!

Well done, dank. What about it do you miss the most?

[ ] everyone reacts to weed the same

[ ] you know what those 4 years would have been like with weed because you smoked it before then

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I smoke pretty frequently and i can pretty much guarantee it has no positives for my game. I don't think it has hindered it a ton either but I would pry be a better player without Jane. it's really hard to say though because sometimes after that bowl rip I got mad confidence on a pool table and the other night I became a beast when putting a puzzle together.

Newbie question and a bit ot, but am I going to feel different if I eat a weed pizza as opposed to smoking? Assuming I somehow manage to make the dose ingested about similar to the amount I like to smoke at one time.

properly made (<----key) edibles are an order of magnitude stronger than smoked weed. stronger and also a little psychedelic. so you would need less to get to a similar place, but it wouldn't be an identical place.

I want to get into edibles but I live in ****ing Indiana FML