When I sit down to play online poker I focus on what I call “The 3 C’s,” Comfort, Convenience, and Confidence.
I want to be physically comfortable; I want to have everything I need right at my fingertips without sacrificing performance; and I want the confidence that I am prepared to play a stress-free session of poker.
If you can achieve these three things you will have taken your first step towards a successful online poker session, and one of the easiest ways to achieve “The 3 C’s” is to have a perfect online poker setup.
Before I get into what you’ll want in terms of an online poker setup, let me first talk about why you’ll want to make these investments, what I call the…
Distraction Free Bubble
When you’re playing in your home there are a lot of things that can pull your attention away from the online poker tables, some of which are out of your sphere of control but many aren’t, or at the very least can be minimized.
Distractions are everywhere in our everyday lives, from interruptions by friends and family, to the doorbell or telephone, and even the allure of browsing the internet or texting friends to make plans for later in the day. All of these things can distract you while you’re playing and cause you to lose focus and confidence.
This is why you should setup a distraction free bubble when you play online poker.
To keep distractions at a minimum you need to take the following steps:
- Inform friends and family to not disturb you while you’re working –which often requires you to explain to them that playing online poker is in fact work! You may think they intuitively understand not to bother you but in my experience they don’t understand the focus and mental strain that is required to play poker.
- Make your home office a “No Phone Zone” by either turning your phone off or if this is not feasible (perhaps you have kids or are on call for your job) keep it well away from you, so you will not be tempted to use it out of boredom.
- Create a quiet work environment. This can be quite difficult if you live with other people (especially kids), but a good pair of noise cancelling headphones or a white noise sound machine that can be placed outside your home office door can often do the trick.
- A clean work area. Nothing will be more of an unintended distraction than clutter, which can not only distract you visually, but can lead to mental stress if you continually dwell on how messy your office is and how long it’s going to take you to clean it up.
Ok, now that we have taken the steps needed to create a distraction free bubble, which should give you the “confidence” to play your best, let’s take a look at how we can create “comfort” and “convenience” in your online poker domain by having the right online poker setup.
CPU
Your computer (central processing unit AKA CPU) is the lifeblood of your online poker setup, and without the right computer it doesn’t matter how much you spend on some of the other items listed below.
When it comes to picking a CPU for online poker you want to look at three things:
- A fast processor — Generally speaking, as long as you are not using a core processor that is three or four generations out of date, or bottom of the line (the kind you’ll find in $300 laptops and PC’s) you should be fine.
- Plenty of memory –Considering how far computers have come in this department (and how increasingly cheap CPU’s have become) I would recommend a CPU with at least 8GB of RAM and 1 Terabyte of memory.
- A good video card — Your video card needs to be able to support your monitor and the necessary 1920×1200 (or 1920×1080) screen resolution.
If you have a CPU with the above specifications you will be able to have a music player running, the Internet open to check Sharkscope.com and other tracking sites, Holdem Manager or PokerTracker, and as many online tables as your screen can handle without any difficulties.
If you’re operating with less, this might be too much for your CPU to handle, which means a loss of “convenience,” as you might be forced to close several programs to keep you CPU from whirring and freezing up.
Monitor
For a serious online poker player (read as: multi-tabler playing more than four tables at once) your monitor is almost as important as your computer. Too little screen space and you’ll have overlap of your tables or trouble seeing the business card sized tables; poor resolution and you’ll have trouble making out what you’re seeing and will be able to fit fewer tables.
The size of the monitor you should be looking at entirely depends on how many tables you play, but generally speaking, most people will be ok with 24″ monitors.
Here is what to look for in a monitor if you are a serious multi-tabler:
- Resolution — 1920×1200 (1920×1080 will work as well)
- Ratio — 16/10
- Screen size — 24″ or larger
As a final thought on monitors (and CPU’s) I highly recommend looking at the new All-in-One Desktop Computers. Not only do they eliminate the bulky tower and several cables for better convenience, but they come with screen-sizes from 21″ to 27″ and generally have solid specs. I recently purchased one of these (a touch-screen model) and it’s the best investment I’ve made in a very long time.
Chair
As an online poker player you’re going to be sitting for long periods of time so you’re going to want to be “comfortable.”
Unfortunately, most people tend to skimp when it comes to their computer chair, buying what they think is a nice fluffy one for $100-$200 that looks just as comfy as one of the nicer models, and probably is when you first sit in it.
Unfortunately, after a few hours chairs in this price point are likely to cause a stiff back, and after a few months of prolonged usage they tend to lose their fluff.
What happens from there is the perfect example of Sunk Cost bias, as players start to realize the $200 chair they purchased isn’t enough they try to correct it by purchasing a $50 lumbar support, or a $30 seat cushion, but a couple months later they are right back to square one; stuck with an uncomfortable chair that is causing their back to ache.
Worse, by the time they finally bite the bullet and purchase a chair in the $400+ price range, they’ve already invested that much in their old setup.
There are two types of quality chairs. There are the well built leather setups (these can run into the four-figures in cost) and the newer mesh chairs, which seem to top out at around $800. My recommendation is to try both out at a Staples or Office Max before you decide which one is better for you.
What to look for in a chair:
- Ergonomic design
- Adjustable seat and arms
- Padded arm rests
How much will this cost?
So now that you know what you’ll need you’re probably thinking about the cost. But it’s not quite as much as you might be thinking. A solid All-in-One desktop that meets all of the above specifications can be purchased for $800 and up, and an office chair that is both comfortable and will last will run you $400 and up.
Sure, it’s no “cheap” but it’s not a deal breaker either.