What's your favorite "pre-game" meal?

A

AimingVoodoo

Banned
So you're on your way to a tournament, or you're on your way to gamble, what do you usually like to eat?

I find that I don't like to eat prior to arriving at a tournament. I don't like to feel full and sluggish. Sometimes I won't even bring a drink to the table with me.

But in between matches, I often find myself very fatigued, and then I will grab whatever I can find until I'm full. I just feel like I need to eat. Maybe this isn't the best technique because I'm not making it to the Mosconi Cup team anytime soon.

I do notice that many pro players have no problem eating full meals just prior to their match.
 
I'm one who has learned to shy away from eating prior to competing for the same reasons, full and sluggish. But it cost me earlier this year at a state competition, after a pretty long run into singles, I crashed pretty hard not wanting food to affect my game. Friends advised me to try that Boost nutritional shake to keep me goin'. Seems to work for me.
 
The same thing I like to eat before going to any electric chair...Jim Beam Devil's Cut 90 proof and a deep fried twinkie! :thumbup:
 
To eat or not to eat?

I think a smaller meal is better if you have to eat before a match.
I just recently came to this conclusion. Before playing my last two matches I ate a large bacon topped burger with fries and a side of blue cheese. Damn tasty but the whole match I had that full, un-easy feeling.
Probably would have been better to eat after my match.
I didn't learn the lesson after the first match but I recognize it now.




Rick
 
For me, eating 1-2 hours before a match is no problem.

If I haven't eaten in a while and am feeling a little fatigues or slightly hungry and I am in a match, I will take one of the Kar's Nutty snacks out of my cue case and munch on that. You can pick up a 24ct pack at Sam's for cheap and the individual packs are small enough to put in your cue case or pocket.

Between matches, I will eat very small amounts of food.

If you really want the particulars of what to eat, when to eat, how to eat, how to train and a myriad of other things that go into competing at pool, you should check out Bob Henning's book, "THE PRO BOOK". It covers practically everything except an aiming system. :D

Between matches, I also eat dried fruit (Mango from Whole Food), bananas and drink LOTS OF WATER.

(Just hope Robley isn't reading this post).
 
I'm not much of a healthy eater but I'm starting to really see the value in eating healthy before playing a serious game. I've been doing a lot of testing with my diet on days I know I'll be gambling and lately I try to eat something healthy with a lot of protein... and not over eat. I struggle during tournaments because its hard to get healthy food at most pool rooms. I think it has greatly affected my tournament performance.
 
I'm a pool hall food junky:

French dip w/ fries...............washed down with a Jack & Coke
Cheeseburger w/ fries...............washed down with a Jack & Coke
Chicken sandwhich w/ fries...............washed down with a Jack & Coke
Taco's.............................................washed down with a Jack & Coke
Pizza..............................................washed down with a Jack & Coke
 
cuesblues said:
I'm a pool hall food junky:

French dip w/ fries...............washed down with a Jack & Coke
Cheeseburger w/ fries...............washed down with a Jack & Coke
Chicken sandwhich w/ fries...............washed down with a Jack & Coke
Taco's.............................................washed down with a Jack & Coke
Pizza..............................................washed down with a Jack & Coke
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me! Never heard of french dip though.
 
I like pasta and salad about 1 1/2 hours prior to starting to play. If I am in for a long session I will have energy bars, bananas and anything else as long as it's easy to digest and healthy. No junk food for me. Lots of water room temperature..
 
If I know I have an hour or two before playing, I'll eat whatever's quick, usually a bacon cheeseburger with fries. If I'm starving and just about to play, I'll get an order of fries to munch on. Otherwise I'll just play. I usually only eat one meal per day anyway, so if it's a morning tournament I'm good 'til about 5 or 6 pm.

On th'other hand, I have to have some kind of soda, preferably Dr Pepper but I'll take anything caffeinated. No ice. And I have to pick up the glass with my back hand, not my bridge hand. Keeps my bridge hand from getting wet with condensation.
 
Doesn't matter what I eat before I play as long as I don't have a feeling of hunger as I'm playing, but as a type 2 diabetic, I'd like to have some orange juice and a candy bar handy in case I start to feel shaky.
 
IMO, there is no right or wrong foods to eat before playing a match. To me, it basically comes down to "to eat, or not to eat?". I myself, prefer to eat before a match, and I mean EAT! What usually works best for me is a nice, well-stacked plate of bar-b-que brisket with a couple of sides (my favorites are spicy corn casserole and green beans cooked in bacon grease), a hot roll or two, and a Dr. Pepper. Having a full stomach has no ill-effects on my playing. I've shot some of my best matches not long after devouring a meal just like the one I describe. I do not subscribe to having to eat healthy to play better, but to each their own. I'm not knocking anybody's routine, I just cannot see a correlation between eating healthier foods and shooting better pool. I am of the opinion that you only go through this life but once, and I'm gonna enjoy, to the best of my ability, every single minute that I am blessed with. I enjoy eating good food. If it tastes good I'll eat it, healthy or unheathly plays no part in it. Something in your lifetime is gonna cause you to die eventually. As far as I'm concerned, it may as well be good food :thumbup:!!! I simply refuse to DENY myself of something I love to eat for the sake of adding a few more years to the end of my life. My parents are still alive (my dad is 89, my mom is 87), and if the last few years of my life are what they are going through, I'd just as soon keel over from a massive coronary in my seventies. Just MY opinion.

As far a the pre-match big meal as it relates to my pool game, well, I have a "cast-iron" stomach. Back in high-school, I used to eat a cherry pie and drink a quart of MILK before running in a cross-country race. Never threw up once, nor ever had any ill-effects from my diet concerning anything I have ever done.

I realize that I am the exception rather than the rule.

Once again, I AM NOT knocking anybody elses diet regimen. I just do it "my way".

Maniac (fat and sassy)
 
I never paid attention to this issue until recently. I've noticed two things:
1) if I eat a sugary meal (say sugary cereal for breakfast), within about 2-3 hours I crash, get shaky, & play horribly. I have no tendencies for diabetes so say my blood tests.
2) Alex ate fruit when trailing SVB in the TAR match. He went on to win.

With that said, avoid sugar-laden foods & eat fruit. It seems reasonable to eat foods that will result in a stable blood-sugar level for the next few hours. Maybe a dietitian can tell us what those are.
 
Maniac said:
IMO, there is no right or wrong foods to eat before playing a match.

". I myself, prefer to eat before a match, and I mean EAT!

... I just cannot see a correlation between eating healthier foods and shooting better pool.

...well, I have a "cast-iron" stomach. ... I used to eat a cherry pie and drink a quart of MILK before running in a cross-country race. Never threw up once, nor ever had any ill-effects from my diet concerning anything I have ever done. (fat and sassy)
Click to expand...

IMO, you should treat the food day just like any other day. Your body runs the same on race day that it does on practice day. I think a common misconception is that eating healthy makes you feel better. I woud say that it actually keeps you from feeling worse.

Sometimes I throw up riding my bike. often just because I haven't done so in a while. QuarT of milk and a pie before a race is MANLY.
 
Maniac said:
IMO, there is no right or wrong foods to eat before playing a match. To me, it basically comes down to "to eat, or not to eat?". I myself, prefer to eat before a match, and I mean EAT! What usually works best for me is a nice, well-stacked plate of bar-b-que brisket with a couple of sides (my favorites are spicy corn casserole and green beans cooked in bacon grease), a hot roll or two, and a Dr. Pepper. Having a full stomach has no ill-effects on my playing. I've shot some of my best matches not long after devouring a meal just like the one I describe. I do not subscribe to having to eat healthy to play better, but to each their own. I'm not knocking anybody's routine, I just cannot see a correlation between eating healthier foods and shooting better pool. I am of the opinion that you only go through this life but once, and I'm gonna enjoy, to the best of my ability, every single minute that I am blessed with. I enjoy eating good food. If it tastes good I'll eat it, healthy or unheathly plays no part in it. Something in your lifetime is gonna cause you to die eventually. As far as I'm concerned, it may as well be good food :thumbup:!!! I simply refuse to DENY myself of something I love to eat for the sake of adding a few more years to the end of my life. My parents are still alive (my dad is 89, my mom is 87), and if the last few years of my life are what they are going through, I'd just as soon keel over from a massive coronary in my seventies. Just MY opinion.

As far a the pre-match big meal as it relates to my pool game, well, I have a "cast-iron" stomach. Back in high-school, I used to eat a cherry pie and drink a quart of MILK before running in a cross-country race. Never threw up once, nor ever had any ill-effects from my diet concerning anything I have ever done.

I realize that I am the exception rather than the rule.

Once again, I AM NOT knocking anybody elses diet regimen. I just do it "my way".

Maniac (fat and sassy)
Click to expand...

DUDE! How much do you weigh? :D
 
AimingVoodoo said:
Sounds good to me! Never heard of french dip though.
Click to expand...

A beef sandwhich with au jus dipping sauce
Looks like this


French Dip 3094781060_68f2b89f1f.jpg
 
I try and around 2 hours before heading out to the poolroom, gives time for me to digest and use the restroom if I have to. When I am playing and I need a quick pick me up I try Cliff bars, keep 1 or 2 of these in your pool case, works great. If I know when I am going to play and have an hour of down time which happens then I try to eat a small cold cut sandwich or salad, but do not stuff myself. I had a 3 hour wait this past weekend after losing the hot seat match so I could have done anything and I did, I actually went to a Halloween party down the street and came back and snapped it off. :thumbup:
 
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