How to use this blind timer
Pick a pace, a starting stack and the first level's big blind, then press Start: the clock counts the level down, raises the blinds on its own when it hits zero and runs the breaks built into the structure. The last ten seconds of every level beep, and a level change plays its own sound. The full screen button puts it up big on whatever screen is acting as the TV.
Everything runs in your browser, no account needed: if the page reloads or the tab goes to the background, the clock picks up at the right second, because it is computed from the start time rather than counted one second at a time.
Which pace should you pick?
Level length decides how long the night lasts. The four paces are Blinder's own, with levels that get shorter as the tournament goes on and a break between phases:
- Slow (4-5h): 30-minute levels to start. For tables that like to play deep.
- Classic (~3h): 20-minute levels to start. The right call for 8 to 10 players.
- Semi-Turbo (~2h): 15-minute levels. A night that starts late.
- Turbo (~1h): 10-minute levels. High variance, ideal for a second tournament.
To see the whole grid before you start, with the start time of every level, the tournament structure generator shows the same structure as a table.
Stack and big blind: what actually matters
The clock scales the blinds to the first big blind you pick. What shapes the game is the number of big blinds in the starting stack: 20,000 chips with a 100 big blind is 200 big blinds, a deep game; with a 200 big blind it is 100 big blinds, the home game standard. The timer shows that depth under the settings. To know how many chips of each color to hand out, the chip distribution calculator does the math.
What a timer alone doesn't do
A clock is enough to keep one table on pace. As soon as there are two tables, rebuys, bounties, or simply a TV in the living room and a phone in the host's hand, what is missing is sync: the room screen and the remote showing the same second, the prize pool updating on every rebuy, the final standings writing themselves. That is what Blinder does with a free account, starting from the structure you just set up here.
Before the first level
Test the sound once before players arrive: browsers only play audio after a first click on the page, and the Start button is what unlocks it. On a phone or tablet, turn off screen sleep, or put the page in full screen on the computer plugged into the TV. And agree in advance on the rule for a hand dealt in the last seconds of a level: usually, the blinds shown when the dealer starts dealing are the ones that count.