How to put your poker tournament on a TV
A tournament clock everyone can read from their seat is the single biggest
upgrade you can make to game night — and it does not require a Chromecast, an
Apple TV, or any special hardware. If a screen can open a web page, it can be
your poker tournament display. Here are the three setups, from free-and-instant
to a synced multi-TV card room.
What actually goes on the screen
A good tournament TV display shows the level clock, current and next
blinds (with antes), the prize pool and payouts, and player
counts — big enough to read across the room. Blind changes announce
themselves, nobody asks "what are the blinds?" mid-hand, and the operator stops
being the human clock.
Setup 1 — free and instant: the browser clock, fullscreen
- On any TV with a browser (or a laptop plugged into the TV's HDMI port), open the
free poker tournament clock.
- Pick a blind structure — Turbo, Regular, Slow, or edit your own levels.
- Press Start, then ⛶ Fullscreen. Done.
No account, nothing installed. The clock keeps its state locally, so a stray
refresh puts you right back where you were. This is the right setup for a
first game night or an occasional home game.
Setup 2 — the full display: pair a TV with a short code
When you run tournaments in Marquee Poker, each TV becomes a display you
manage from the dashboard:
- Create a display in your dashboard (name it after the physical screen —
Main Wall TV, Bar TV).
- The display card shows a short code and QR. On the TV, open
marqueepoker.com/d/<code> — the tournament display appears.
- That's it, permanently: the TV follows whatever you point it at from your
phone, so you never touch the TV again.
Displays can be pinned to one tournament (a dedicated back-room screen) or
follow your room's Now showing pointer — flip it on the dashboard and
every house TV switches to tonight's event at once. Registration, buy-ins,
re-entries, and payouts update the screen live as you work the floor.
Setup 3 — a stick behind every TV
For a permanent install, put a Fire TV stick (or any Android TV / Google TV
device with a browser) behind each screen. Open the display URL once and it
survives power cycles. There's also a dedicated Fire TV app — see the
official apps page — that pairs with a short code
instead of typing a URL with the remote.
Common questions
Do I need a Chromecast or Apple TV to show a poker clock on a TV?
No. If the screen can open a web page, it can be your tournament display — the
clock is just a website. Smart TV browsers, a Fire TV stick, a games console
browser, or any laptop or mini PC on an HDMI cable all work. Casting
(Chromecast, AirPlay) can be a convenience, but it is never required, and
skipping it removes a whole category of pairing and Wi-Fi headaches.
What is the cheapest way to get a tournament clock on a TV?
A laptop plus an HDMI cable is free if you already own both — plug in, open the
clock, press fullscreen. If you want something that lives behind the TV
permanently, a Fire TV stick is usually the cheapest dedicated option: it has a
built-in browser and stays put between game nights. Many smart TVs also ship
with a browser preinstalled, which costs nothing to try.
Can different TVs show different tournaments at the same time?
Yes. In Marquee Poker each display is its own screen with its own short code,
and you can pin a display to one specific tournament — useful for a back-room
event with its own TV. House TVs can instead follow your room's 'Now showing'
pointer, which you flip from the dashboard, so wall TVs switch to tonight's
event without anyone touching the TV itself. The Free plan includes 1 display;
Pro includes 3.
How do players follow the tournament from their phones?
The TV display shows a QR code and short link that players can scan to open a
read-only live view on their own phones — clock, blinds, and payouts, updating
live. No app install and no player account is needed.
Is there a free tournament clock I can use without an account?
Yes — the free poker tournament clock at
marqueepoker.com/tools/poker-tournament-clock
runs entirely in the browser with no signup: pick a turbo, regular, or slow
blind structure (or edit your own), press start, and use the fullscreen button
on the TV. It saves its state locally, so an accidental refresh resumes where
you were.
How do I stop the TV from going to sleep during the tournament?
Two layers: the web clock requests a screen wake lock while it is running,
which keeps most browsers from dimming the page. On the TV itself, check the
power or eco settings and disable the inactivity sleep timer (on Fire TV:
Settings, Display & Sounds, turn off the screensaver or set it to a long
timeout). A screen showing a ticking clock is not 'idle' to players, but some
TVs think it is.
