If you want to record a video while playing online poker, you will need a screen recording software. You can record a part or the full screen of your monitor and even add voice narration, music and cool effects. You may also include yourself captured by your web camera and add other video sources using the picture-in-picture function. And if you want to be famous and your poker videos to be really popular, you should upload them to Youtube and other poker community sites.
There are many educational, instructional and training websites about online poker, some of which have huge directories of poker videos. Although it’s fun watching other players’ poker play, it is even more fun to discuss your own style of play and receive comments about your poker video.
There are 2 available pieces of screen recording software. The first, Camstudio, being an open source software is a free video recording software and enables you to record the screen and your voice. The second is called Camtasia Studio and is a commercial product. Since you usually get what you pay for, Camtasia Studio is full of capabilities and is known for its ease of use and functionality. If you need a sample of work done with Camtasia Studio, you can watch my recently published poker video series at Youtube. As I recorded each episode, I experimented with the various tools available and was even able to add captions for non Greek viewers.
If you want the best video quality for your poker videos, you should capture in a high definition resolution (say 1280 x 720, which is 720p) or keep at least the same aspect ratio so that when resized, the final outcome does fit exactly at 720p resolution. If you actually produce a poker video in that resolution, your video will be available for viewing at 720p on Youtube, which would add the “HD” watermark on your video. Another advantage of such a resolution is that you can play many tables and fit all of them without losing video quality.
Finally, you should produce your poker video as an Mpeg-4 (MP4) format for optimized size and quality.
