With so much free time, I have been messing around with this to optimize my database for my system (I have been using your top config with great results)
My rig: i7-2600k overclocked to 4GHz, 16 GB of DDR3 RAM no overclock, OCZ Vertex SSD
The hands are all at 400PLO -1000PLO; I think the game matters since most hands see flops and these affects import times)
512MB shared buffers
128MB work_mem
512MB maintenance_work_mem
2048MB effective cache size
8MB wal_buffers
24MB temp_buffers
Hands Imported 525490
Time 14:48
Hands/second 591.77 h/s
1024MB shared buffers
128MB work_mem
512MB maintenance_work_mem
2048MB effective cache size
8MB wal_buffers
24MB temp_buffers
FAILED TO START SERVICE
768MB shared buffers
128MB work_mem
512MB maintenance_work_mem
2048MB effective cache size
8MB wal_buffers
24MB temp_buffers
Hands Imported 525490
Time 14:55
Hands/second SLOWER
512MB shared buffers
128MB work_mem
1024MB maintenance_work_mem
2048MB effective cache size
8MB wal_buffers
24MB temp_buffers
Hands Imported 525490
Time 15:03
Hands/second SLOWER
512MB shared buffers
128MB work_mem
768MB maintenance_work_mem
2048MB effective cache size
8MB wal_buffers
24MB temp_buffers
Hands Imported 525490
Time 15:01
Hands/second SLOWER
So far your config wins... I'm just getting started though. Any recs based on my rig?