Not really impressed with tournament director software. Any interest in this? (2 Viewers)

[CrazyEddie]

Can you either explain how this is done, or link to something that does?

Nope.

I'm just an idea guy, I leave the hard work to other people.

 

[Machine]

Nope.

I'm just an idea guy, I leave the hard work to other people.

The hard part is setting up your PC to stream on twitch (step 2).

Here is the basics:
Step 1, create a twitch account
Step 2, Download and figure out OBS (free) or you could use Discord, setup a server, stream your desktop / discord app on twitch.
Step 3, Use the browser on your TV (smartTV) to show your twitch stream.

The hard part is figuring out OBS, but there are several walkthroughs on youtube

Depending on the setup, sound might be difficult to setup, start with the basics of streaming just the video.

OBS

 

[trigs]

Sounds interesting. I don't know anything about streaming to youtube. Can you either explain how this is done, or link to something that does? I try to use Teamviewer, but I am sick of problems I keep getting.

I'm no expert and I've never done it, but I'm assuming it would be as easy as creating a YouTube or Twitch account, downloading the necessary software that they provide, and off you go. I mean, there are tons of idiots streaming stupid crap off their desktops on YouTube and Twitch 24-7. It can't be that difficult to figure it out lol.

 

[Jake14mw]

I'm no expert and I've never done it, but I'm assuming it would be as easy as creating a YouTube or Twitch account, downloading the necessary software that they provide, and off you go. I mean, there are tons of idiots streaming stupid crap off their desktops on YouTube and Twitch 24-7. It can't be that difficult to figure it out lol.

I guess I'm dumber than those tons of idiots then!

 

[Machine]

I guess I'm dumber than those tons of idiots then!

Its not that bad, the hard part is figuring out input /output, OBS isn't that hard you can fiddle with it to display your desktop. Just open the application(s) you want to stream. OBS is hard when you want to stream video and a game.

 

[trigs]

Apparently you can also use Twitch Studio Beta instead of OBS. It's free as well and says it's supposed to be easier for new streamers to set up.

 

[buzzmonkey]

You could also run into some lag since you're uploading your stream from your computer to the Cloud and then bringing it back down to your monitors. It's not uncommon to see lag of up to 15 seconds between upstream and broadcast.

 

[CrazyEddie]

Just make the official clock the lagged one that's visible on the broadcast and don't bother showing anyone the one you're streaming from.

 

[WedgeRock]

That is actually a really simple and smart way to do it. I like it.

Other than the delay...

 

[CdnBeerLover]

Hmm...if you have a spare PC lying around, you could run it locally on a server on your LAN. That would have minimal lag, as it takes the cloud out of the equation. I may experiment with this.

https://opensource.com/article/19/1/basic-live-video-streaming-server

Edit: gave it a try. It works, but even on a wired network with gigabit connections, there's a 3-4 second lag.

 

[CHP TD]

Hell Yes!!!

Im interested.

G

 

[Frode789]

This is what I'm thinking to start with:

App will be freemium. Additional pro features listed below.

Main Menu
- Game Setup
-- Type (Sub-Option View: NL/PL/L + HE/O/OHL/SCS/SCSHL/FCS/Etc)
-- Structure (Sub-Option View: Starting Stacks, Buyin/Rebuy Amount, Placement Payout Structure)
-- Tables/Players (Goes to Players Menu below)
-- Blinds (Sub-Option View:Amount, Cash or Tourney Designation + Ante/Saddle)
-- Time Breakpoints/Limits (Sub-Option View: Blind Amount Breakpoints, Blind timer, Total Game Timer, Break Intervals)
-- View Selector (Sub-Option View: Blind-Focused, Game Time Focused, Blind Time Focused, Table-Focused, Rank-Focused + Dynamic Background Selector)
-- Game History (Sub-Option View: Game history by date or customizable name -> Rank, Tables, Players, Placement, Amounts, Etc)
-- Start Game (Goes to Live Game View)

Players Menu
- Player "Black Book"
- Player profile - enable avatar + name
- Set number of tables, table size (HU/4-10) and player placement/seating (Adds from Player Black Book)

Live Game View
- Pre-Stage Dashboard
-- "Player Seated" Checkmark (Allows the app to keep track of unseated player's blinds due if they sit after the game starts)
-- Set Starting Button Placement Per-Table (Able to be randomized?)
- START PLAY
-- Timer begins countdown
-- Option for game operator to advance button position on table view (affects unseated player blinds due)
-- Game operator can tap a player's avatar once seated to claim blinds-due
-- Switch Table Focus
-- Update Stack Counts (Pauses game timer or real-time option)
-- Start Break (Pauses game timer)
- GAME COMPLETE
-- Display Game Breakdown (Rank/Placement, Payouts, Number of Hands (counted by button advance)
-- Option to save or discard game record

**Failsafe Features
- Save last game state in case of app crash, resumes upon reopening app
- Reverse button position by game operator
- Reset timers or blind amounts

**Display Features (Maybe enabled as part of freemium)
- Phone/Tablet App can stream to TV using AirPlay or equivalent phone/tablet function. Allows device control and separate display view.
- For desktop application, computer can control in real-time and use a secondary display for players' view

**Future Premium (Pay) Features
- Forensic scrub of data
- Maybe include a bluetooth dealer button in the future, where the current dealer can punch the button to advance button position on the digital view... thinking something like this: https://bt.tn/ )
- Hand Tracking/Analysis
- Rake Tracking
- House Financial Management Reporting (Total Rakes, Profit/Loss, Etc)
- Report Exporting (XLS/CSV/QBO/QBE)
- Broadcast Options (An ATEM switcher feed for public display (omitting player hands) vs broadcast display (broadcasting player hands and percentages))
- This would make the software viable for casino use!

@wmcstudio Any updates on this project? =)

 

[wmcstudios]

Hey all,

I'm so sorry for the delays - my company has been growing at breakneck speeds. Great news for us, but not so much for side projects for right now! We're adding our third and fourth employees before 2022 and just closed a whole bunch of new projects... so I'll be onboarding people and training them and trying to fill in the gaps for a while.

Rest assured I will not forget about this - I have a design file that sits on my desktop for the user interface that I started. I'll keep it top-of-mind when I get a few moments here and there for a personal project.

Thank you for all the great suggestions and feedback so far!

 

[quebert]

*BUMP* can't wait until you have time to work on this. Blinds Up on iOS was great but I can't even log in on it anymore. The Tournament Director's very complex, which is great for the backend of the tourney. But if you're running it a TV or monitor for the players to see it looks so old and super dated to me. While that doesn't affect the actual tourny, if I have it running on a 65" tv for all the players to see, it lacks visual pop and looks amateurish. I'm a big fan of graphics and animation and would love a poker tourney software that looked like something you'd see on a poker show on TV. The UI's important to me and Tournament Director's UI is just so blah. Blinds Up was the closest thing to what I wanted UI wise, it still wasn't perfect but it was so much nicer looking than the rest. Which all seem to look like some analytical software that runs on servers somewhere with data center monkeys working on them all day.

I'll definitely keep my eye out for this, and if it turns out as good as you're making it sound I'll buy it, or get a subscription or however you plan to do it. I know this is ages away from being real software. But if you ever have time you should post a mock up of how it'll look.

 

[Mr Winberg]

If you're just looking for a free timer with a decent UI, the free version of blindvalet does the job splendidly IMO. An added bonus is that its a web application which allows you to log on with several devices to show the timer, for e.g. showing it on a couple of screens while controlling it from your phone.

"But it's only free for up to 9 players"
That's true for the bells and whistles. For the timer it doesn't matter how many players there are.

 

[quebert]

If you're just looking for a free timer with a decent UI, the free version of blindvalet does the job splendidly IMO. An added bonus is that its a web application which allows you to log on with several devices to show the timer, for e.g. showing it on a couple of screens while controlling it from your phone.

"But it's only free for up to 9 players"
That's true for the bells and whistles. For the timer it doesn't matter how many players there are.

I'm going to try it, I got no problem paying to get additional things like tracking points and stuff. It's UI does look nicer, at least from the screenshots I've seen. But it still looks kind of low-tech to me, I mean I know I'll be running really basic 1-2 table home games. But I'm trying to have the game screen on my TV looking like we're on TV or at the Bellagio lol.

If Tournament Director had eye candy I'd pay the $199 a year for it easy, I'm a sucker for a flashy UI. But Blind Valet has a free version, so if nothing else I should at least give it a try.

 

[ES_Threeper]

I use Blinds Are Up! app and screenshot it to the tv.

 

[Deucekies]

If Tournament Director had eye candy I'd pay the $199 a year for it easy, I'm a sucker for a flashy UI. But Blind Valet has a free version, so if nothing else I should at least give it a try.

I think Tournament Director is only $199/yr if you're using it for commercial use. If you're just running a home game, you pay $39 one time. Am I right about that?

 

[JoeBGo]

I think Tournament Director is only $199/yr if you're using it for commercial use. If you're just running a home game, you pay $39 one time. Am I right about that?

Correct. I just bought it again, I had a old version on an old laptop. But I’m hosting a big tournament on the super bowl so I needed it again.

 

[quebert]

I think Tournament Director is only $199/yr if you're using it for commercial use. If you're just running a home game, you pay $39 one time. Am I right about that?

I do know that, I was making a comment about the programmer behind it should bring on a guy who excels as UI to made it look like a cutting-edge program. If that happened, I'd pay him $199 a year even though I didn't need to. The program as a poker tracker's amazing, but it looks like it was designed for Windows 95. Hell I'd probably pay $499 one time if it looked like the program I see in my head.

it's a shame I don't know how to code lol. But it sounds like OP has a similar vision and the actual skill to bring it into existence. *fingers crossed*

 

[Frode789]

Currently using Blind Valet, and it works well enough. But it has been on a feature freeze since early 2020, and it seems to continue in 2022, and it's a subscription based service even. (need the paid plan for a few functions). It's still the best one of the current available options IMO, but it's irritating when promised updates and new functions, that were promised, are not coming.

The app outlined by @wmcstudios looks so awesome. The need for a new one is stronger than ever.. I'm hoping 2022 might be the year when the app may see some development light

 

[CdnBeerLover]

I use Blinds Are Up! app and screenshot it to the tv.

If you are on Android, this one is getting better and better. The No Ads version is quite capable.

 

[quebert]

If you are on Android, this one is getting better and better. The No Ads version is quite capable.

So I installed it and played with it for awhile. The price for the ad free + extra features is good. But unless I'm not missing something, I don't see any way to change the player name from player1, player2, etc to their actual name? Also, I can't change the number of starting? There's a 20k option, but I wouldn't use the chips they default to. Also, the UI/blinds screen looks like something off Windows 95, but after trying 7 different apps since I came to this thread. I've lowered my expectations enough to where this one looks okay. What I want doesn't exist except almost for in Blinds Up on iOS, but I can't even get that app to work at all, so maybe this will be the one I go with. 99 cents a month is a good deal at least.

 

[CdnBeerLover]

So I installed it and played with it for awhile. The price for the ad free + extra features is good. But unless I'm not missing something, I don't see any way to change the player name from player1, player2, etc to their actual name? Also, I can't change the number of starting? There's a 20k option, but I wouldn't use the chips they default to. Also, the UI/blinds screen looks like something off Windows 95, but after trying 7 different apps since I came to this thread. I've lowered my expectations enough to where this one looks okay. What I want doesn't exist except almost for in Blinds Up on iOS, but I can't even get that app to work at all, so maybe this will be the one I go with. 99 cents a month is a good deal at least.

Hmmm..

To change the player name, click on Player Database, then click on the player name on the left hand side.

If you click on Set up Tourney, click on Chip Stacks and change what you want for the starting and rebuy stacks, as well as chip breakdown if you want. Since I already have the "No Ad" version, I don't know if you can do the above in the free version.

As for the look, well, it's functional. If you want something more customizable on a PC, look at Poker DIY. But fighting with getting an older version of Firefox that supports Silverlight to do the initial install is not as straightforward as it used to be. Dr. Neau's timer is also pretty flexible for the PC, but it is not free. I tried it, but it was not as intuitive to me as other timers.

 

[DoubleEagle]

The Tournament Director is awesome. Been using it for over 10 years.

 

[quebert]

Hmmm..

To change the player name, click on Player Database, then click on the player name on the left hand side.
View attachment 842047

If you click on Set up Tourney, click on Chip Stacks and change what you want for the starting and rebuy stacks, as well as chip breakdown if you want. Since I already have the "No Ad" version, I don't know if you can do the above in the free version.

As for the look, well, it's functional. If you want something more customizable on a PC, look at Poker DIY. But fighting with getting an older version of Firefox that supports Silverlight to do the initial install is not as straightforward as it used to be. Dr. Neau's timer is also pretty flexible for the PC, but it is not free. I tried it, but it was not as intuitive to me as other timers.

Appreciate it, looks like both are paid features, it doesn't list either on the features you get if you pay so I wasn't sure, but your post confirmed it.

I installed Dr. Neau's, which seems to have a million features. But the UI was possibly more clunky looking than Tournament Director and it felt less intuitive. Which are both real accomplishments lol Not sure how its blind screen looks on a TV, but with the program UI I can't imagine it's going to be pretty at all lol. Poker DIY looks pretty interesting, but being so tied into Silverlight scares me.

The problem is, I've looked all these up on YT thinking I'd find at least a few videos from each showing the tournament running and blinds screen in action. And there's next to nothing from any of them. I understand poker timer apps are going to be very niche, but until looking for this YT pretty much was a one stop for any videos you needed to find. A nice comparison video of them would be awesome. But it looks like I'll just have to try them all and see what's the best for me. Thankfully most of them have a free version and a low monthly subscription to get all the features. So I can try them all out without going broke.

One thing I don't want to do is test them out with live games and have people looking at a new screen every game.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Appreciate it, looks like both are paid features, it doesn't list either on the features you get if you pay so I wasn't sure, but your post confirmed it.

I installed Dr. Neau's, which seems to have a million features. But the UI was possibly more clunky looking than Tournament Director and it felt less intuitive. Which are both real accomplishments lol Not sure how its blind screen looks on a TV, but with the program UI I can't imagine it's going to be pretty at all lol. Poker DIY looks pretty interesting, but being so tied into Silverlight scares me.

The problem is, I've looked all these up on YT thinking I'd find at least a few videos from each showing the tournament running and blinds screen in action. And there's next to nothing from any of them. I understand poker timer apps are going to be very niche, but until looking for this YT pretty much was a one stop for any videos you needed to find. A nice comparison video of them would be awesome. But it looks like I'll just have to try them all and see what's the best for me. Thankfully most of them have a free version and a low monthly subscription to get all the features. So I can try them all out without going broke.

One thing I don't want to do is test them out with live games and have people looking at a new screen every game.

Sadly, most of the poker timers were made during the poker boom. YouTube was in it's infancy at that time, so there's just not going to be a lot of reviews/demos there.

Now if we can get a second poker boom going....

 

[johnnycnote]

I really like Blind Valet but only need it 2-3 times per year, or 0 when covid hit this year so I cannot justify the monthly fee.
I am not sure if you can just buy it for 1 month and then cancel, anyway if you are looking for inspiration that is a good place to start IMO.

Agree. Been using BV forever. Sometimes it gets a little buggy, but we've figure out the workarounds. UI is modern and user friendly compared to everything else I've seen

 

[quebert]

Sadly, most of the poker timers were made during the poker boom. YouTube was in it's infancy at that time, so there's just not going to be a lot of reviews/demos there.

Now if we can get a second poker boom going....

I didn't expect a lot, but I thought with a billion videos on there, some person like me but who's actually used them all would make a video. I was shocked to not find a single one, oh well lol. It sounds like the OP here has the right ideas to make a winner here, but he has a real job and this would be a very nichey software. He mentioned a premium version, but how many monthly subscriptions would he get? Me and maybe a few hand fulls of others who want to have a high tech home game.

I've played in a lot of home games, and the majority could care less about a poker timer, let alone a full featured tournament director. Hell the last I played in there was one deck of cards, an hour into the game someone spilled a drink on the cards and a few minutes later someone ripped one while shuffling and that was the only full deck they had. I don't see the guy there buying software lol.

 

[Poker Zombie]

I guess that with the paid programs, you pick one and done. I've tested a number of the free programs over the years BV, Poker DIY, and others but by the time YouTube took off, I had already bought a new computer and didn't have any of the old software (keeping PokerDIY).

If someone were so inclined to make a review of all currently available software, I would "click Like and Subscribe", but I would not personally be willing to shell out good money for 15 year old software unless I knew it was a keeper. I do not believe TD's or Dr Neau are worth the prices they charge, because I do not want or need all the bells and whistles they offer. I just need a clock and to be able to save blind structures. YMMV.

But yeah, as someone that has multiple monitors so nearly every seat can see a screen, tournaments that use a kitchen timer work... but are tend to be miserable dice chip, paper card games with poorly thought out structures.