Pause the clock without losing the game
Someone always needs a break. A phone rings, a drink needs refilling, someone's kid wakes up upstairs. In a home poker game, the blinds (the forced bets that climb every level) don't wait for any of that unless the person running the clock does something about it.
That person is usually you, the host. You're running the clock off your phone while also tracking who has bought back in, refilling chip trays, and keeping half an eye on the TV in the corner. If you can't stop the clock the second someone needs a minute, the blinds go up on a table that isn't even playing.
PokerPulse is a free browser-based clock for in-person home games, still in its free public beta. It runs in the browser you already have open: on your phone, on the TV if you have one hooked up, and on every other phone at the table that has the game open. Here is what happens when you pause it, resume it, or step it back a level, all from the phone in your pocket.
Pausing
When you tap Pause on your phone, the countdown stops everywhere. Your screen, the TV, and any player's phone with the game open all freeze together. Nobody has to get up and touch the TV, and nobody has to ask you to hang on, because the clock already has.
Resuming
When you're ready, tap Resume on that same screen. The countdown starts again, and every screen in the room moves with it.
Stepping back a level
Sometimes the problem isn't a break, it's a mistake. Maybe you moved the blinds up a few seconds before the last hand of the old level was finished, or the table wants to replay a level because someone missed the announcement. You can step back one level from the same phone screen you're already using to run the clock. Tap it, and the blind level drops back by one. The corrected level and its blinds appear on the TV and on every phone in the room.
The same controls can move you forward one level instead, if you'd rather skip the rest of a level than wait it out. Either way, it's your table and your call, made once, from your own phone.
Why this matters
None of this needs anyone to touch the TV, which is usually on a shelf and not easy to reach mid-hand. Nobody has to shout across the table, either. You make the change once, and the room follows.
Every screen needs a live connection to stay in step.
Run your next home game on it at pokerpulse.live.