Tourney BLINDS UP Tournament Manager for iPad/iPhone Review (2 Viewers)

Redbelly

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This will be a rather quick review of this App that I just came across on the App store!

THANK GOD!

I had hosted a number of tournaments and my first Redbelly WSOP Tournament Season on Poker Manager which at the time was a great Tournament Manager App for the iPad! Unfortunately I downloaded OS 8 and it rendered the App unusable and it is not supported with updates to this day. I have tried Poker Timer, Custom Blinds, etc but all were very limited and not close to what Poker Manager HAD offered! Well THAT has just changed!

I have spent a giddy morning after downloading "Blinds Up" for my iPad! It surpasses anything that I have found yet and blows away what Poker Manager use to be!

It allows you to customize players, chips, displays, sounds, tables, etc...

The "free" download allows only a 8 person table but you can download the full version for 9.99 (which I did) and think it will be a great addition to my Redbelly Season 3 Tournament! It is compatible with an external display and even projector.

I've included a quick screen shot of what I made and also a listing of features from their site.

Here's a link as well: http://www.iosmobileapp.com/jlbiz/blinds_up/appId827327902#

For anyone needing a quality Tournament app I think you will be VERY pleased!!!

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Description

Blinds Up is not another simple Blinds Timer... Blinds Up is the best iOS software for manage poker tournaments, from smallest tournaments to the biggest MTT.

With Blinds Up, you can manage all aspects of your poker tournaments:
- Complete management of the structure, you can add round by round or instant generate a structure through our structure generator. You can of course include breaks, chip races, etc.
- Management of players and tables, with the random placement of players, balancing tables automatically done, the ability to print a listing of tables, to choose the order breaking tables, and more.
- Management of the Prize Pool, which can be calculated automatically by our system, or can be set manually, with prizes based on percentages of the total Prize Pool or fixed amounts.
- Management of chips with the calculation of quantities needed for your party, and you can display chips on the game screen for players, etc.
- Sound management with integrated sound effects to report events (player busted out, player moving, level ending, new round starting, etc). The application includes free voice announcements to announce events!
- Full customization of your game screen, you can drag elements, change their size, color, font ... everything is customizable. And for those who want to save time, you can download 10 predefined skins.
- The game screen may be displayed on the iPad, but also be exported to an external monitor (requires cable). You can manage aspects of your tournament without clutter the display of the game screen to your players!

Blinds Up but goes further that the management of a tournament ...
- You can attach a tournament to a championship, and thus manage a ranking based on the results of several cumulative tournaments! With calculating points, itm, wins, etc. Rankings can also be exported to Excel directly from the application.
- You can view detailed statistics about the players who are the sharks, who are the fish ... which players are most often ITM ... You will know everything through Blinds Up.
- You can manage your chipsets, to change quantities and use one or the other of your sets according to the tournaments you are organizing.

The application is free but has limitations, thanks to an in-app purchase, you can unlock all the features!
 
Wow...sounds really robust, I'll have to check it out. Currently using "Poker Timer" for iOS and it has limitations.
Happy belated Birthday!
 
Connected the iPad to my external display this morning and it worked beautifully!

The BlindsUp app is only supported on the iPad right now. There is no remote through the iPhone but this may be coming in the future.

I am having an issue with enlarging the font with the adjustment of the "height" adjustment in "Layouts" but I have a Help request in at their Forum sight and expect to see if it's a glitch or not soon. It would be nice to change the font size.

Still a very impressive app and expect it will only improve!

External display screen shot with personal chips displayed.

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HD
 
Thanks for posting this Sean. I must have ten tourney apps on my iPad, which means they all suck. Such weak options for iOS users. So far I like what I am seeing from this app.
 
Looks pretty good. I have used Tournament Director for years. When I changed to Macs from Windows, I bought a bargain basement Windows notebook just to run Tournament Director. A decent iOS or OSX option would be much appreciated.
 
With that setting, that's going to be a long tournament.
 
I really like this app except the part that the free version won't work. I guess I'll cough up $10 because I really like the layout. Any bugs that you can see as of yet? Other then free version don't work :mad:
 
I really like this app except the part that the free version won't work. I guess I'll cough up $10 because I really like the layout. Any bugs that you can see as of yet? Other then free version don't work :mad:

I really don't see any... It appears very solid (I don't know the guy that made it at all, not even an email).

I have played a lot with it and it can take a little getting use to but that's more the User and not the app.

I don't think it's necessary to buy the additional "Layouts" (I did and didn't need too.). If you have any imagination and some good background pics you can nail any personal Layout.
 
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You can take pics of your chips through the app but I found it easier to take individual pictures myself edit them and insert them through my own picture album.
 
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Hello Redbelly,

Thanks for this topic, I'm very happy to see that some people appreciate my work!

I'm french so please excuse my english mistakes...

I spent 10 months to develop this app, between march 2014 and january 2015, because I was using Poker Manager before and it started to crash untimely and so was boring to use...
So as I'm developer, I decided to create a whole new app and go further in features: I'm president of a french poker assocation (non-lucrative) and we were using Tournament Director on computer, but this software is sooooooo complicated, boring to use and... ugly, that I thought that using an iPad app would be really more simple for our association.
Ultimately, a personal need resulted this app, and I decided to put it on the App Store to get rewarded for the time spent on development :')

Users are generally satisfied of the app, I get some bug reports sometimes but I'm really involved to solve it quickly, because I'm perfectionist and I do not want to leave glitches on my app.

Sadly, most of users do not leave comments on the App Store when they are satisfied but when they aren't, so there is not enough good ratings on the App Store, but some people who are reporting bugs that I did saw by myself so I can not solve without their help ... but as that's not posible to contact someone who put a comment on the app store, the problem is not resolved...
That's why I insist on the fact that users should report bugs on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BlindsUpPoker or on our Twitter account https://twitter.com/BlindsUpPoker or through email at contact@blindsup-poker.com. A lot of ways to contact me :)

I will keep this topic in touch so do not hesitate to ask questions.

Best
Julien
 
Thanks for posting this Sean. I must have ten tourney apps on my iPad, which means they all suck. Such weak options for iOS users. So far I like what I am seeing from this app.
Hey Bert!

You and I BOTH! It was like searching for the Holy Grail of Tournament Apps, always searching never finding! Ever since Poker Manager crashed with iOS 8 I've been making due but until BlindsUp made it's appearance something was always missing!

I have been on the BlindsUp support forum for the app, http://blindsup-poker.com/forum/ and have had my questions and suggestions answered with in a couple of days of posting. By looking through the support forum you can tell that the developer is dedicated to his product and that is VERY encouraging!

I believe that an update should be appearing on the App Store soon that addresses some minor bugs here and there.

I think that for some there may be some degree of frustration in that setting up some of the presets (chips, etc.) can be a bit of trial and error but once you "get it" then it makes sense. Similarly some things are not explained like the deleting of a particular tournament, (heavy press the tournament you want to delete then the option to delete appears). Patience reaps big rewards in this App I think!

There are A LOT of features in this App! Far more than I knew at first glance!

I was sold right after I downloaded it, hoping that what was seeing was going to be, in fact, the Grail that we had been searching for! I think it is! Maybe some minor polishing but it's already pretty shiny!:)
 
Hello Redbelly,

Thanks for this topic, I'm very happy to see that some people appreciate my work!

I'm french so please excuse my english mistakes...

I spent 10 months to develop this app, between march 2014 and january 2015, because I was using Poker Manager before and it started to crash untimely and so was boring to use...
So as I'm developer, I decided to create a whole new app and go further in features: I'm president of a french poker assocation (non-lucrative) and we were using Tournament Director on computer, but this software is sooooooo complicated, boring to use and... ugly, that I thought that using an iPad app would be really more simple for our association.
Ultimately, a personal need resulted this app, and I decided to put it on the App Store to get rewarded for the time spent on development :')

Users are generally satisfied of the app, I get some bug reports sometimes but I'm really involved to solve it quickly, because I'm perfectionist and I do not want to leave glitches on my app.

Sadly, most of users do not leave comments on the App Store when they are satisfied but when they aren't, so there is not enough good ratings on the App Store, but some people who are reporting bugs that I did saw by myself so I can not solve without their help ... but as that's not posible to contact someone who put a comment on the app store, the problem is not resolved...
That's why I insist on the fact that users should report bugs on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BlindsUpPoker or on our Twitter account https://twitter.com/BlindsUpPoker or through email at contact@blindsup-poker.com. A lot of ways to contact me :)

I will keep this topic in touch so do not hesitate to ask questions.

Best
Julien

Welcome Julien!

I love the fact that you were inspired to create BlindsUp from the failure of Poker Manager! You've done an admirable job and I imagine it will only improve with your dedication to your product!

I think you are right when you say that people have a tendency to post reviews more often if they have a negative experience. I've submitted a favorable review on iTunes App Store (not yet posted). I also encourage anyone with a favorable opinion of this app to post one as well!:)

I think you'll find a favorable reception to your product here and wish you the very best!

Cheers!

Sean
 
Hello Redbelly,

Thanks for this topic, I'm very happy to see that some people appreciate my work!

I'm french so please excuse my english mistakes...

I spent 10 months to develop this app, between march 2014 and january 2015, because I was using Poker Manager before and it started to crash untimely and so was boring to use...
So as I'm developer, I decided to create a whole new app and go further in features: I'm president of a french poker assocation (non-lucrative) and we were using Tournament Director on computer, but this software is sooooooo complicated, boring to use and... ugly, that I thought that using an iPad app would be really more simple for our association.
Ultimately, a personal need resulted this app, and I decided to put it on the App Store to get rewarded for the time spent on development :')

Users are generally satisfied of the app, I get some bug reports sometimes but I'm really involved to solve it quickly, because I'm perfectionist and I do not want to leave glitches on my app.

Sadly, most of users do not leave comments on the App Store when they are satisfied but when they aren't, so there is not enough good ratings on the App Store, but some people who are reporting bugs that I did saw by myself so I can not solve without their help ... but as that's not posible to contact someone who put a comment on the app store, the problem is not resolved...
That's why I insist on the fact that users should report bugs on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BlindsUpPoker or on our Twitter account https://twitter.com/BlindsUpPoker or through email at contact@blindsup-poker.com. A lot of ways to contact me :)

I will keep this topic in touch so do not hesitate to ask questions.

Best
Julien

Welcome Julien

Great app! Im the moron that couldn't get it to work on FB yesterday lol:rolleyes:
Thanks for the help, it works great. I love how we can add our chips to the main screen.
I wrote a 5 star review. Didn't see it posted yet though:(

Thanks Redbelly for telling us about this app!
 
Thanks for the review! I will be downloading this for sure!! Do you guys chromecast this to get it to show up on your main TV?
 
I have downloaded and began to "Play" with the app. I used Tournament Director for many years prior to switching to iOS and a Mac. The one feature I liked about tournament director was the ability to track tourney success / failure. You knew how many and how much each player won / lost and this app looks like it will do that also. Will play around more and give proper feedback in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks Julien and BlindsUp.
 
Just playing around with Blinds Up this morning and running my upcoming tournament season through it. (so far I'm leading the mock season BTW!). Took some screen shots to give a better idea as to what you can do with the Championship Tournament settings.

Under "Players" tab is where you can store all your players, personal pics, nicknames, etc. then under the actual Tournament you can select from this pool OR ENTER "new player" info at the last minute (someone brings a friend)...
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In my tournament I have a known number of players and they never change so I can duplicate this every week and as each player pays their buy-in I can easily enter them
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Once all the players are bought in then I can select the generate tables tab to seat players randomly... I can also print the seating charts and select the tables I want to fold first...
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When a player bust out I select the "players" tab at the top of the tournament clock and a list of players appears, select the player busted out and another screen appears asking which player busted out that player. If the tables become unbalanced then a screen appears and suggests the move to balance.
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Once the tournament is concluded the "prize pool" is shown, the overall results are also available showing points (you can plug in your own formula), "hits", round eliminated, etc... You can then email that information out to your players. Duplicating the Championship resets and then the net results of both tournaments are kept track of....

You can also display the results based on points, "hits", winnings, etc...

Hope this is helpful.... Me? I can't stop smiling! In fact I'm going to send a Redbelly shirt to FRANCE!
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HD
 

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Sweet. That looks really good. Do you know if you can share the screen through AirPlay with an Apple TV?

I don't see where that's possible right now but sounds like a great idea! Shoot Julien a message with that suggestion... I do know that iTunes has a new upgrade being vetted right now and should be available within the week... what's new I don't know.


HD
 
I don't see where that's possible right now but sounds like a great idea! Shoot Julien a message with that suggestion... I do know that iTunes has a new upgrade being vetted right now and should be available within the week... what's new I don't know.


HD

Sent an email seeing if that is possible. That would make connecting the iPad to a TV that much easier and having the iPad right next to you during the event.
 
That's a good idea, I already thought about this but since I do not have an Apple TV, I never tested it... until tonight, I realized that I have an AirPlay feature on some device connected to my TV. I'm glad to inform you that this is posible :)

Some pictures...

111464IMG0023.png


Just activated AirPlay on the bottom bar of the iPad, switched on "Recopie vidéo" (I don't know how this is called in english, sorry screen is in french... since I'm french :p), "Freebox Player" is my AirPlay device, and then...


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I know that there is not a lot of light on this pic but there is no cable between my iPad and my TV :)


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Screen is automatically detected ("Ecran 1"), exactly like when you connect it with a cable.

Enjoy :)
 
I'm a newbie to the AirPlay, Apple TV, etc... But I'm a long time TD software user, and considering getting this, based on the reviews by Redbelly. Could someone provide me links of what I need to buy in order to get my iPad to connect to my flat panel TV? Could more than one TV be connected?

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
th
 
I haven't looked yet, but I assume that monoprice would have a cable like this (at a much lower price).
 

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