Things going too well!

I really don't want to jinx myself but…. Things are just going really well for me in poker lately. I'm consistently beating the NL100 games, placing in a few tournies, and feel like my game is still improving.

Poker is a funny thing. When things are going well, hitting your draws, bluffs working, hitting flops, I feel like the best poker player in the world. My confidence skyrockets and I think I'm ready to take on the pros at the Bellagio. It only takes one or two days of suckouts, missed draws, and your bluffs being check raised constantly, to bring you straight back to reality. It's one of the things I really enjoy about poker. The constant challenge, knowing no matter how much you have played, how many books you have read, that there is still so many things to learn about and improve your game.

I'm hoping to start taking shots at the NL200 games at the start of September. From what I have read the level of play isn't that much higher, the players are just a bit more aggressive. The next level NL400 is apparently where the level of play increased a lot, and playing ABC poker is no longer effective. I find when moving up a level I feel more confident buying in short (half the max) for a little while, until I have a good feel for the new limit.

Today's Topic: Computer setup.

If you are just a casual online player playing one table at a time, then any computer is a good computer. If you want to move up and start Multi –Tabling and run various poker software aids at the same time then your setup becomes a lot more vital. If playing 6 tables or more then these are the minimum specs that I would recommend:

• 2 Ghz dual core processor (dual core is essential for multi-tabling some sites).
  
• 1 GB ram (2 GB recommended but I have 9 tabled fine with only 1GB)
  
• 100 GB hard drive (you don't need a lot of HDD space for poker but if you are using the computer for other uses then make sure you always have at least 10GB free to stop slowdown)
  
• 21" monitor with 1680x 1050 resolution (a 24" monitor 1920 x 1200 resolution is ideal but a lot more expensive, I can 12 table on a 21" okay but the cards are a bit small)
  
• Second monitor (this monitor can be anything 15" or bigger but is essential for displaying all your other poker software while using the main screen for poker tables)
  
• Any current graphics card with dual monitor output is sufficient.
  
• Evoluent ergonomic mouse (essential if multi - tabling more than 3 hours per day)
  
• Windows XP (while Vista works fine with most sites and software, it still has major problems with some applications)
  

A computer with the above specs can easily be purchased for around $1000 these days so it makes multi – tabling online poker accessible to almost everyone. If I had extra money to spend I would firstly look at a notebook with the above specs and secondly the 24" monitor does make a big difference if getting serious about the game.

Notebook vs Desktop: While a desktop computer will do everything required, a notebook computer is certainly a lot more versatile. If you want to play while on holiday it is easy to take the notebook with you. I can 9 table on my notebook while laying in bed on cold mornings, and with a 3G data card you can play poker virtually anywhere. I have found the Telstra 3G data service to be rock solid, and at $49 per month good value (poker sites don't use a lot of bandwidth, when 9 tablling roughly 20mb per hours) so a 1GB plan is sufficient. The notebook computer I own is the Dell Inspiron 1720 notebook with upgraded screen (1920 x 1200). This notebook is perfect for a serious online poker player.

Link of the Day:

Today's link is a free autohotkey script called "Bigpotgrabber". If you multi – table you aren't always able to keep track of all the big hands happening on all tables. This program will graphically shows you all the big hands plays, enabling you to make notes on the involved player tendencies. Essential for all low limit grinders. Link here.

Have a great weekend everyone and remember Hold'em is a game of calculated aggression: If your cards are good enough for you to call a bet, they are good enough to raise with.