GB2425191A

GB2425191A - Poker tournament pressure timer

Info

Publication number: GB2425191A
Application number: GB0507352A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Laon Williams
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-04-12
Filing date: 2005-04-12
Publication date: 2006-10-18
Also published as: GB0507352D0

Abstract

An electronic programmable timer device for use in organising and accelerating play during games of poker or other games that get played around a table has an inbuilt memory capable of storing multiple times as well as memorising the number of players. The device forces players to act within a designated time which can be preset to any time the owner of the device wishes to set, ranging from 10 seconds to 5 minutes per action. A 'time bank' feature may be included which must be managed by a player over the whole tournament and provides a player with additional thinking time when necessary. This is a secondary time period which, provided time remains in this period, is automatically activated once a primary period has elapsed.

Description

poker tournament pressure timer The primary idea behind this device is to

organise and speed up poker tournaments or other games that get played around a table. People often take a lot of time thinking about their decisions when playing cards even over easy decisions.

The pressure timer changes all this by forcing players to act within a designated time pre-set to any time the owner of the device wishes to set it too - from 10 seconds to 5 minutes per action. So whether it is used in a small home game or in a casino, tournaments/games can run smoother and faster increasing the amount of hands (rounds of play) people receive per hour.

The key feature of this device is that it gives people time limits on their thinking time when playing poker or any other game. It has 2 modes of time which make it unique. The first mode of time is the initial thinking time', which is set for everyone in a game. This can be from anything such as 5 seconds to 3 minutes each. The second mode of thinking time is called the Time Bank'. The time bank is an extra bonus of thinking time where players have to manage it themselves. One setting on the device for example could be that every player has 1 minute to act when the pressure timer comes around to them - if he or she does not decide in that I minute what they want to do, then the time bank option is activated. Again, the time bank option can be configured to any time the tournament director/owner wishes to set it to. If a player is running out of their 1 minute free time they will go into their time bank, which they can use for the whole tournament but is limited. For example - if the free time is 1 minute and the time bank is 2 minutes, then if a player goes into time bank' for 30 seconds, then he or she has 1:30 seconds to use for the rest of the tournament. The time bank will be automatically activated for any player which has used all of their initial thinking time. The device records how much time bank each player has used throughout the game until it has been fully used.

The current design of this device shows a main visual feature of a round clock display screen at the top of the device (figure 1) which also has a button mechanism (figure 8). The clock is the Action button which players have to push down if they wish to stay in the hand of play. If a player folds then they have to press the fold button (figure 5) on one of the four Action Stations (figure 4) which is on each side of the device.

When the device is in action the clock will display two sets of numbers. The number on top of the clock will display which seat it is to act (figure 3) and the numbers below will display how many seconds are left for the player to act by (figure 2). If the player runs out of his or her initial thinking time then the device will let the table know that the player has gone into his or her time bank if implemented, by a sound or a change of the colour on the clock screen.

On the back of the timer there are 10 number buttons plus the tournament setting buttons. All these buttons are used to setup a poker tournament or other game before it starts. Here is the list of all the buttons not described above with a detail of their function.

Mode: The mode button (figure 9) tells the device what type of tournament will be played plus what times will be used for the initial thinking time and the time bank thinking time. By pressing mode you will first have to tell the device what type of tournament or game will be played e.g. Texas holdem game or tournament or either stud poker or tournament. This is necessary because different games have different amounts of betting rounds. Texas holdem poker has four betting rounds so the device needs to know how many rounds there are so it can stop timing after the last round of betting has been called. So selecting mode to turn the device and then I for holdem poker or 2,3,4,5 for other types of poker followed by start will program the device in. The device then needs to know the nature of the tournament if tournament' is selected as an option(either a single table tournament or a multi table tournament). After selecting what type of tournament or game is in play followed by start, you have to then tell the device how many players will be on the table of the device. (selecting no. of players and then selecting the number followed by start) . Then the first initial thinking time' input screen will be displayed on the clock (figure 1) asking for the initial thinking time to be typed in. Finally it will ask for a time bank time where the owner/tournament director can set it from 0 to any time he or she wishes. When the above functions are all typed in the start button will finalize the game or tournament. To initiate the game, after the cards are dealt around the table, pressing the New hand button (figure 6) will start the timer off with seat 4 to act first. 2.

If the game selected is a tournament, after the last player to act in a hand has made his or her action of acting or folding (figure 5) the timer will stop by default as the hand is over unless one player is all in' (figure 16 + see below), when the next hand is dealt out one player must press the New hand button (figure 6) on any of the four Action Stations (figure 4) to start the next hand and the timer. If the game is not a tournament then the next hand will begin when someone indicates it by pressing the New hand button.

For some poker games the dealer is required to deal out a set of community cards for which the whole table can use to assist them with their hand. To compensate for the added time needed to deal out these community cards if this type of game is selected, the device is pre programmed to wait between 0-20 seconds after each betting round before timing the player who is to act first after the community cards are dealt. So if the card game is texas holdem, the last player to act during the first round of betting will set the device to stop timing for 0-20 seconds as that is when the community cards are dealt, as they are for the next two rounds. If the player who is to act first has decided his or her move during this 0-20 second timeout period, by pressing any action the timer will go straight to the next player and carry on as normal until the next betting round.

STT and MTT: These buttons will tell the device what type of tournament is being played. The STT button (figure 13) is short for single table tournament' which means that the game consists of players on just one table who graduallly become eliminated until one player remains. The MTT button (figure 15) is short for multi table tournament which means that there is more than one table in any game so players may be added to a table eventually(see NP - figurel2), and also plays down to one player eventually. The device only needs to know how many players are on the table its sitting on for both nature of tournaments.

No. of players: This button (figure 10) tells the device that the number of players will now be typed into the timer.

NP and VP: Stand for New player and Vacant player. These buttons are needed for both single and multi table tournaments. If a player is eliminated from the table then the button VP (figure 14) needs to be pressed to tell the device which seat number has been eliminated. So by pressing VP and then the number 4 on the back of the timer the device now knows that seat 4 has been eliminated so after seat 3 has made his action the timer will now indicate that it is seat 5's move and not seat 4. However in a multi table tournament players are move to and from tables so seat 4 may be re activated so the button NP (figure 12) has to be pressed followed by the seat number 4 and then the time bank he or she has left in the tournament.

Start: This button (figure 11) tells the device that all the settings are ready and that the timer can start. Holding down this button for 3 seconds turns the device off, and pressing it 3 times simultaneously resets the device.

Undo: This button (figure 17) tells the device to cancel the last action made by someone. For example someone sitting in seat I could of accidently pressed the fold button (figure 5) instead of the action button (figure 8), so by pressing Undo the last action is cancelled and the timer starts again from where it was before with seat one's timer still in play.

All in: This button (figure 16) is significant because it tells the device that one or more players on the table can not make any more actions in a particular hand of play. It means that he or she has put all their points/chips in this play and therefore have nothing left to play with. For example if seat 1, seat 2 and seat 3 are all involved in one particular hand (round), and seat I announces All In' they have to press the All In button. The device now knows that if there are 4 betting rounds of play left in that particular hand it will not indicate any time for seat I to act within for the remaining betting rounds of that hand. Therefore if everyone in a particular hand folds round to seat I and he/she announces All in', and seat 2 and seat 3 call seat l's action but are not all in' themselves, then seat 2 and seat 3 only will be timed for that hand with regards to the initial thinking time and the time bank.

Pause: This button (figure 18) pauses the device and the timer. This function is needed for use in a Multi table tournament where one table has to broken down (disbanded). In this situation the pause button must be pressed. While a game is paused anyone can view how I. much of their bonus Time bank they have left by pressing the seat number that corresponds with them.

There are a couple options for operating this device in tournament play. When a player has decided his/her move they can press the action button and pass the device along to his left and so on if he or she wishes to stay in the hand (if the table is large). As a rule of thumb you could also get the person to the right of the dealer to operate the device each hand - so just like dealer passes around each hand, so does the device. Most games are played around smaller tables so simply putting this device in the middle of the table is easy as all players can reach the buttons from there. This device will help every player in a game because in the long run they get to play more hands per hour because every player is limited in thinking time.

The action button (figure 8) may be moved to the action station (figure 4) as a possible different design. The clock display may also move to all four sides of the device instead of being on top of the device (see figure 16 on page 3/3) as a possible different design.

Claims

Claims 1. An electronic programmable timer device that has an inbuilt

memory which organises card playing games and controls players thinking time.
2. An inbuilt memory as claimed in claim I that memorises multiple times as well as memorising the number of players.
3. A timer as claimed in claim I that forces players to act within a designated time pre-set to any time the owner or operator of the device wishes to set it too.
4. A device as claimed in claim I which is made from metal, rubber, plastics material, wood, l.e.d display materials, glass, electronic wiring circuitry or a combination of these materials.