Playing poker makes you wonder where you’ve landed: the throne of some alien world or the sweaty tiles of your smoky basement. This is the high and the low of gambling. The draw of poker, like drawing three cards in hope of catching a book-end straight, touches the pain-pleasure areas of our being. Add liquor, however, and you immediately become a loser.

Drinking and poker don’t mix. This ain’t a comparison to drinking & driving or (Holy Lord!) drinking & women. When you drink and play poker, be it at online poker sites or in a casino, your chances of winning fall exponentially. A slowed reaction time is the tip of the iceberg.

Where drinking really fails you is in the bravery (stupidity?) department. Lynyrd Skynyrd sang about taking “a shot of courage” before da da da da daaaa. Well, that’s great, but taking the chance on an inside straight is okay once in a while, but ten times in a row? That’s what liquor does to you. Good advice will always go something like this: save the drink for a nightcap after you collect your winnings from the pay window.

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