Poker timer or something else? (1 Viewer)

[renegadegatorman]

As I'm gearing up to host my first tournament I'm looking for a tournament software to help ensure the tournament runs smoothly. Poker timer is the first option I came across and it seems fine but I figured I'd get the two cents of people who have used it. Or if you've used other software that you liked please let me know.

 

[ngmcs8203]

There a bunch of threads on it but tournament director, blinds are up and blind valet are popular ones.

 

[tabletalker7]

Tournament Director. When set up properly it handles EVERYTHING for you.

 

[SPR]

The Tournament Director, worth every penny. If you are going to host regularly, you will get it at some point anyway.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Blind Valet is what I use.
It's free if you are 9 or less players.

 

[drdr]

The Tournament Director, worth every penny. If you are going to host regularly, you will get it at some point anyway.

I completely agree. But I'd ad that the price is low and one-off.
Can also use it free for one month before having to pay.

 

[Colquhoun]

PokerTimer Pro for iOS is $6, (there’s a free version too) is very good. There’s a thread about it here:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/texas-hold-em-poker-timer-pro-app-kudos.104365/

 

[Tonystark137]

What length for your blind levels are you thinking about? I feel like with longer blinds some of my more casual players will get bored.

 

[eightyWon]

I started working on an online blind timer a while back but it's very raw (though I do use it for our tournaments) - https://blinds.lol

One of the cool features is that you can scan the QR code and control the timer from other devices.

I hope to eventually flesh it out with more features etc.

 

[Tonysquander]

PokerTimer Pro for iOS is $6, (there’s a free version too) is very good. There’s a thread about it here:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/texas-hold-em-poker-timer-pro-app-kudos.104365/

This. Great bang for your buck, easy to use, all the functionality you need for basic and even more advanced tournament structures.

 

[renegadegatorman]

What length for your blind levels are you thinking about? I feel like with longer blinds some of my more casual players will get bored.

I was thinking 15-20 minutes

 

[ngmcs8203]

What length for your blind levels are you thinking about? I feel like with longer blinds some of my more casual players will get bored.

Casual players definitely don’t do well with shorter 10-15min levels. A 18-20 min blind level is great for beginners though.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

What length for your blind levels are you thinking about? I feel like with longer blinds some of my more casual players will get bored.

20' or 25' depending on the desired game length.
Playing with 2 decks to not loose time in any case.

 

[renegadegatorman]

I went ahead and downloaded tournament director to use free for 30 days. there is definitely a learning curve so I'll have to play around with it some more to try and get the hang of it. does anyone have any pointers they wish they would've known sooner with tournament director?

 

[drdr]

I went ahead and downloaded tournament director to use free for 30 days. there is definitely a learning curve so I'll have to play around with it some more to try and get the hang of it. does anyone have any pointers they wish they would've known sooner with tournament director?

Yes on the learning curve. I found the official help webpage useful. But was a lot of tinkering before I got comfortable. It seems like anything you may want to do in TD is actually possible, but it can sometimes take a while to find out how.

 

[renegadegatorman]

Yes on the learning curve. I found the official help webpage useful. But was a lot of tinkering before I got comfortable. It seems like anything you may want to do in TD is actually possible, but it can sometimes take a while to find out how.

its a shame no one has done a video series going over all the features.

 

[SPR]

I went ahead and downloaded tournament director to use free for 30 days. there is definitely a learning curve so I'll have to play around with it some more to try and get the hang of it. does anyone have any pointers they wish they would've known sooner with tournament director?

I would say only tweak one thing at a time and see how it goes. The built in templates are very useful when learning. They can get you going for starters. Use the website forum. Lots of questions and answers there for common issues.

 

[tabletalker7]

I went ahead and downloaded tournament director to use free for 30 days. there is definitely a learning curve so I'll have to play around with it some more to try and get the hang of it. does anyone have any pointers they wish they would've known sooner with tournament director?

Tournament Director has it's own forum. In that forum people have put up layouts that you can download and use. Grab one that has everything you want your layout to show, and then just change the background picture for it. I did that and am so thankful that I never had to learn how to make those layouts.

 

[ValueTown]

I went ahead and downloaded tournament director to use free for 30 days. there is definitely a learning curve so I'll have to play around with it some more to try and get the hang of it. does anyone have any pointers they wish they would've known sooner with tournament director?

Go on to their forum area. Folks have uploaded different layouts along with a lot of FAQ. Buy the annual license, well worth it. The functionality is way beyond what you'll ever need, but so is the iPhone 15! Haha. For only $30...ish, pull the trigger.