Poker II Keyboard - The one that started it all

Auto-generated description: A compact keyboard and a vertical mouse sit on a desk alongside a lemon.

Up until this point, I’d been using random keyboards from Amazon or I don’t know where. Somehow I ended up on /r/mechanicalkeyboards and decided I needed one. It dread to think how many hours I spent reading, researching and determining what I should buy. In the end I asked for this for my birthday in 2013 - The Poker 2. I liked the compact nature of it, and Cherry MX Browns sounded a good compromise between clicky and linears and “ideal for gaming”.

This started my whole mechanical keyboard journey, but this one was always one of my favourite, perhaps even my number 1. Maybe because I used it for so long and got used to the key chords for the other layers, or maybe just because it was my first. I tried out a few different keycaps over it’s lifetime and even bought a fancy curly cable. For a while I took it to work and used it there. I think it was a good compromise between size and available keys, plus it wasn’t too deep. A lot of mechanical keyboards, especially ones I’ve made, are quite deep and I much prefer a flatter typing experience - probably why I like a lot of butterfly switch keyboards. I guess as this was manufactured, and not key switches soldered in, they could keep it quite shallow.

Unfortunately, when fitting a 3rd party case I managed to break the USB connector. I did try soldering it back on but it was never the same and I just couldn’t get a reliable connection. This was early on in my soldering experience so maybe I did a bad job of it, but it was also possible I broke some tracks or something else as well. I think I sold it as broken for someone else to tinker with.

A workspace with three open laptops displaying code and a desktop monitor is arranged on a wooden desk.A compact keyboard and a vertical mouse sit on a desk alongside a lemon.A Santa Claus figurine is perched on a keyboard with keys organized in the shape of a gun.Two keyboards, one featuring traditional function keys and the other with retro-style keys, are placed on a wooden surface alongside colorful keycaps.A compact keyboard with a pink and black design and a colorful coiled cable is placed on a wooden surface, with a hand reaching for a nearby object.A custom mechanical keyboard features colorful keycaps, including ones with illustrations of mushrooms and a distinctive keycap with a face.

I still debate about getting a replacement, but not sure it will be the same.

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