If you’re going to run your own poker tournaments, you’re going to need a poker tournament clock. Fortunately, poker tournament clocks are easy to come by. You can buy a small timer designed specifically for this purpose, or, even better, you can go online to a site like PokerListings.com and use the in-browser poker tournament clock they provide there. It’s easy to customize it with your own settings, and when you display the clock on a monitor, everyone in the tournament can see how much time they have left in the round, just as with a casino or online tournament.
How to Use the Poker Tournament Clock
The most important thing to do with the tournament clock is to set the round time. This is the time that the big clock face that all the players will be watching is set to. Whatever you decide, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, etc. as soon as you activate the clock, it will begin counting down from this number. Once it gets down to zero, you’ll raise the blinds and set the clock to continue, at which point it will again count down from whatever number you have set. The clock will generally flash or beep when the end of the round is approaching, so keep a lookout for this.
Other Details with the Poker Tournament Clock
You’ll also need to decide what the blinds will be for each round. Typically in a hold’em game, the blinds start at 25-25 or 25-50, and then get progressively higher. For fast games, blinds can double every round: 25-50, 50-100, 100-200, etc. For a longer blind structure, you may want to introduce some additional rounds: 25-50, 50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 150-300, etc. You may also wish to introduce blinds into the game. If you do, the blind size should not change in the round where you introduce the blinds, but they should progressively increase thereafter: 50-100, 100-200, 100-200 25, 150-300 50, 200-400 75, etc.
More About the Poker Tournament Clock
Rising blinds are critical to a successful poker tournament. Without them, poker tournaments could go on forever, with all players playing ridiculously tight. Use of the tournament clock makes it easy to handle round times and rising blinds.
