Poker Clock With Blinds and Breaks for a Home Game

Q: Can I add more than one break to a poker blind clock?

Yes, in a custom structure. Tap Add Break as often as you like, or flip the Break switch on a row, and drag the breaks into place with Edit. Only the built-in structures are fixed at one break each.

The built-in structures each carry one break, after the sixth blind level, and for a lot of games that is enough. For a game starting at 19:30 that must be done before 23:00, with a stop wanted at 21:00 for food and a short one before the last two levels, the fix is to duplicate Standard and edit the copy.

The evening, minute by minute

The app shows a countdown, not the time of day, so the clock times below are worked out separately. This is the finished structure started at 19:30 with no pauses; every pause you take pushes everything below it later.

Standard copy with 15-minute levels and a second break, started at 19:30
Starts	Clock shows	Blinds
19:30	Level 1 of 12	25 / 50
19:45	Level 2 of 12	50 / 100
20:00	Level 3 of 12	75 / 150
20:15	Level 4 of 12	100 / 200
20:30	Level 5 of 12	150 / 300, ante 25
20:45	Level 6 of 12	200 / 400, ante 25
21:00	BREAK (15 min)	countdown only
21:15	Level 7 of 12	300 / 600, ante 50
21:30	Level 8 of 12	400 / 800, ante 75
21:45	Level 9 of 12	500 / 1000, ante 100
22:00	Level 10 of 12	600 / 1200, ante 100
22:15	BREAK (10 min)	countdown only
22:25	Level 11 of 12	800 / 1600, ante 200
22:40	Level 12 of 12 (FINAL LEVEL)	1000 / 2000, ante 300

Total: 12 levels of 15 minutes (180), plus the 15-minute break and the 10-minute one, 205 minutes. The last level runs out at 22:55, and then the clock stops on Tournament Complete.

Building it

On the home list, touch and hold Standard and choose Duplicate to Customize. The copy appears under My Structures.
Swipe it and tap Edit. Change Structure name to something you will recognise on the table.
Go through the twelve blind rows and move each Duration from 20 to 15 min. Leave the existing break at 15.
Tap Add Break. A 10-minute break is added at the very bottom, which is the wrong place.
Tap Edit at the top right and drag the new break up until it sits between the 600 / 1200 level and the 800 / 1600 level.
Tap Save.

Two things catch people out. There is no set-all for durations, so twelve changes mean twelve steppers at five taps each, sixty taps in total; it is easy to lose count halfway. The editor numbers rows, breaks included: the 800 / 1600 level is row 13 in the editor but Level 11 of 12 on the clock, because the clock does not count breaks. Read it back by the blinds, not the row numbers.

What the table sees during a break

The level before shows NEXT: BREAK under the countdown. When it runs out the level-change tone plays, the whole screen turns blue and reads BREAK with its own countdown. Nothing waits for the room. When the break hits zero the next level starts, with the same two-note tone, whether or not the dealer is back.

If the pizza is late, tap +1:00 a few times; it lengthens the current level only. For a stop of unknown length, PAUSE is the better choice, because it freezes the time exactly where it is and RESUME carries on from there. If the app is in the background or the phone is locked, a Break time notification arrives at the start of each break, provided you allowed notifications.

Afterwards

A finished tournament lands in History. Open it and look at Break time and Levels Played: Show Every Level lists how long the table really spent on each one, pauses included, so you can see whether 205 minutes was honest.

Free, Pro and what is missing

Everything above is free. The free app keeps one custom structure, and a duplicated built-in counts as that one, so if that slot is already taken you need Pro for another; Pro removes the limit. It does not build the schedule for you, either: no generator, no chip colour-up, you type every number. For a single custom structure, Pro is not worth paying for.

Questions and answers

Can I add more than one break to a poker blind clock?

Yes, in a custom structure. Tap Add Break as often as you like, or flip the Break switch on a row, and drag the breaks into place with Edit. Only the built-in structures are fixed at one break each.

How long should a break in a home poker tournament be?

The built-in structures use 5 minutes in Hyper-Turbo, 10 in Turbo, 15 in Standard and Deepstack and 20 in Long Weekend. Pick the length that fits what people do on the break, then set it with the Duration stepper on the break row.

Does the break start by itself on the poker clock?

Yes. A break is a timed level, so it begins when the previous level ends and the next level starts when it ends. Use PAUSE or +1:00 if the table needs longer.

Does the poker clock show the time of day?

No. It shows the countdown, the blinds and the next level. The clock times in the table above were worked out by adding the level lengths to the start time.

How do you plan the breaks on a poker blind clock?