How to run a poker tournament at home with one phone as the clock

Before the game: decide three things

• The time you have, which decides the structure: Turbo runs 130 minutes of clock, Standard 255, Deepstack 435.
• The buy-in and how many places get paid, settled before anyone sits down, not after someone has already busted.
• Starting chips: Poker Timer does not handle them at all, everyone starts with whatever stack you choose.

Charge the phone or plug it in. The screen stays awake for the whole tournament because Keep Screen On During Tournament is on by default, and that drains a battery faster than you would guess.

How to host a poker tournament with Poker Timer

1. Open Poker Timer and tap your structure under Built-in Structures or My Structures.
2. Set the device in the middle of the table, volume up. Tap START when the first cards are dealt.
3. Late player at the door? Tap PAUSE, seat them, then RESUME.
4. The break comes on its own after level 6: the screen turns blue and shows BREAK with its own countdown.
5. If you need to stop for the night, tap the back arrow at the top left while the clock runs and choose Pause and Leave to continue later, or End and Save to History to finish now.
6. When the last level ends, or when you are done, the Tournament Complete screen appears. Tap Split the Prize Pool to pay the winners, then Done.

Handling the awkward moments

• A level skipped by mistake: tap Undo within 5 seconds, no second chance after that.
• A long hand right as the clock hits zero: tap +1:00, it only stretches the current level.
• Someone closed the app by accident mid-tournament, reaching for a different app: the home screen shows a Resume row with the level and time left, the clock comes back paused, and the gap it was closed for is not counted, so agree the right level before you resume.
• Phone in the host's pocket: notifications still announce Blinds up or Break time at each change while the app is in the background.

After the game: keep a record of the night

Every finished tournament lands in History on its own (the clock-with-arrow icon on the home list). Open it for the duration, Levels played and Break time, then fill in the rest:

1. Under Result, type the Winner, the Players and the Buy-in; the Prize pool appears.
2. Tap Add Location to note where you played, if you like.
3. Tap Add Photos to attach up to 6 pictures at a time.
4. Write a note under Notes.
5. Tap Show Every Level under Levels Played to see how long the table really spent on each level.

What the app will not handle for you

It runs the clock and does the payout arithmetic, and that is the whole job. No seating, no elimination tracking, no rebuys, add-ons, chip counts or league points, and only one tournament can be open at a time. There is no real-money play or wagering inside the app at all; whatever money changes hands in your game, it moves between the players, never through Poker Timer.

Questions and answers

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• Poker tournament payout calculator: how to split the prize pool
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