The best investment I ever made toward my poker game was in a three monitor setup. Now I have enough screen space to do whatever I want without constraints. Here are the details of my setup and how you can build it yourself.
What is the best budget poker monitor setup for multi-tabling online poker? In order to maximize screen space and minimize your budget, I find some the older Dell monitors are perfect for the job. They are well-known for their quality and durability and now is the perfect time to upgrade your setup in order to maximize your poker sessions.
This in-depth guide will show you how to finally build that perfect multi-tabling setup for online poker that you’ve always dreamed of having for around $500.
What Monitors and Accessories Do I Need?
It was only a few years ago that building this type of setup was cost-prohibitive. Fortunately, the prices have now come down enough to make the option viable.
The monitor setup will include three total monitors. There will be one large 30″ monitor in the middle and two 20″ monitors on the ends.
1. Center Monitor
After some research, I landed on the DellWFP-HC 30″ Monitor (Click the link for the current Amazon price).
You’ll notice that the resolution is 2560×1600. Pay close attention to the “1600” part, because that is the exact height of the two side monitors when they are turned vertical.
What if the monitor doesn’t come with a stand?
Unfortunately, sometimes this monitor will come without a stand. This is because it was probably mounted to a wall or had some other oddball setup. If you happen to get one without a stand, here are a couple of options that will work just fine:
Otherwise, it is likely the monitor is available somewhere on Amazon, just expect to pay a bit more with the stand included.
2. End Monitors
I actually bought my two end monitors years before investing in the 30″ center one. They worked really well for me as dual monitors. It wasn’t until the price dropped to a reasonable amount on the 30″ monitors that I took the plunge for the full setup.
I went with two older Dell monitors that were manufactured in 2001 (!) and they are still going strong.
I recommend going with the newer models since they are really inexpensive now. After scouring the internet for a while I found that the Dell 2007FP Monitors fit the bill perfectly and have the correct 1600×1200 resolution that you will need to complete the setup.
3. Monitor Cables
I ran into the issue of not having enough DVI holes to fit all of my monitors. So I had to go with an HDMI adapter for one of the end monitors and plug it into the HDMI port.
I also went ahead and bought a Dual Link DVI Cable because I read that you have to have one in order to do the 3 monitor setup. I am glad I
How Do I Configure My Display Settings?
Once the monitors are plugged in:
- Right-click your desktop and go to display settings.
- Under “scale and layout” change the orientation of the two smaller monitors to portrait
- Under “select and rearrange displays” arrange the monitors in the correct orientation.
This short video will show you how. Note: This is demonstrated on Windows 10.
How Much Space on My Desk Do I Need to Fit the Monitors?
My desk is 46″ (117cm) wide and one of my monitor stands hangs off the edge 2″ (5CM). In order to completely fit them without overhang you will a desk 48″ (122cm) wide and 16″ (41cm) deep.
What About Monitor Resolution and How Many Tables Can I Fit on the Screen?
The resolution of the monitor is what dictates how many tables can be fit on the screen. The good news is that with this setup you now have effectively 4960×1600 pixels of space to use.
However, I really only use my 30″ monitor for playing poker and reserve the side monitors for hold’em manager, browsers, charts, or any other tools to enhance my poker experience.
How Do I Figure out How Many Tables Can Fit?
The number of tables that can fit on a poker screen depends on the resolution of the tables and the resolution of the screen. In order to determine how many tables can fit you divide the width and the height of the screen by the width and the height of the poker tables.
For example, let’s say you want to be able to fit 9 tables comfortably and play on a site where the minimum table size is 500 x 400 pixels. Since that is 3 tables across and 3 tables down, you just multiple both the height and the width of the table by 3.
500 x 3 = 1500 and 400 x 3 = 1200.
This means you need a monitor that is at least 1500×1200 pixels.
If this were the case you could just use one of the 1600×1200 monitors for your play and it would work great. However, if you are reading this you probably have bigger aspirations than that. Let’s look at how many tables can fit on the 30″ monitor.
Here are the table resolutions of a few major poker sites and the number of tables that can fit on the 2560×1600 30″ monitor.
| Poker Site | Table Resolution | 2560 x 1600 |
| Pokerstars Default | 800×570 | 9 |
| Pokerstars Minimized | 480×350 | 20 |
| America’s Cardroom Default | 1002×752 | 4 |
| America’s Cardroom Minimized | 494×384 | 20 |
| Bovada Default | 811×638 | 6 |
| Bovada Minimized | 634×480 | 8 |
| BetOnline Default | 802×620 | 6 |
| BetOnline Minimized | 502×403 | 20 |
Watch out for the Vertical Pixels
Just because you buy a 30″ or greater monitor, it doesn’t mean it is optimal for playing poker. A lot of players make the mistake of buying a monitor with 1080p monitors. You can’t overstate the importance of having a setup with at least 1200 as the vertical pixels.
Vertical real estate is just as important as the horizontal room. If you don’t buy enough of the former, you will end up hopelessly overlapping your tables in a mass-tabling setup.
This is why I don’t recommend just sticking three of the same monitors next to each other. Not only do you end up taking up a ton of space on your desktop, you also usually end up gimping yourself in the efficiency department.
Are Ultrawide Poker Monitors a Good Idea?
The issue will ultrawide monitors is not in the overall width but, once again, in the vertical pixels. This is especially true with curved monitors. The highest I can seem to find is 1440 vertical pixels while most are exactly 1080p.
If you do decide to go with an ultrawide monitor, make sure that the horizontal pixels make up for the vertical handicap. Here is one that I found that will do fine. It’s the LG 34UC80-B 34-Inch Curved UltraWide Monitor (Click the link for the latest Amazon price). It has 3840 x 1440 resolution.
Partitioning Your Work Space Is Best
While ultrawide sounds like a great idea when you first hear about it there is another consideration. When playing a poker session, there is a lot to be said for being able to focus all of your attention on one monitor.
This is why I prefer three separate workspaces and would rather have three separate monitors. The only players I would recommend having an ultrawide monitor are people that spend a lot of time playing games outside of poker. If you are also a gamer then you may want to go with a one monitor setup.
What If You Could Only Buy One Monitor, What Would You Get?
If I were in the market right now I would definitely look for a monitor that maximized the space the best as far as pixels go. I did some research and found the LG 32UD99 32-Inch 4K monitor. (Click the link to see it on Amazon)
This LG monitor has a resolution of 3840 x 2160. That is an amazing amount of room to operate for only one monitor. For example, if you were a Pokerstars player you could fit a whopping 48 minimized tables on your screen! This means you could use half of your monitor for 24 tables and the other half for something else.
What About Less Expensive Monitors?
A budget alternative to this monitor is the 32″ LG 32UL500-W. In fact, this is probably what I would get if I were in the market today.
What If You Had an Unlimited Budget?
This is an easy one. If money wasn’t an option I’d go with the Dell UP3218K 32″ 8k monitor. It has 7680 x 4320 pixel squeezed into its 32″ screen which basically gives you the freedom to set up however you like.
This means you could fit over 60 default Pokerstars tables on your screen. Let that sink in.
Related Questions
What is the best software to manage my tables? I currently use a program called Table Tamer to manage my table layout. It works for all poker sites and is a really good option if you mix sites when you play.
How many hands per hour will I get multi-tabling? How many hands are played per hour will depend on the number of tables played and the number of people on the
What’s the best poker site for multi-tabling? Choosing a poker site to play multiple tables on all comes down to personal preference. If you are looking to play 3 or 4 tables only, I would go with Ignition or Bovada. If you want to play between 5 and 12 tables, BetOnline is probably your best bet. For mass multi-tabling more between 12 and 24 tables, you will need to play on a site that allows that many such as
How do I clean the monitors? You have to be careful not to scratch a monitor when cleaning it. Never used a typical bath towel or anything that has even a slightly rough surface. I actually recommend just buying a cleaning kit. It’s well worth the investment. If you want to just use something found around the house, the best way to clean the screen is with a dry, lint-free cloth. Micro-fiber works perfectly for the task. If the screen is excessively dirty you can use a solution of water and a tiny bit of soap. Just make sure the water doesn’t run down into the cracks of the monitor.
Final Thoughts
I hope this guide was helpful in guiding you to the best poker monitor setup for your sessions. My goal for the article was to not only show you what setup I use, but also give you the tools to intelligently find the perfect setup for you.
Take it from me and don’t wait on making an investment in a three monitor setup. It makes things so much easier day in and day out. Good luck at the tables!
Jim James is well-known as the world’s leading expert on playing short or mid-stacked poker. He has over 15 years of experience playing poker professionally, has written extensively on the topic, and is the author of the best-selling poker strategy book Automatic Poker.
Using a no-nonsense mathematical and logical approach to beating the games, he has won 7 figures at the poker tables. His innovative simple poker charts make the game easier for everyone willing to learn. Today, he helps other players demystify what it takes to win money in No-Limit Hold’em and has helped countless people become winning poker players through his Online Poker Academy.
Nice article!
What kind of setup do you recommend for 2 tables of zoom on ignition?
I was thinking of 2×24 inch monitor, I could use the second screen to look at a range analyser or something like that
Thanks!
For only playing two tables 1 or 2 monitors is just fine. If you want to organize your tables, I recommend table tamer.
Looks like a 1920×1080 would be fine for 2 tables of ignition -or do you think a 2560×1440 monitor would be better, as you can view the tables side by side, rather than viewing them one on top of each other?
Personally, I prefer mid-sized tables no matter how many I am playing. It saves you from having to move your eyes too much during long sessions. My 4-tabling size per table is currently 731×578. Based on my experience, this is the perfect sizing for me. A 1920×1080 would work well for a similar sizing whether 2 tabling or 4 tabling. Of course, if it’s in your budget always go for the bigger monitor.
Trying to decide between a 3840×2160 set up or 2560×1140. How many tables would the latter set up be able to do?
I think the first could do about 20 without overlap and the 2nd only about 9. It depends on the minimum size of the tables.
How many tables can you open on stars with the default size on a
1. 32′ 3840 x 2160
2 . 27 or 28′ 3840 x 2160
My current setup is two 24′ monitors with 1920×1200 resolution. I tile 4 tables on each monitor without overlap so i get 8 tables total no overlap. I do play more tables though so any more tables i have, they are behind one of those 8 tables in the monitors.
I previously tried to tile 6 tables on each monitor and tables are small but not that bad. So that way i can get 12 tables total… but the issue is the font sizing when using holdem manager two hud and other program i use… it blocks so many things on my tables because the table is so small.
Now if i get one of those two monitors with the high resolution… how many tables can i have on one monitor where i tile it… and the stars table size does not get resized?
I heard you could even 9 table tile on one monitor where each stars table is still the same size… is that true? Or only on the bigger monitor?
It’s pretty easy to figure out. Just take the width of the default size and divide it into the pixels of the monitor. Do the same for the height.
So if the default width is 3840 and the default width of the table is 800, then that would be 4.. 5 with just a little overlap. If the default height is of the monitor is 2160 and the default width of the table is 570, that would be 3. 4 with a little overlap. So without overlap, you could fit 12 tables on the 3840 monitor if the default resolution on stars is still 800×570. However, with just a little overlap you could fit 20 tables.
I hope this helps!
The whole key here is the resolution of the monitor. It’s much better to have a higher lower number in order to fit more tables.
HI there. Well the stars tables size according to starscaption which i use for stars for table layout… show the dimension of stars table when 4 tabling on a monitor to be width of 822 and height of 595.
When i have 6 stars table on each monitor, the size of a stars table wide is 660 and height of 483. This is of course when i click tile with 6 stars table on a monitor and then all the tables tile up and get much smaller than in the original example.
So based on that… how many full size tables of width of 822 and height of 595 can i get on the
3840 x 2160 27’/28 monitor? What about a 32″ one? Is there a difference between 27’/28 vs 32″ monitor assuming same resolution?
You say you could do 12 tables on the 3840 monitor if the default resolution on stars is still 800×570 so basically the table size im using now? But they are going to be full size tables though?
Yes i know resolution is more important than size. But how many tables can you put on the monitor where the table is not too small? For example even when i do 6 table on one monitor on my current monitor, its a bit small… but not that bad. The big issue is the hud blocks a lot of other things i have on the table once i made it 6 tables as oppose to the original size tables.
I’ve typed 2 replies and they aren’t working for some reason. So I’ll give the short version.
It’s still 12 tables on that monitor at full size. I’d go with the smallest monitor for less real estate to navigate.
If tiling over 8 tables, I’d either stack or stack and tile using table tamer- https://automaticpoker.com/visit/table-tamer-2/
Your software will probably allow you to resize your HUDs. I use HEM2 and it’s pretty easy to do.
Hi there. Well when you say 12 tables on that monitor at full size, that is obviously not like the full size like i currently see it on my monitors now right? Because on my current monitors, the table is pretty big when you look at it. But on that monitor, it would be full size but full size on that monitor right? So how many tables on my current monitor full size? Its 4 right? Because that is how many tables i open on a monitor and tile it where the table size is still the default size. I just for some reason have a tough time seeing how that monitor can open 12 tables … that seems way too much. I though it was 6.
I use starscaption/888caption. I used table tamer before for acr and like it. But i havent played on acr in some time already. But you would say getting a 3840 x 2160 27’/28 monitor is good then right? So would you thinks its good idea to use one of my old monitors and a new monitor? I know some ppl prefer to play on one monitor only but i cant imagine someone playing much table on one even huge monitor with high resolution. I mean you use two monitors right? Now would having two of those monitors be the absolute best setup if you play lot of tables? At the moment, if i only play 8 table max… i wouldnt need another monitor as i get default size tables on two monitors etc. But i want to play double that at least… and when i do, its always table behind one of those 8 tables etc. But i also recently did 6 table tiled on each monitor… but issue is the hud blocks a lot of things. I also use hem2.
For me, its like if i have a ton of tables, i want to tile 6 on each monitor. But say im down to 8 tables or say ten tables. I rather just make them regular size because i could see better. Does that make sense? There is option to enhance the hud on starscaption but it made the numbers even smaller…
It depends on what your current monitor’s resolution is. This article might help you further. http://www.firsttimepokerplayer.com/online-poker/hardware/monitors/
My two monitors resolution is 1920×1200.
I looked at the link you posted.
So you could get 9 stars full size tables on with 2560 x 1600? But what monitor has that resolution? So
3840 x 2160 resolution can get how many full size stars tables on the screen then?
Just divide the table pixels into the resolution and then times by the result for your max number of tables, as explained in the link I sent.
Hey, so I got the 30” Dell 3007 WFP monitor (still waiting on the end monitors). Well the main maonitor I have hooked up right now, the tables are super blurry and spotty. I have my resolutions fully set up. I think I’m missing something when it comes to maximizing my monitors video quality. If I send over some more info about what’s going on, would you be able to help me out?
What about getting a 43′ or 50′ or even 55′ 4k tv as use it as a monitor? Would that work? I guess 43′ is good but anything bigger is way too much? Wouldn’t the 43′ mean you could easily put 12 standard size stars tables easily at its regular size?
And the 4k tvs are much cheaper than getting say 2 monitors of 4k with 27/28 or 32′?
But using tv as a monitor is bad for the eyes?
If you are going to sit far away to play, a large TV could work.. but if it will be on your desk like a traditional monitor, that is a lot of real estate to navigate. It’s all about the resolution for monitors, try to find something where the bottom number is at least 1200.. so 1600×1200, for example. The top number is much less important. What is the resolution of the TV? (number x number) I don’t know enough about them really.. I never used one as a monitor.
3840 x 2160 would be the resolution for the 43′ 4k tv. I seen it person as it looks pretty big… I would want it on my desk… the same as the way i have my two monitors at the moment.
Would that work? Now how many full size stars default tables could i put on that screen without making it smaller? When i was looking at it, it looked like it would easily do 12 tables or 16 tables at a regular size. I mean 20 certainly as well but i think it would be small where it would be hard to read the hud maybe?
I would need to know the base resolution of the tables since they changed it at some point I think. Haven’t played on stars in years. It’s easy though, just divide the pixels into the resolution both vertically and horizontally to figure out the max. I’m guessing you can fit 24 tables though.