Alcohol and Online Poker: You Booze You Lose

How does drinking alcohol affect your online poker play? 

That's the question that was posed at the popular online poker forum CardsChat.com.

"I have been playing for only 3 years now, but in my experience ‘drink' tends to make me more adventurous. and of course less disciplined. ie the next morning is a bitter one!" a poster by the handle of Bluffmaster wrote.  He was also the individual who posed the question.

Responses included the following:

"I actually play tighter poker after drinking, so I don't have to think too much. I do alright, but will make a few silly mistakes I wouldn't otherwise."

"Yeah, booze will affect your play just like it does everything else. It usually makes me play a lot looser than I would sober, and stay in on hands that I would NEVER play when not drunk."

"Every time i drink and come home to a bankroll i wake up to nothing..I hardly remember the playing but when i awake i always have this awful feeling that i lost all my money....low and behold when i log in i'm broke...lol..Drinking is a BR killer!!"

"Hmmm. Let's see. First thing alcohol affects is judgment and reasoning. What do you need to play good poker? Do the math."

"I do fine having a couple drinks. Any more than that I'll stop playing. I'll start to make mistakes and call things differently. Having at least one has help me just to settle my heart rate down."

Payton O'Brien of Gambling911.com explains that alcohol and online poker playing is the perfect match.....only from a card room operator's perspective.

"Unlike a real casino, the online poker players cannot immediately tell if someone is drinking or not," she said.  "But this is obviously the concept behind giving out free drinks at land based casinos and card rooms. "

One enterprising member of the CardsChat forum suggested there are ways to cash in on the inebriated poker player.  Play in online poker rooms that are associated with sportsbooks.

"The perfect tests (of the alcohol theory) are coming up with the NFL Conference Championships and then the Super Bowl," he posted just prior to the big games. "I would think that for those of you not in the US that that night after the Super Bowl is over should be good fishing on the sites like Bodog that also have sportsbooks, b/c not only will there be some folks with gambling winnings in their pockets, those same people will also probably be DRUNK!"

"The folks I speak to at Sportsbook.com notice it," expressed Carrie Stroup, a Senior Reporter for the Gambling911.com website who also doubles as a spokesmodel for the world's largest online sports betting website in terms of overall customer volume.  Sportsbook.com has as its online poker room the popular Cake Network.  "The trend will especially be noticeable come March Madness."

Booze you lose....but not if you operate one of these online poker rooms.

"In addition to the revenue generated by March Madness, traditionally one of the most prolific sports betting periods of the year, you'll be seeing sites like Sportsbook.com making some additional loot from the folks who bet the games, drink, then start dabbling in poker play," says Stroup.  "Sportsbook operators will tell you that over half their sports bettors enjoy playing poker as well so sports betting and poker are in many ways the perfect marriage...but think bride and groom on their honeymoon after several glasses of champagne and it makes sense that ‘looser' play might occur in online poker rooms that are attached to sportsbooks."