How the timer works
Tell it how many players are coming, the starting stack, your smallest chip and how long the game should last. It suggests a structure of levels, which you can change, and when you press Start it counts down each level, beeps and reads out the new blinds, and shows the time to the next break. Players left, entries and rebuys give the average stack at a glance.
How the structure is worked out
The first big blind is about a hundredth of a starting stack, so everyone starts with around a hundred big blinds. The blinds then grow by about the same step each level, so that by the last level the big blind is about a twentieth of all the chips at the table, and the game is usually decided by then.
Every amount is one your chips can make: a multiple of the smallest chip, taken from the steps tournaments use (25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 and so on), with the big blind twice the small. Breaks come every four levels, and the big blind ante, if you want one, starts a third of the way in.
Keeping track of the table
When someone is knocked out, take one off players left. A late arrival adds an entry and a seat; a rebuy or add-on counts as one more starting stack. The average stack is every chip bought, shared among the players still in: a quick way to see who is short.
Guides for game night
- How to host a poker home game: what you need, how long it lasts and the house rules to agree.
- How poker blinds work: who posts them, who acts first, and antes.
- Chip values and starting stacks: what each colour is worth, how many to hand out, and when to colour up.
New players at the table? A few rounds of Which hand wins? teach them to read a showdown before the game.