For online poker players, especially anyone who grinds for a living, we encounter all manner of bad beats and downswings. As grinders, we learn to develop a thick skin, to learn to deal with the emotional distress these bad beats can cause. Over time we learn to look past all of that, stay focused and keep on playing poker.

Focus and discipline are what seperate the good poker players from the bad ones, but nothing can interupt a poker session and put a player on tilt more than being disconnected during a session.

Sooner or later it’s bound to happen, you’ll be sitting there grinding out an online poker session, playing multiple tables, when suddenly the worst possible things happens – the power goes out. Perhaps the internet decides at that moment, that it’s time to freeze, or perhaps your cat fluffy decides to walk across the keyboard, knocking your can of energy drink on the computer.

The point is, these things can happen and you’ll find yourself sitting helplessly, as your perfect poker session has come to a sudden halt, and your hands are being  timed out and folded. This is a scenario that can be quite costly, which is exactly why having a backup plan is a sound idea. Here are just a few ideas, to protect against disaster.

Buy a UPS: Power failure is just one of the many ways your poker session can be disrupted, and it’s pretty easy to protect against. An uninteruptable power supply is a quick and inexpensive way to give yourself a little peace of mind. Usually they can be purchased for around $30-$200, depending on the quality. While a UPS won’t give you more than a few minutes during a blackout, they are solid protection against the occassional power spike our outage.

Get a second internet connection: This can seem a bit excessive, but internet connections are fairly inexpensive these days, and so it doesn’t hurt to have a second connection. This can be even more valuable if you share a connection with family, as things like torrent programs and media streaming can drain your bandwidth, leaving you with an unreliable connection. By having a second connection, you not only have a plan B, but your own dedicated line free of lag.

Have a backup computer: Computers often seem to have a mind of their own, choosing the worst possible time to crash. Having a second computer, setup with all your poker programs is a good contingency plan, should your computer die in the middle of a poker session.

In conclusion, like everything else in life, it never hurts to be prepared. By taking these steps, not only will you protect yourself against the worst, you can play online poker confidently, knowing you don’t have to worry about something intterupting your session – except maybe a nagging spouse or partner.

But there’s not really much preparation for that, except maybe a good lock and a soundproof door.