Professional Poker Tools - Part Five - Building A Poker Computer

By Author: Tom Kearns
Total Articles: 10
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If you're serious about playing poker online, you need the right equipment. That starts with the right computer setup and goes all the way down to the chair you're sitting in. If you play poker full time, you're going to be spending a lot of time in front of that computer and a lot of time sitting in the same chair.

While the actual poker client doesn't take up a lot of resources, there are a lot of other programs that you should be using that may. These supporting programs will run alongside your poker client while you're playing and you don't want your poker tables to start freezing up because you don't have enough memory to run everything at once. Frozen tables cost you money. Sometimes a lot of money.

Your processor may bog down as well if its naturally slow. When you have 8 tables open and an import starts, you don't want to have all the buttons on your poker tables become unresponsive. If you play well, you're going to make a lot of money with this computer. There is no reason to save a few bucks and get a cheap processor.

The main programs that you should be using are ...
... PAHUD, which is a heads up display, and PokerTracker, which is a tracking software that will import hands and compile a database for profiling opponents and tracking your own play. You want to get data in real time so you'll need to have both of these programs running while you play. This means that you don't want to cut costs by opting for the lower RAM choice.

Most serious online players play multiple tables at one time. This means that you'll probably want multiple monitors. That means that you'll need a video card that supports at least 2 monitors and perhaps more. My current computer has 4 flat screens hooked up to it. If the computer you're buying doesn't have support for multiple monitors you better make sure that there are open slots for multiple video cards at least so that you can upgrade if you decide to go with a multi monitor setup in the future. If you get serious about playing online poker I'm guessing you will want more than one monitor before too long.

Since you'll probably spend several hours every day playing poker at your computer, you need to make sure that it is somewhere where you can be comfortable. You don't need to go out and but a thousand dollar chair, but you should make sure that you have something with decent back support and that won't leave you sore at the end of the day. I sit in an Aeron chair and it was one of the best purchases that I've ever made.

You should also make sure that anything battery operated won't give out on you in the middle of a hand. This means if you use a wireless mouse that needs batteries, you better have a spare set of batteries within reach while you're playing.

Its difficult to make a living as a full time poker player. Its much more difficult if you don't have the right equipment.

Professional poker tools is a series of articles. This is part five in the series. Please view the authors other articles to find more information on professional poker tools.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online, recieves Rakeback at Full Tilt Poker, and participates in the monthly Races and Rolls Rake Races.