Blind structure
Keep this tab open: browsers slow down timers in hidden tabs, but the clock catches up as soon as you look again. Space bar starts and pauses.
This poker blind timer runs the clock for your home tournament. It shows the time left, the current blinds and ante, and what’s coming next, and it beeps a minute before each level ends and again when it changes. Press Full screen and it fills the TV so the whole table can see it. It’s free, and if the page closes by accident the clock carries on where it was.
Setting up the blind structure
Pick a starting structure, then change anything you like. Each line of the list is one level: small blind / big blind / ante. Write “break 10” for a 10-minute break.
- Home game, 25/50 start: 14 levels and two breaks. With 20-minute levels that’s five hours of clock if it runs to the end, though most games are over well before.
- Small chips, 1/2 start: for sets with values of 1, 5, 25 and 100.
- Deep stack: starts at 50/100 with a big-blind ante, for players who want more time to play.
- Turbo: big jumps for a game that has to finish in a couple of hours.
How long should blind levels be?
20 minutes suits most home games with 6 to 10 players and about 100 big blinds to start. That’s roughly 8 to 10 hands a level at a live table. Go to 15 minutes if you need to finish by a set time, or 30 for a slower, deeper game. One rule of thumb: the game is nearly over when the big blind is around a twentieth of the chips in play.
Start with blinds the smallest chip can pay: a 25 chip for a 25 small blind. Then remove that chip at a break once the blinds have outgrown it and “colour up” to the next one, rounding everyone’s leftover small chips up.
Running the clock
The space bar starts and pauses. Back and Next jump a level if you need to fix a mistake. If the browser tab sits in the background, timers slow down, but the clock checks the real time and catches up as soon as you look at it again. Keep the laptop plugged in so it doesn’t go to sleep.
Not sure how to split your chips? The poker chip calculator works out stacks and a first big blind. For prize splits at the end, use the ICM calculator.
Don’t have a structure yet? The poker blind structure calculator builds one from your players, chips and finishing time, and sends it straight to this timer.