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Review: Poker Ace Portable Tournament Director

Do your run poker tournaments at home? Do you also play in these tournaments? If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to both questions, you know how much work it can be to keep track of time, blinds, and everything else while still trying to concentrate on playing poker. The Poker Ace Portable Tournament Director (PTD) will make your life much easier and make your poker tournaments more enjoyable.

The first thing you’ll see when turning on the PTD are two options:

Start New Tournament
Set Preferences

I chose preferences right away and was presented with:

Backlight
Brightness
Contrast

Not a whole lot to configure as far as the preferences go. It took me a few button presses to figure out which buttons actually changed an option and which one moved to the next option. The button use here was actually very confusing and the opposite of what you’d expect it to be.

After selecting to start a new tournament you’re presented to choose from one of 10 structures. Eight of the structures are preset (but still editable) and two of them are for storing user configured tournament structures.

Once a tournament structure is selected, you’ll be prompted to choose:

# of players
Buy in
Addons
Rebuys
Rebuys/Addons end of level

The next screen to come up is the payout structure, which is editable just as the tournament structure details are. Finally after everything is set you’ll be prompted to start the tournament. As soon as you press a button, the timer will begin and PTD goes to work. The screen displays the level, time remaining for the level, current blinds, next blinds, ante, and how much time is left during the rebuy period. During the last 10 seconds a beep will come from the device every second as a warning.

What didn’t I like?

I didn’t think the device is very user friendly. I mentioned the button use during the Preferences screen earlier in the review, but there were several times when I didn’t know which button to press. For example, when ending a tournament, the screen displays “Are you sure you want to end tournament?” but it doesn’t give any options such as Yes or No. Also, when I first was choosing a tournament structure I couldn’t figure out how to edit anything, so I had to consult the manual and found the Edit option was all the way at the bottom of a long list on the screen. This should be at the top. Using a device such as this should be as intuitive as possible and the manual should be a last resort, not required reading. A little more time spent on User Interface design and the manual wouldn’t even be needed.

The buttons don’t always bring up the next screen or change an option right away.

The beep used during the last 10 seconds of a level is not nearly loud enough. I tested the PTD by myself in quiet room and I could barely hear the beeping. If you’re playing a tournament with any kind of noise at all, you’ll need to have the PTD strapped to your ear to hear it.

Overall

The Poker Ace PTD - Portable Tournament Director is a great little device to use for your poker tournaments. The biggest challenges using the device are during setup, which can be done well before a tournament. The PTD runs for $49.99 at the Poker Ace PTD web site. I think it’s very good value for the time and hassle it will save you during a tournament.

Poker Chip Colors

I’ve never memorized the standard colors used for different poker chip denominations, so I looked them up. Thought I’d post them here as well for reference.

White - $1
Red - $5
Blue - $10
Green - $25
Black - $100

More Room For Poker

Now I have more room for poker tables in my view. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I supposed it’ll help to be able to have email or a web page open on one monitor if I want to be able to see my tables at all times. Just what I need when I’m playing online poker…more distractions.

Poker Chip Tricks Store

Poker Chip Tricks has opened an online store with 3 main designs and several products to choose from.

Little Poker Table

The Poker Chip Tricks site brings me into contact with many different people taking advantage of the poker boom. Two months ago I was contacted by Stu about his Little Poker Table. The majority of people contacting me want a link exchange, but Stu was different. He was selling a product and knew that advertising was the appropriate thing to ask for. Since our initial contact, Stu and I have exchanged numerous messages and not all of them have been business.

In exchange for a month of advertising (to test the waters), Stu sent me my very own Little Poker Table. As soon as I opened the package I noticed the quality of the item. As you can see by the photos (view more), the felt is showing some wear. This just goes to show how much I use the table. My table sits right on my computer desk so whenever I’m playing online poker I can practice my tricks.

So, what is the Little Poker Table? To put it simply, it’s a very small poker table. It’s “a place to shuffle” or practice other poker chip tricks. The table is almost 12 inches wide and just over 8 inches deep, giving the right amount of space to shuffle poker chips or do most other chip tricks. The surface has a nice padding covered with green felt. Three edges of the table have a wood railing that comes up, helping to keep chips from rolling away. The top edge has three spots each capable of holding 6 poker chips. The Little Poker Table comes with 18 poker chips split between two colors, so you don’t even need your own set of chips.

I don’t remember the initial price of the Little Poker Table, but I recall it being in the $50 range. Stu has recently made some changes with the business and as a result the price has been lowered to $32.95. Taking the quality of the table and the use you’ll get out of it into consideration, I think the price is worth the buy for any poker player spending a lot of time at the online poker tables.

Get your own Little Poker Table.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all the poker players out there. We just finished opening our presents and I got a few poker related goodies. The two books I was given are Hold’Em Poker for Advanced Players and Winning Low-Limit Hold’em. My best gift of the year though is a kick ass card protector from my brother. Check out the picture below. The back is also engraved with my name. It suprisingly heavy too. They aren’t cheap, but you can buy your own.

Poker Chips and Poker Tables

Poker Chips and Poker Tables is a site with numerous different poker sets and supplies. The site obviously specializes in poker chips and poker tables, but they also sell sets combining the two. You’ll also find a few accessories for use in your games. In addition, the site has quite a few pages with some good poker information.

Card Protector

Found a site with sweet card protectors and dealer buttons. I want one with big slick and my initials (or maybe the word “FOLD”) for when I play in home games or at casinos.

Plastic Playing Cards

I had ordered 2 decks of KEM plastic playing cards last week to try them out. They cost about $10 a deck, but they’re worth every penny. The 2 decks came in their own black plastic case even and are not as wide as a typical playing card, which is nice. Plastic cards last 30 times longer than paper cards made by the USPCC and other companies, so it’s actually a lot cheaper in the long run. KEM is the brand used by most poker rooms you’ll find.

2 Hole Cards

Review: Poker Ace Portable Tournament Director

What didn’t I like?

Overall

Poker Chip Colors

More Room For Poker

Poker Chip Tricks Store

Little Poker Table

Merry Christmas

Poker Chips and Poker Tables

Card Protector

Plastic Playing Cards

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