Honest comparison
PokClock vs legacy solutions.
The reference software on the tournament management market was born around 2003. It has aged, and it stayed in English. Here is a point-by-point comparison with the best of the competition, across three areas: general, mobile and poker. No sales talk: just the facts.
Positioning, in one sentence
PokClock is the poker tournament management software designed in 2026 for the European market: premium design, mobile integrated, exact PKO 50/50 calculation, made in France. The historical English-speaking reference (The Tournament Director, 2003) remains deeper on scoring formulas, but stays English-only, ships no mobile PWA, and looks dated.
The main differentiators
The points where the gap shows most, from native French to the public API.
Native French
UI, poker terminology, support, invoice, GDPR: everything is available in French. The historical reference is English only.
Integrated mobile PWA
Player and dealer apps accessible via QR code, no installation. The historical reference has no native equivalent.
Space KO
Unique gamification mechanic: surprise gift revealed on every KO, 4 rarities, full-screen animation. No competitor has it.
2026 look
A metallic gold palette, a dark theme, halo effects and polished animations. The long-standing reference stays on stacked dialogs that feel like Windows 7. A single screenshot makes it obvious.
Documented public REST API
Swagger / OpenAPI 3.0 on /swagger/, an /api/version endpoint to detect capabilities, and JSON hand history on /handhistory/?t=X. The long-standing reference is a closed binary, full stop. Third-party integrators can finally connect their own tools.
WSOP/EPT multi-flight standard
Day 1A/B/C, aggregation, pure random re-seating for Day 2: all in PokClock. The historical reference asks for manual gymnastics with parallel Excel sheets.
General
| Criterion | PokClock | TD* · Blind Valet |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Native French + English | English only |
| Look & feel | Premium 2026 (gold, dark, glow) | Dated 2010 UI |
| Entry price | €29 (Solo) to €199 (Pro), one-time | $49.99 Personal (no commercial use) or $299.99/yr Commercial |
| Included updates (same major version) | 1 yr Solo · 2 yrs Club · lifetime Pro | Minor only, paid majors |
| Free trial | 5 full days, all features | Limited demo |
| Direct developer support (English & French) | Included | 2+2 forum (English) |
Mobile & realtime
| Criterion | PokClock | TD* · Blind Valet |
|---|---|---|
| Player mobile app | Built-in PWA | Not available |
| Dealer tablet | Built-in PWA | Not available |
| Connection QR code | Auto-generated | Not available |
| Realtime cross-table push | Native integration | Not available |
Poker domain logic
| Criterion | PokClock | TD* · Blind Valet |
|---|---|---|
| Supported formats | 12 (Freezeout, PKO, Mystery, Space KO, S&G, Satellite…) | Classics |
| Exact 50/50 PKO | Reproducible to the cent | Manual formulas required |
| Space KO (surprise gift) | Unique mechanic, 4-tier animation | Not available |
| Table balancing plan | Detailed « Player · Table · Seat » | Numeric summary only |
| Federation license (FFP) | Native field | Not available |
| Audio announcements | Windows TTS + 16 events + .wav/.mp3/.ogg | WAV sounds only |
| Player blacklist | Reason + auto-reactivation | Not available |
| Signed backups + restore | Every 30 s, SHA-256 signature | Basic or none |
In screenshots
Visual quality vs legacy solutions
A Clock Display that hasn't aged vs a 2010 interface that smells of Windows 7.
Clock layouts editor
Seven layouts shipped (Association/Club, Casino Pro, Chrono Dominant, Deep Stack, Final Table, Standard Casino, Streaming/OBS). 6×4 grid, mouse merge, per-cell styling.
Player and table management
Manage players across the tables, before and during the tournament: moves, merges, opening, adding. A realistic view of the tables, green felt and gold border, with the seats arranged around, aliases readable from a distance and the bounty amount shown in plain view.
Visual customization
Three themes shipped, Photoshop-style HSV palette for nine colors, three independent fonts, three toggleable effects (glow, last-minute pulse, animations).
50/50 PKO calc, verified to the cent
The 50% cash, 50% added to your bounty rule applied with MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero rounding. Reproducible, defensible, ready for a federation audit. The historical reference asks you to write the formula yourself.
FAQ about the comparison
Is PokClock a copy of The Tournament Director?+
No. PokClock takes the same club tournament management problem, but answers with a modern stack (.NET 8, WPF, PWA). Different choices, different result.
Where is the historical competition still ahead?+
Advanced scoring formulas, thanks to twenty years of community iteration. And the mass of shared presets on English-speaking forums.
How does PokClock price against the historical solutions?+
Home €29, Club €99, Casino €199, one-time. Comparable to the entry price of the historical reference, but with major-version updates included and direct dev support.
Can I migrate my data from another tool?+
CSV import for players (UTF-8 or Latin-1, comma or semicolon). No direct importer for blind structures: recreate them from a close preset, takes five minutes.