Poker Clock
A self-hosted poker tournament dashboard with real-time multi-device sync. Manages blind levels, timers, rebuys, eliminations, and prize pool calculations across all connected devices simultaneously. Protected by nginx Basic Auth.
Note
The Poker Clock is a timer and tournament management tool — not a card game. There is no how-to-play page on the games hub; the tile links directly to the dashboard.
Features
- Blind schedule with 8 levels (1/2 through 50/100)
- Configurable players, buy-in amount, and level duration
- Countdown timer with auto-advance on level change
- Audible alerts — 1 minute warning beep, countdown clicks for the last 5 seconds
- 20 minute break auto-triggered after configurable play time, with manual override
- Rebuy tracking — increases the prize pool, locked after the break
- Elimination tracking per player
- Prize pool auto-calculated and split 50/30/20 rounded to nearest £5
- Real-time sync across all connected devices via WebSocket
Pages
The Poker Clock is a single-page dashboard — there are no separate host, player, or vote pages. All connected devices see the same live view.
| URL | Purpose |
|---|---|
/ |
Tournament dashboard — setup, timer, blinds, and tracking |
The tournament setup panel collapses after applying settings. All subsequent state (timer, level, rebuys, eliminations) is broadcast live to every connected device.
Authentication
The entire site is protected by nginx Basic Auth. Credentials are stored in /ssd/docker/appdata/nginx/.htpasswd.
To add or update a user (requires apache2-utils on Phobos):
nginx Config
server {
listen 80;
server_name poker.xmsystems.co.uk;
auth_basic "Kelly's Card Club";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
location / {
root /usr/share/nginx/html;
index poker_dashboard.html;
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
location /ws {
proxy_pass http://poker-server:3003;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_buffering off;
proxy_read_timeout 3600s;
proxy_send_timeout 3600s;
}
}
Backend
The poker server is managed in the same compose file as nginx itself.
Docker Compose: /ssd/docker/docker-compose/nginx/docker-compose.yml
poker-server:
build: /ssd/docker/appdata/poker
container_name: poker-server
restart: unless-stopped
networks:
phobos-network:
ipv4_address: '172.20.0.21'
environment:
- TZ=Europe/London
Dockerfile: /ssd/docker/appdata/poker/Dockerfile
FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json .
RUN npm install
COPY server.js .
EXPOSE 3003
CMD ["node", "server.js"]
Dependencies: ws (WebSocket library)
Warning
Tournament state is in-memory only. Restarting the poker-server container resets the current tournament. The .htpasswd file is bind-mounted from the host and survives restarts.
Rebuilding
The poker server is rebuilt as part of the nginx compose stack:
File Locations
| File | Path |
|---|---|
| Dashboard HTML | /ssd/docker/appdata/nginx/poker_dashboard.html |
| nginx config | /ssd/docker/appdata/nginx/default.conf |
| htpasswd file | /ssd/docker/appdata/nginx/.htpasswd |
| Node.js server | /ssd/docker/appdata/poker/server.js |
| Dockerfile | /ssd/docker/appdata/poker/Dockerfile |
| Docker Compose | /ssd/docker/docker-compose/nginx/docker-compose.yml |
| Traefik config | poker.yml on Titan |