I've found, taht in shorter no limit tourneys, when I drink I become more fearless...I may bust out early, but I maximize my chance of making the money by making calculated aggressive plays, that I'm not capable of making sober...being that htis is a marathon, when should I start drinking, or should I be content fearing the nuts the whole time waiting till I flop the nuts, or have aces preflop against a big raise?
Are you serious? I wouldn't recommend anything beyond 2 beers max, for any long tourney. As you don't want to payoff someone with an obvious fold or a weak call. One thing I can beat a fulltable loose passive game with a six pack in me infact I slash harder than I normally would which increases variance but creates larger pots as everyone things you are a maniac........
seeing thats its your 1st wsop...id definitely have a few in me to take a little of the edge off...nothing more...(ive never played in a WSOP or any big live tourney for that matter)...and i dont know your past experiences but speaking for myself, i wouldnt want to go into an event like with butterflies in my stomach....
This is just me, but drinking makes me type "durint" instead of "during", "taht" instead of "that", and "htis" instead of "this"...lol.
Then, after these early indicators that something is amiss, it makes me type things like..."maximize my chance....by making CALCULATED aggressive plays...."
One thing ole John Barleycorn forgets to whisper in my ear is that for all the seeming assets he has given me, he takes away my ability to CALCULATE!!!!!!
Hope you take this in the spirit in which it is intended, but until the vast majority of pro players strongly advocate drinking at any level during play, I am going to let nature take its course through my veins.
You should live in fear of the nuts, but you know that fear is also faced by your opponents on every hand.
You know yourself, have the experience, and will do what is best.
I think that drinking while playing poker, or doing other things that require quick and clear thinking is a bad idea. Just because it makes you a more "fearless" player as you put it, doesn't mean that you are a better player. You said yourself that you lose early so maybe if you didn't drink you might do better.
Let's say you have a few to take the edge off and get bounced early. You'll be cursing yourself up and down about drinking during the event possibly blaming drinking on having an effect on your good judgement.
But if you DON'T have any pops and get bounced early I don't believe you could blame NOT drinking as the reason you got bounced.
On the OTHER hand, if you do well could you really say that one of the reasons you did do well is because you had a few Rum n Cokes?
I agree that having a couple does take the edge off but this is a 7 day tourney. Once you are at that table for the first 4 or 5 hours, the butterflies should disappear especially if you drag a few pots. Everyone will have butterflies at first but you will settle down after a few hours. Winning a couple hands always builds my confidence as i'm sure it does for most. If you find yourself playing scared, take notice of it and start playing your strategy.
To pokerchris, I would not advise drinking either, but only you know when you play on top of your game. Im not sure about you, but for some, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and you wouldnt want to look back on it and think, I wish I would have done something different. So I would make a decision that I dont think I will ever regret. Anyway, it is all up to you, and I hope to see you there. I havent won my seat in the big one yet, but I will be there from the 16-30 and Im going to try to win a seat when I get there instead of online. Also plan on playing in the $3000 NL Hold'em tourney, so if I do very well there, I'll just buy in to the big one. We will see once I get there. If not in the tourneys, I will be hitting up alot of ring games though.
Well, in that column “Alcohol,” I also mentioned that TJ. Cloutier once told me a story about former World Series of Poker Champion Bill Smith. T.J. said, “When Bill was sober, he was the tightest player in the world. When he was a little drunk, he was the best player in the world. If he passed that point, though, and got really drunk, he was the worst player in the world!”
Shakespeare wrote that when it comes to romance, wine increases the desire but impairs the performance. I think that applies to poker too.
You may "feel" you can't play with the same flair or imagination without a little help from the bottle, but alcohol in anything but the most moderate amounts impairs judgment, motor skills and worse...it's a depressant. The one thing you want at the WSOP is to stay on as even a keel as you can, because if you are to do any good at all, you need to be prepared for a lot of things to happen over a long stretch of days.
If nerves are a problem, try some relaxation therapy or take a massage before bed the night before. Fear and nervousness affect the brain by stressing respiration, thereby limiting the red blood cells of oxygen. So when Mom told you to "Just take a few deep breaths" when you were scared or upset, she knew what she was talking about.
