Poker Hawk Academy
Learn how to run a poker tournament
Step-by-step guides for hosts and players — from building a blind structure to paying out the winner. Start with a guided path or browse by topic.
Guided paths
Run Your First Tournament
The guided path from zero to a finished event — create it, build the blinds, take buy-ins, run the clock, pay out, and crown a winner.
8 lessons →Switching from The Tournament Director
Moving off legacy desktop software? Map what you know to Poker Hawk, rebuild your favorite structure, and run your first night from your phone.
6 lessons →Run a Home Game
The lean path for a casual night with friends — quick setup, simple payouts, one screen, done.
10 lessons →Run a Club Season
Turn your regular crew into a league — a club, recurring games, and a leaderboard that crowns a champion.
7 lessons →Run a Bar or Charity Tournament
For a bigger, public event — house fees and rake, a top-heavy prize pool, and TVs around the room.
9 lessons →Player Guide
Everything you need as a player — RSVP, check in, re-enter after a bust, and read the prize pool.
7 lessons →Browse by topic
Getting Started
First steps to get your account up and running.
What is Poker Hawk?
A tour of what the app does, who it’s for, and how the pieces fit together.
Complete your profile
Add a display name, date of birth, and phone so clubs and tournaments can find you.
Your dashboard explained
The top section, your customizable widgets, and how the dashboard adapts to how you use Poker Hawk.
Customize your mobile dashboard
Long-press to enter edit mode, then drag, remove, and add widgets to match how you play.
Dashboard Quick Actions
The Quick Actions row lets you pin one-tap shortcuts to the actions you do most often.
Get to know Poker Hawk
A quick tour of the mobile app — bottom tabs, Hawk Academy, Settings, and the basics you’ll use every day.
Get to know Poker Hawk
A quick tour of the desktop app — the sidebar, Hawk Academy, Settings, and the basics you’ll use every day.
Switching from The Tournament Director
Coming from TD? Here’s how Poker Hawk maps to what you know — and where it does more.
Tournament Director → Poker Hawk feature map
A term-by-term translation so you can find everything you used in TD.
What Poker Hawk does differently
The handful of things that change how a night actually runs.
Run your first tournament
The whole flow, start to finish — from creating an event to declaring your winner. Follow along and you’ll have a real tournament on the clock.
Set Up a Tournament
Create an event, build your blinds, and set buy-ins, fees, and the prize pool.
Understanding tournament rake
Percentage vs. flat fees, and how they affect the prize pool.
Buy-ins, bounties, and where the money goes
How the buy-in splits into prize pool, bounty, and fees when you enable bounties.
Rebuy vs. re-entry — what's the difference?
They sound similar but behave differently. Pick the right one for your event.
Late registration strategies
By level, by break, or by minutes — and what each means for your blind structure.
Blind factor and level progression
The multiplier that controls how fast blinds grow. Small tweaks, big impact.
Add-ons and rebuy limits
Windows, caps, and when to use each.
Recreate your blind structure
Rebuild a structure you loved in TD and save it as a reusable template.
Set up your chipset and starting stack
Define your chip denominations and how many of each player starts with.
Set up rebuys and re-entries
Turn on rebuys or re-entries, set the price, and choose when they close.
Set up add-ons
Offer a one-time chip top-up at the break.
Set the late-registration window
Let stragglers enter after the start — and decide exactly when it closes.
Save and reuse tournament presets
Turn a fully configured event into a one-tap starting point.
The pre-launch checklist
What Poker Hawk verifies before you start — and how to clear each warning.
Create a tournament
Name it, set the date and capacity, and choose your registration rules.
Build a blind structure
Start from a template sized to your target length, then adjust levels, antes, and breaks.
Buy-ins, fees & the prize pool
Set what players pay, add an optional house fee, and watch the live prize pool update.
Run the Clock
Start and control the live tournament clock — levels, breaks, and adjustments.
Pausing and adjusting blinds
When to pause, how to adjust, and what not to touch mid-hand.
Calling the clock
The mechanics and the etiquette. Used right, keeps a game flowing.
Handling disputes
A common-sense playbook for the most frequent disagreements.
The live controller, explained
The one screen you run the whole night from, and how it’s organized.
Pause, resume, and add breaks
Stop the clock cleanly and schedule breaks your players can count on.
Run the tournament clock
Start the clock, let blinds advance automatically, and pause or adjust as needed.
Players, Tables & Seating
Check players in, seat them, and balance tables as the field changes.
Running player check-in
The check-in flow from a director's perspective, plus no-show handling.
Seat players and read the seat grid
Assign seats, see every table at a glance, and let players find where they’re sitting.
Balance tables
Keep tables even as players bust — automatically, or with a guided manual move.
Move, swap, or unseat a player
Reseat one player, swap two, or pull someone from the table.
Add and assign dealers
Track dealers per table when you run a dealt game.
Close a table
Break a table down and scatter its players to keep the game tight.
Add players & run check-in
Get players into the event, check them in, and give them a seat and a stack.
Payouts, ICM & Ending
Set the prize distribution, handle deals, and finalize results.
Payout formulas — standard, top-heavy, flat, and custom
What each preset does to your prize distribution, plus a quick ICM primer.
ICM and chops, explained
Why chip counts don’t equal dollars at the final table — and how deals get made.
Run an ICM chop or deal
Split the remaining prize pool fairly when players want to make a deal.
Set the payouts
Choose how the prize pool splits — a preset shape or custom per-place amounts.
End the tournament & finalize results
Confirm the finishing order, verify payouts, and post results to players and history.
Displays, HUD & TV
Show the clock and seating to the room — the audience HUD, TV displays, and casting.
The audience HUD, explained
The big-screen view your players watch — clock, blinds, prize pool, and seating for the whole room.
Open the audience HUD
Put the clock and seating up on a screen the whole room can see.
Pair a Fire TV or Android TV display
Put the HUD on the big screen with the Poker Hawk TV app and a short pairing code.
Manage multiple displays
Run several screens at once and control what each one shows — the HUD, the full room, or one table.
Clubs & Community
Find, join, and run poker clubs — feeds, leaderboards, members, and recurring games.
Joining a club
Invite code, search, or request to join — three paths into a club.
Creating your own club
Set up a club for your regular game — takes about two minutes.
Managing club members
Roles, permissions, and removing someone who shouldn’t be there.
The club feed, announcements, and polls
Keep your regulars in the loop between games.
Leaderboards and club stats
How your club tracks who’s winning over a season.
Share a club post publicly
Post results or news that friends can open without an account.
Running recurring games with a club
Use a club as your league home — a season of games with a running leaderboard.
Playing in Tournaments
For players: RSVP, check in, re-enter after a bust, and read the prize pool.
RSVPing to a tournament
Going / maybe / can't go — what each means for your seat.
Checking into a tournament
What the check-in screen does and how to know your seat.
Re-entering after you bust
When you can come back, what it costs, and how it affects your stack.
Reading the prize pool
Who gets paid, how much, and what "ITM" means.
Tournament tools and cheat sheets
Built-in calculators and reference cards for quick in-game decisions.
Your Profile & Stats
Manage your identity, stats, and badges.
Billing & Plans
Player, host, and founder tiers, plan limits, payment, and theme purchases.
Choosing a plan
Free, Pro, and Legendary — what’s included at each tier.
Updating your payment method
Swap cards, change billing address, or fix a declined charge.
Plan tiers and limits
Player, host, and founder tiers — and what each unlocks.
Manage your subscription
Upgrade, downgrade, pause, or cancel — and when changes take effect.
The Founder Program
What founder status is and why early supporters keep it.
Buy a premium HUD theme
One-time theme purchases to dress up your audience display.
Settings & Privacy
App preferences, notifications, privacy controls, and account security.
Notification preferences
Choose which events send you a push, email, or SMS.
Privacy — who can see you
Control what other players and clubs can see on your profile.
Manage your sessions and sign out other devices
See where you’re signed in and sign out a device you no longer use.
Block a player
Stop someone from contacting you or appearing in your community.
Delete your account
Permanently remove your account and what that does to your data.
Troubleshooting & FAQ
The most-asked questions and fixes for common snags.
Top questions
Quick answers to the things people ask most.
A player is stuck on “pending” check-in
What to do when a player requested check-in but isn’t getting seated.
My TV display won’t connect
Fixes when a paired TV or browser display goes blank or offline.
A payment failed or my card was declined
Retry a charge, update your card, or fix a past-due subscription.
Results didn’t show up on a player’s profile
Why finishes or stats might be missing — and how to fix it.
Ready to run your own?
Poker Hawk is free for players and free to try for hosts.