The Joy of Multiple Monitors:




When I first started playing online poker, I always stuck to just one table. I was learning the game, learning the quirks of each sites software and generally being totally absorbed into what was happening at the table to ever consider opening a second table. As I got more skilled and more comfortable with certain situations and my decision making become faster, I found myself becoming slightly distracted by other things. This led me to start multi-tabling in order to keep focused. The only problem with this was not being able to watch both tables at the same time.

I found that I was missing certain information that if I had been playing just the one table I would've picked up on and would've made more money as a result. A perfect example of this would be not seeing a player lose half his stack through a bad beat. A lot of players will be extremely loose after this and will sometimes shove all their money in with junk (NL games). Not having this information affects what sort of cards I would play against him and also how I would play those hands against him. This was just something that I put up with as I found that my earnings while mutli-tabling more than made up for these occasional lapses in information.

I first found out about the possibility of having dual monitors from ESPN's coverage of the 2004 WSOP. I saw someone, I believe it was a member of "The Crew" playing on a dual monitor set up (it may have been our very own Gank?). My jaw dropped when I laid my eyes on it and my mind boggled with the possibilities. At the time, I assumed that it would be ludicrously expensive and difficult to set these up and I put the idea out of my mind.

Earlier this year I stumbled upon an article about how easy it was to have a dual monitor set up and I realized it was a lot simpler than I first thought! With the knowledge in this article (sorry I don't have a link) I set about looking at what monitors to buy for it. I checked a few different sites via google and read a few reviews. Naturally, Pocketfives had some great info posted on this subject (use the search tool in the forums and you'll see what I mean) and it was from a P5s post that I found out how highly recommended "Dell" monitors were - particularly the FP series. I looked on Dell's website and found they were having a sale (this was the UK/English site). I managed to pick up 2 Dell 17inch 1704FP monitors for around the equivalent of $500. My experience with Dell was a pleasant one and they even phoned me to make sure that I did in fact want TWO monitors not the usual one! Delivery was swift and more importantly - turned up when they said they would.

I was like a kid at Christmas when I got my hands on the boxes and couldn't wait to get them set up. After I got them out and set up in the correct position, I went to connect them up only to find out I had forgotten one important piece of the puzzle. The need for a "dual output graphics card". If you do not have one of these then you cannot have a dual set up. Most new(ish) computers should have a graphics card with dual outputs already installed but unfortunately mine did not! I rushed straight out to my local PC World to get one.

This was much easier and cheaper than I anticipated. In fact - it couldn't have been much easier. I entered, walked straight up to an assistant, explained to him what I was doing and the problem I had encountered and within 1 minute I had a cheap (not even $50) but sufficient graphics card in my possession. The only thing you may need to bear in mind, is that if you play a lot of PC games you may need to fork out a little extra for a graphics card capable of running the latest games.

Once I had inserted the new graphics card, the system was INCREDIBLY easy to set up. All I did, was follow the instructions on the driver CD set up wizard and it was all done within 5 minutes. I was honestly shocked at just how easy it had been to configure the monitors. I adjusted my mouse speed to enable me to cover the extra distance on the extended desktop and I was ready to go.

The first thing that must be said about having a live working dual monitor set up, in front of your own eyes is that it looks amazingly cool. From a style standpoint, it really adds something to what would otherwise be just another boring computer station. However, the style aspect is nothing compared to what it brings to, not only your online poker experience, but your entire day to day general use of your computer.

From a poker point of view, it allows you to keep a closer eye on the small subtleties that you would've otherwise had missed due to the table being out of sight. I can comfortably play 3 tables whilst picking up most (not all) of the information that I was previously missing. I can play 8 at time with a little overlap but personally I am not a big fan of playing this many, but if you are, this is defintely the way to do it. Those pesky wrong table mis-clicks are a thing of the past, in fact I have probably saved myself a small fortune by eliminating those.

One benefit of the extra room you have is that it allows for multiple instant messenger conversations to be in plain sight, so you don't have to keep clicking the toolbar at the bottom to select the conversation. You can view the internet (Pocketfives.com of course) on one screen while you have a table or two open on the other. You can drag things from one monitor to the other in one smooth motion. One screen can be playing a video while the other be running a table. Dual monitors are to multi-tasking what Lubrication is to the porn industry - It's not a necessity but it makes things so much easier.

I have so far only talked about having 2 monitors. As you can see from the pictures, I actually have three. The third monitor is connected to a second computer and operates independantly from the other 2. I have 2 mice and 2 keyboards to control both computers.



I have only just got my second computer, so I am still adjusting. I mainly use it for programs/tasks that would normally slow down any poker windows open, such as DVD ripping, compression tools, CD/DVD writing etc. etc. At the moment I only have room for 3 monitors but I am probably moving home soon which should allow me to set up 4 monitors!

It would really, really REALLLLLY kill me to go back to just one monitor in my home set up, it's bad enough lumbering around with just one screen at work.

I cannot recommend dual monitors highly enough especially if you are in a position financially to do it. They have defintely made a difference to my overall profitability and have pretty much paid for themselves.

If you have any questions about this subject then feel free to private message me and I will do my best to help but there is also a wealth of information in the forums about this.

GL at the tables!

Murd