A perfect poker setup, part #1: a good chair!by Defrag, November 26
You can see this all around: poker players throwing money away at often ridiculous stuff, buying the most expensive and luxury things that they often get bored with within days. But even high stakes grinders often don't care or simply underestimate effects of having a proper poker grinding setup. No, I'm not talking only about buying a fast desktop computer and 2* 30"Dell Monitor that covers playing on 40 titled tables at once; I will try to talk about this as well, but first I would like to focus on something that's been bothering myself lately: a comfortable chair.
It might sound ridiculous, but I would argue this is one of the most important parts of every poker setup, especially for players that tend to spend 8-10 hours, or even more, per day in front of their computer. A good chair will make not only your posture correct ( which will result in less health problems in few years ), relief back pain during long session, but will simply make you win more - the more comfortable you are, the longer you can sustain focus and play your "A" game. It's as simple as that.
There is quite a big choice of good ergonomic chairs on the market, and as I spent 3 full days riding around and trying various chairs to have a good comparison, I will try to give my own opinion on the most worthwhile ones.
Order of reviews is random, I will give a summary at the end. I'm going to skip on all 'presidential leather' chairs, as those are not adjustable and there is about a million of them available - if you want one like those, just go and test them yourself!
The Aeron chair is long in the tooth as office chairs go, having been introduced to the market way back in 1994, and is a signature "dot.com" chair that revolutionized market for office chairs, by being a first company to use a mesh instead of classical materials. It's also available in million configurations, you can choose base color, mechanism and back spine color ( black/white ) and seat material coor.
Long story short, this is an extremely comfortable chair that comes in 3 sizes ( A,B,C ) that should fit pretty much everyone. There are ton of versions of the chair, with standard black or aluminum polished base ( it's for looks only, costs are significantly higher for the aluminum option ), different back support options ( lumbar or posture fit, with the second one being better and more expensive ).
Mesh material was a spot on hit - it's not only comfortable to sit at, but provides a good air conditioning, which helps a lot, especially during summer. The chair doesn't offer a head support, but that's Herman Millers policy, as none of their chair have that option. I'm not a huge fan of it, so it wasn't a problem for me.
Whole chair is TOP A quality, design is slick and nice, but that's obviously my personal opinion.
Biggest downside? Cost obviously, in Europe this chair retails at $1500 in the best setup, and around $1200 for the basic one. In USA it goes for around $720 for a new basic setup ( black base, lumbar option, fully adjustable ) and around ~$1000 for the fully loaded option.
The chair also comes with a 12 yeas warranty on mechanism + 3 year on gas cylinder + 5 year on material. However, if you materials wears out after warranty period, it's possible to replace parts like seat pane, or back, without replacing whole chair, at lower cost.
Worth a note: If you would want to buy it, make sure you ask if it's fully adjustable option, and not just up/down and lay back model. Also, even this comes with a 12 year warranty, it covers only ORIGINAL BUYER, which means if you bought this second hand you are not eligible for warranty, even if the chair is week old.
The prize is WAY higher, especially in Europe. In USA this chair retails at around $1090 for the basic option ( worse material, standard black base ) and around $1390 for the fully loaded one ( aluminum base, better material ). However, in Europe I was quoted at $1300 for the basic option ( inc VAT ), and around $1800 ( yes, 1800 ) for the fully loaded option. There is also one size option only, but it's supposed to fit 98% of people. It's also available in million configurations, you can choose base color, mechanism and back spine color ( black/white ) and seat material coor.
Herman Millers policy regarding 12 year warranty and second hand products applies here as well.
Let's talk about Embody then: it looks fuc%@*ng amazing. Seriously, this thing looks huge, and looks like a bionic spine. This is obviously a personal opinion, but I loved it, it looks exclusive and doesn't really make your home office/poker setup feel like a call center setup with 100 people around in their cubicles.
The most important part obviously, is the back panel. Herman Miller claims at their site that "a matrix of pixels creates dynamic seat-and-back surfaces that automatically conform to your every movement and distribute your weight evenly." They also say it will even help your heart rate and other insane stuff, which is hugely exaggerating, but one thing is sure here: this thing 'moves' with you. If you try to turn your body by a small margin, while still putting pressure on the back, it will adjust, thanks to the multiple panels on the chair.
Arm rests also have more configuration option then Aeron ( you can adjust how close to body you want them ), however the back support is less configurable, as the back curve is pre-set and can only be configured by setting a proper level of tension. You can also adjust the depth of the seat.
So how does it feel? Do you know those hard-foam pillows that are supposed to adjust to your body? I have one of those ( from Ikea, paid like 15$ for it ) and I cant imagine sleeping on a standard pillow now. I mentioned it simply since Embody is close to that, basically the mechanism covers your whole back when you sit in it, which could make it comparable to an expensive suit tailored exactly for your body, even there are less adjustable options the on Aeron. I sat in it completely straight, close to standing posture ( which is supposed to be perfect for your health ), and I simply didn't feel the chair at all. It didn't change after half an hour, if the effect stays same for 10 hours straight, this has to be one of the most amazing things ever designed.
This is unfortunately a clear winner for me from all ~30 chairs I sat in, if not the cost I would be buying this in a heartbeat. However, this thing IS EXPENSIVE, so let's take a look at other alternatives.
Prize level here is comparable to basic Aeron option, it costs around 750-800$, pretty hard to get in Europe, no problem in USA. Happily, I have a friend who owns it, so I had an opportunity to test ride it.
Standard material, no mesh, which I now consider a worse option, but I'm pretty sure some people will favor it hugely over mesh. The chair itself is supposed to adjust itself to your body ( hence the Freedom name ), and it does the job pretty well. As opposed to previous two chairs, it does have a head rest, which will make quite a lot of people consider it over chairs without head-rest.
My personal opinion: I didn't like it. I prefer to set the chair as I want it, I didn't like the headrest and used material.
This costs around $550 ( cost is pretty much the same in USA/EU) for a brand new chair ( $750 for the version 2 with improved tilt mechanism that makes your whole chair lean back instead of just back panel ), and provides higher number of adjustments then any other chair out here I think. Material used is mesh, same one as in Aeron, but it's also possible to get a leather one for a few bucks more. You can adjust almost everything here, and even arm rests have 4 adjustment options ( height, direction, how far they are in front/back, and how close/far away from body ).
The base is aluminum, which makes it looks quite exclusive and nice ( especially you don't have to pay extra for it, as opposed to other brands ), and it comes with a headrest that you can take off if you don't like it - a huge plus.
Verdict? I liked it a lot... but! There is a major con, that I hated and made me not buy it. Some people will say it's funny but.. the arm rests don't have an option to block them ( only height regulation is block-able, 3 other option use pure physical force to adjust ), which makes them loose a little ( maybe half a centimeter each way, not much ) and that really irritated me. Basically if you try to shake them, you can do that freely in every direction, and it made me feel like I'm paying quite some money for something that's about to fall apart ( well , in EU you get 5 year warranty, but regardless it was irritating ).
In the end, I think the quality of the product should be way better for the prize.
This is a low budget option, this chair costs ~$200 and comes from one of the biggest worldwide furniture shops, Ikea.
There is not much to say about it besides it's a very solid, comfortable chair.
Obviously it doesnt offer as many adjustable options as more expensive chairs, as you can adjust height,tilt function and that's about it. It also has a built-in lumbar support which provides extra relief and support for your back, very comparable to basic Aeron lumbar support, however this one is not adjustable as opposed to Aeron. The headrest is also really nice in my opinion, as it doesn't "force" it's use, as opposed to Ergohuman or Steelcase chairs, where it sticks way forward.
The chair is a hybrid made from mesh ( back support ) and leather ( head rest and seat ). Worst thing? Arm rests are not adjustable at all, and they were way too low for me, meaning my hands were floating in the air. Best thing? It's probably the best chair you can get for 200$.
Few other chairs I didn't look at ( or didn't have option to test them ) and might be worth considering:
-Humanscale Liberty Chair, comparable to Freedoman, but little different ( mesh back ), I had no access to it
-Other Eurotech chairs: Ergohuman is the only one available world-wide, and the rest is just slightly cheaper, so it's not really worth considering them at the moment.
-Other Herman Miller chairs ( I tested them, but they were not that good to pay over 1k in Europe for them, so not really worth a mention, maybe Mirra is worth consideration, but back is made from a soft-plastic a-like which I hated )
-Random leather chairs, as mentioned in the begging.
-Amazing and stunning FitBall Chair, check spoiler tag: + Show Spoiler +
http://i.imgur.com/y0696.jpg
L O L.
My personal summary: 1) Best comfort and overall feeling: Herman Miller Embody, nothing comes even close when it comes to comfort for me. As I said previously, if this chair didn't cost ~$2k in Poland, I would already have it. This prize is ridiculous for a chair, and I find it irrational that the cost is double of what it costs in USA. 2) Best price/quality and comfort - USA: Aeron, as you can get a fully loaded version ( fully adjustabe, posture fit kit, but with black base ) for 738$ now with sale on HermanMiller's site ( till December 12th 2011). Consider this a 12 year investment, and this turns out to be a great value. 3) Best price/quality and comfort - Europe: Really hard to say. If not the fact that Herman Millers chair cost TWICE as much as in USA ( yes, twice ), they would be a clear winner here. However, I would say Ergohuman is a pretty good choice here, as for $500 you can get a really nice mesh chair with ton of configuration options. 4) Low budget : Ikea Markus, all day long. To be honest if the arm rests fit you without problem, I think I would get this over Ergohuman, as it costs 1/3 of the prize and looks nicer in your house/apartment environment. I liked it a lot.
Last, but most important advice: you should NEVER, EVER buy a chair without an option to sit in it first. If you are in USA it's no problem as most of companies offer a 30 day return policy, in Europe it's way more problematic.
All opinions in this blog are my personal, so please don't blame me if you order something without testing it first and don't like it.
Just to make it easier to compare I am 178cm / 75kg.
I am an Icelandic poker player, who is active on your sister site(52.is) and come here regularly to learn more about poker. I don't really post here much, since most of you are a few leagues ahead of me.
I was wondering about poker games in Norway and Denmark, preferably Oslo or Copenhagen.
I just recently broke up with my gf of 4 years and I wanna follow my dream of playing poker, professionally or much more likely semi-professionally.
Where can I find some good live places to play. I am going to Copenhagen to visit my brother from 1.desember - 4th (maybe play one day) and thinking of moving after New Years, Oslo or Copenhagen.
I am mostly thinking about cash games since I mainly play cash game.
Also if anyone knows of lower division handball team, that might let me practice with them, that would be great as well.
okei guys, so this is so sick ... I came home from a business marketing class and started a session of 1/2. Little did i know 62 hands later i get a note on one of my 6 tables. BAD BEAT JACKPOT has been unleashed and since i was on that table i got a share. The whole thing was over 200 k so the guy who lost must have gotten a shit load of money.
Swedish Championships of Pokerby DustySwedeDude, November 24
Last few weeks has been fairly brutal. Had a ton of stuff to do with various endevours and I managed to fuck up a bunch of things before the trip and thus I arrived to Riga fairly spent. Had a beer with some poker players and then went for an early dinner/late lunch with my girlfriend and the food was really good. This Hotel rocks so far.
Things I've learned so far:
Latvia has their own currency. That currency is not the Euro. I feel I made a mistake at forex before this trip.
Poker players will be poker players.
The game is not dead, and it won't be for long, even tough some legal stuff probably needs to be sorted out before we'll see any kind of new "boom".
Riga is much cooler then I imagined so far.
Anyway, the tournament starts at 1400 in this time zone. That's GMT +2 I think. Live reporting will be up on poker.se as far as I can tell if someone wants to rail a bit.
Anyone here btw? There's a bunch of tournaments here so I guess at least someone should be here.
I'll post updates about this tournaments and the other(s?) I'll play in Riga over at: http://dustyplayspoker.blogspot.com/ because I'm a little bit short on time. If I feel like it I'll just copy/paste them here but I'm not sure.
Thank you for participating.
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It's 4:30am here in Brazil. Gonna sleep now, wake up around 12pm then me and my GF are gonna go to the movies to watch Breaking Down (yeah lol) 1pm (we already bought the tickets). Prommessed her that if I got top 3 on that tourney I would get her a little gift... well 4th is almost 3rd so I'm gonna get her something anyway Gonna be back home around 5pm to start the sunday grind. Tomorrow is one time lee red open
need to share this lol :D
have you ever done something so stupid that you feel embarresed about? most likely yes!
I just did one very stupid thing poker related. Some of you may not know about the PokerStars PCA GiveAway Promotion where they are giving away 100 PCA Packages 2012. There are 2 qualifiers every Sunday each one giving 10 Full Packages. In order to play those qualifiers you need to win a ticket on the fpp, cash or freeroll satelites. Since this promotion started I'm trying to win as much tickets as I can so I'm playing every final qualifier for a higher chance of winning a package. Until know I've won 3 tickets and there is a total of 10 tickets that you can win since there are only 10 qualifiers giving 10 packagers each. OK!
Now I'm gonna tell you about the stupid thing I've done. Today I was playing one of those satelites, it was a 10 cent tourney with about 400 players registred in wich the 20 first get a ticket to a final qualifier. There is 21 players remaining and I'm the 21st, game is hand-for-hand, I have like 2bb. Some guy with a bit of a higer stack than me sitting in another table(I'm observing all the 3 tables) shoves with A7, gets called with A9 and loses. I get happy thinking: "yes got another ticket" and insta-shove my hand and lose the hand. The thing is, the game was FUCKING HAND-FOR-HAND, AND I HAD THE SMALLEST STACK, SO I GET 21st and BUBBLE THE FUCKING SHIT. IF I HAD JUST FOLDED THE HAND I WOULD HAVE WON A TICKET!
omg it actually feels better to write about this here. I know how stupid it was, and the moment after I clicked all-in I was like WTF AM I DOING WHY DIDNT I JUST FOLD THIS OMG.
I know its a stupid ticket and that I can win a lot others in time but I really felt bad for this... damn. Thought about how can I turn this into a positive thing: blogging about it! Writing it here made me feel better, a lot better :D
Now tell us about a really stupid thing that you did :D weeeee
cliffs
-I'm playing a 10c satelite to a PCA final qualifiers
-Game is hand for hand, I'm the smallest stack
-A guy with a small stack sitting in another table shoves and loses
-I see that he lost and shove my hand too, and I lose
-I bubble cause my stack is the smallest
-If I had folded I would get the ticket to the final qualifier
-tell us about a stupid thing that you did :D
Sup LP! I came back from Dota caused short hiatus (fuelled by a fat tax refund from the Government ), and this time around I pretty much 80% play 20% watch videos or spend time on forums.
That doesn't mean I can't show you your typical afternoon in Edinburgh does it?
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico help!by Fujikura, November 18
Alright guys, so after a long poker hiatus, I have decided it's time to move to another country. Canada is out of the question because it's too damn cold. I've settled on Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I already know some poker players who are currently living there and say it's fine and safe. However I was wondering if anybody has been there recently, or maybe some Mexican LPers who know it for its reputation, and I guess I just want some reassurance that I won't get decapitated or something rofl. Please post in here if you've been there specifically or have heard things specifically, even if it's something short like "ya it's safe" or "Don't go you'll die."
Spoke with advisor today at my 4 year, and it turns out if i want to graduate with B.A. in my major i could be done with only 2 more semesters. This is my first semester at this school, i spent 4 years off and on at Junior college before getting enough classes done to transfer here.
Catch is i don't have a minor currently at least i haven't declared one. The idea of only spending 3 semesters here to finish sounds really nice, but i'm not sure if it is the best option.
Should i spend the extra semester declare a minor in what i was planning on doing, or does having a minor attached to the degree not really matter? advice from college graduates is greatly appreciated, or obviously people in a position of hiring college graduates as well
in bali indonesia atm, been here for 2 weeks and we are haveing big internet trouble
internet sux but i love it here, but its to tilting to not be able to get better internet anywhere, we been through some hotels and tryed the best mobile internet shit aswell like telekomsel and three 3G but it seems like its not possible to get better here
we are thinking of going to thailand instead, probably phuket
any1 been there, any recommendations of ~4 star hotels with good internet? how is internet overall in phuket?
I wrote a new blog explaining some history and rules of the upcoming kickboxing match between me and Elky. This might be nice information for people following it, as well as useful information for people wanting to bet on it. If you like Elky's side shoot me a pm and we can discuss details.
Okay guys, time for some brain foodby Mariuslol, November 14
Hey
I often just assume the stuff I'm into most other people are too, but that's not always the case. So tonight I felt like sharing.
There are many hidden gems all over the internet, I will talk about one of those gems, for those who's already indulged, appreciated this particular gem, do not fret. I put up the best of the best, and this shit you can re-watch indefinitely.
To make it cooler and more relaxing, I put up a description to each clip, what it's about, details and some other stuff like that.
Drive
The Truth about what really motivates us, most people think (and rightly so). The more money, the more motivation. Nuu UHHH!! Not the case, only if the task involves mechanical skills (Platinum/Gold and lower maybe).
Once you get above rudimentary cognitive skill, everything turns upside down. And I know a lot of passionate Starcraft gamers can attest to that, AMEN. (Ps, I'm not religious, hate that noob shit). + Show Spoiler +
Changing The Paradigms Of Education
This one is a lot more awesome than what it might sound like by the tittle. It's one of the most wonderful speeches I've ever heard about learning, growth and people's potential and more awesome stuff along those lines.
The speaker is Ken Robinson, which probably a lot of you already heard or know about from TEDTalks, but in this speech you get the essence in much more detail, and it's not added stuff to make it more entertaining as "a show". (Sex for your left hemisphere so to speak). <--- I just made that one up on the fly, yay + Show Spoiler +
The Secret Power Of Time
Talks about the 6 main time zones that people live in, 2 focus on the past, 2 focus on the present and 2 focus on the future. It also seems like, if you live around the equator, people are mostly focused on Present.
In in these categories, we have people who mainly focus on the positive (the good old times, nostalgia, so forth). And the other kind seem to focus a lot on regrets, failures and shit like that. Past positives and past negatives. And the same for the other categories. + Show Spoiler +
Empathic Civilisation
It doesn't get much more awesome than this. It seems like all the primates, especially the humans, we got mirror neurons. We're soft wired, so if I am observing you, I can feel the same as you're doing, the neurons in my head is lighting up at the same place as your neurons.
We are actually not soft wired for aggression, violence, self-interest, utilitarianism and shit like that which some poop heads have been feeding us. + Show Spoiler +
The Divided Brain
This is my favorite, I feel that most of what's being said is awesome. But I don't get half of it, if there's going to be any discussion about these, please talk about this one. I'd love to broaden my understanding of this.
New, fresh, cool information of the brain, discrediting a lot of what we "used" to think and know about it. Things that now has been proved is entirely false.
It's not true that one part of the brain does reason, and the other does emotion. Both are profoundly involved in both. Not true that language resides only in the left hemisphere, it doesn't, a lot of important aspects are in the right. It's not true that visual imagery is only in the right hemisphere, lots is in the left. + Show Spoiler +
21st Century Enlightenment
We're very very bad at predicting what will make us happy. We're even worse at describing what made us happy in the past. And stuff like "It's only by understanding that conscious thought is only part of what drives our behavior..... That we become better able to exercise control & distinguish our needs from our appetites..... And our amazing human potential from the hubris of individualism.
It's no wonder I find this one awesome as well. + Show Spoiler +
Contact Users: 224 Active, 0 Logged in - Time: 05:34
Gonna be back home around 5pm to start the sunday grind. Tomorrow is one time lee red open 
), and this time around I pretty much 80% play 20% watch videos or spend time on forums. 
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