Five things to settle before the first hand so the game runs itself from there: buy-in, blind structure, payouts, and a timer everyone can see.
Decide a buy-in everyone's comfortable with and give each player the same starting stack. A common ratio is 100x the starting big blind (e.g. a 1500-chip stack against a 10/15 opening level) — deep enough that early hands aren't a coin flip, shallow enough that the tournament doesn't run all night.
Blinds need to escalate on a schedule, or the game never ends — that's what a blinds timer is for. Poker Blinds Buzzer ships with a ready-made 30-level structure (5/10 up to 800/1600, big blind always double the small blind) and a 10-minute default round length, both fully editable in Settings if you want faster or slower blind increases.
For a small home game, winner-take-all or a top-two split (e.g. 70/30) keeps things simple. Settle this before the first hand — not when it's down to the final two players.
Put the timer where the whole table can see it — a phone propped up or a laptop screen works. Start the countdown for the current level; it'll sound an alert and move to the next blind level automatically when time's up, or you can step through levels manually.
If you're allowing rebuys or an add-on, set a cutoff level (e.g. no rebuys after level 6) and announce it before starting. For longer sessions, pause the timer for a break between levels rather than mid-round.
The blind structure is what keeps a tournament moving — without rising blinds, a deep-stacked table could play the same level all night. Each level is a small blind / big blind pair (the big blind is conventionally double the small blind), and the round length is how long each level lasts before the blinds step up.
A faster structure (shorter rounds, bigger jumps between levels) favors an aggressive, short "turbo" session. A slower structure (longer rounds, smaller jumps) gives skill more room to matter but takes longer to reach a winner. Poker Blinds Buzzer's default structure — 30 levels from 5/10 up to 800/1600, 10 minutes per level — sits in the middle, and every level and the round length can be edited in Settings to suit your group.
It depends on how long you want to play. At the default 10-minute rounds, the app's built-in 30-level structure covers roughly 5 hours if you play every level — most home games end well before the final levels once players are eliminated. Shorten the round length for a quicker "turbo" night, or lengthen it for a deeper, more strategic game.
10 minutes is a reasonable default for a casual home game — long enough to play real poker at each level, short enough that the tournament has a clear endpoint. Faster home games often use 8 minutes; deeper, slower games use 15–20.
Not for a casual home game — most groups run fine on small/big blind alone, which is what Poker Blinds Buzzer's structure uses. Antes add complexity that mainly matters for longer, more formal tournaments.
Edit the levels and round length in Settings, then save it as a named preset (Pro) so you can load the same structure again next game night without re-entering it.
Ready to run the clock? Use the free web timer or get the Poker Blinds Buzzer app.