Plug-n-Play Poker
Poker night software for pubs & clubs

Real poker on every phone in the pub.

One laptop behind the bar deals the game to your customers' phones over your own Wi-Fi. No cards to buy, no dealer to pay, no app for anyone to install. Tournaments, tables and a season league that all run themselves.

Free to try · $14.99 a month per venue · Windows laptop · play money only

A live eight-player tournament table in the Monte Carlo theme: three community cards on burgundy baize, every player's stack and the dealer chat.
The same game on a player's phone: her two hole cards and the Check and Bet buttons.
Cards dealt to each phone
$14.99a month, per venue, billed monthly
0apps to install. Players use the browser they already have
10seats a table, and as many tables as your room fills
5table themes, plus your own logo on every screen
How it works

From switched off to cards in the air in three steps.

Start Poker Night JOIN THE GAME AT 192.168.1.20:7452 Wi-Fiscan The bar’s laptop runs it The TV shows the way in Players use their own phones
  1. Start Poker Night

    Double-click one icon on the bar's Windows laptop. It starts the game server and tells you the address to share. Nothing to install, nothing to configure.

  2. Put the house screen on the TV

    A big join address and a QR code. Players point their phone camera at it, pick a name and they're in the lobby. You don't set anyone up, and nobody downloads a thing.

  3. Deal

    Open a cash table or start a tournament. The software deals, runs the betting, moves players between tables and posts the results to your league.

See it running

Watch a real poker night, start to finish.

Nothing here is mocked up. It's the software itself, run by hand on one laptop, with the TV and the phones beside it.

Plug-n-Play Poker in two minutes

The whole idea: the house screen, players joining on their phones, a tournament that runs itself.

Create a tournament in a minute

The manager's walkthrough · 9 minutes

Everything you'll do on a poker night.

What your regulars get

Everything a poker night needs, run for you.

A tournament table in the default Felt and Brass theme: five community cards on the board, every player seated round the rail with their bet in front of them.
Thursday Freezeout, table 1, in the default Felt & Brass theme.

Tournaments that run themselves

Set a name, a buy-in and a start time. At that time it seats everyone at random and deals. You never touch it again.

  • Tables balance automatically. Short tables close and players move between hands, never mid-hand.
  • Blinds rise as players go out, so the game keeps moving and doesn't drag.
  • Late registration, rebuys and add-ons, each set per event.
  • Lost Wi-Fi never costs a seat. A player whose phone drops keeps their chips and comes straight back.
The admin's Weekly events panel: Thursday Freezeout, every Thursday at 8:00 pm, with its prize box and Pause and Remove buttons, beside the form that adds a weekly event.
Set it once. This is the whole job.

Set it once, and it repeats

Tell it “every Thursday at 8:00 pm”. Each night’s tournament creates itself and opens for registration ahead of time, so your regulars sign up before they arrive.

  • No nightly setup. The buy-in, late registration, rebuys, add-on and prize are saved with the rule.
  • Registration opens ahead: three hours, the day before or three days before, whichever suits your room.
  • Skip a night by removing it, or pause the whole thing. If the laptop is off, that night is simply missed.
  • The time stays put when the clocks change, in your own timezone.
A printable poster: Poker night, the next game with its prize, a QR code to scan and the address to type.
One click prints it. Stick it on the wall.

A poster, and a prize worth turning up for

Give each night and each season a prize in one line — a £20 bar tab for the winner — and it shows in the lobby, on the TV and on the league page. Then print the poster that tells the room.

  • Your pub’s name and logo, the next game, its prize and the weekly schedule, written out.
  • A QR code that takes a phone straight into the game, with the address underneath for anyone who would rather type.
  • A4 or Letter, mostly paper-white so it does not empty the printer.
  • Prizes are yours to give. The chips are play money and nothing in the software moves any cash.
The Autumn League standings on a phone: eight players ranked by points.
One player's season page: 4th of 8, 28 points, 6 nights played, best finish 1st, average finish 4.7.
The league table, and one player's season, on their own phone.

A league that keeps itself

Because the software deals every hand, it knows who finished where. Nobody keeps score on a spreadsheet, and nobody argues about it.

  • Named seasons you open and close: "Autumn League", "Winter Cup".
  • Your own points table. Changing it never rewrites last season.
  • Every player gets a season page with their finishes, best night and recent form.
  • An optional public league page for your website or the screen behind the bar.
The house screen on a TV: the join address and QR code, the pub's own message, tonight's tournament with its blinds, the next blinds and a late-registration countdown, next week's game, who is in the room, and a live ticker of big hands and all-ins.
The house screen. At your venue it shows your Wi-Fi address and a QR code to scan.

A screen that sells the night

Put the house screen on any TV. It shows the room what's on, who's playing and how to join, and it refreshes itself all evening.

  • Join address and QR code, readable across the room.
  • Tonight's tournaments with the blinds now and next, players left, a late-registration countdown and the prize.
  • Your own message across the top: a drinks offer, next week’s big game.
  • A live ticker of all-ins, big hands and who’s out, and the winner on the whole screen.
  • Chip leaders and league standings to keep the room watching.
  • Anyone can watch a table on the rail. Hole cards stay hidden until the showdown.
The lobby on a phone: Thursday Freezeout, multi-table, with its prize (a £20 bar tab) on the card, late registration open, eight of eight left, and a My table button.
A player's turn on her phone, with her cards and betting buttons.
Register from the lobby, then play from the same phone.

Made for a busy room

Built for people holding a pint in one hand and their phone in the other.

  • Works on any phone with a browser. Nothing to download.
  • A chime when it's your turn, and a warning before the timer runs out.
  • Players build their own avatar to sit at the table with.
  • Everyone sits round the table, with their own seat at the bottom, like the big poker sites.
A table made over for a pub called The Jolly Gambler: its own burgundy oval table with a walnut rail and a gold line, its own empty-seat picture, its spade badge in the corner and the Monte Carlo colours, with eight players seated round the rail.
“The Jolly Gambler”, a made-up pub: its own table, seats, logo and colours.

Make it yours

Your colours, your logo, even your own table. No designer, no code: it all happens in the admin console, in minutes.

Felt & Brass Midnight Baize Monte Carlo Sapphire Room Daylight
  • Five colour themes. Pick one and every screen changes at once: the tables, the lobby, the phones and the TV.
  • Your logo everywhere. Upload it once and it appears in the header, on the card table, on the house screen, on your poster and in the browser tab.
  • Your own table. Download our template and paint over it, or describe your pub to an AI image tool with the wording we give you. Upload the picture and drag three sliders until the seats sit on its rail. You see it before anyone else does.
  • Your own empty seat, to match.
  • Change your mind any time. One click puts the originals back.
The table template with its guides: a dashed line round the rail where the players sit, the ten seats, and the middle kept plain for the cards and the pot.
The template you start from. Keep your rail on the dashed line.
The full list

Everything in the box.

The game

  • Texas Hold'em, dealt to each player's phone
  • Cash tables of up to ten players
  • Multi-table tournaments with a set start time
  • Automatic table balancing and final-table countdown
  • Blinds that rise with the field
  • Late registration, rebuys and add-ons
  • Weekly events that create each night's tournament
  • A prize line on every event
  • Side pots worked out to the chip
  • Turn chime, timer warning and sound effects

The league

  • Named seasons, opened and closed by you
  • Editable points for each finishing place
  • Standings by points, wins and nights played
  • A season page for every player
  • League table on the house TV screen
  • Optional public league page you can share
  • A prize line for the season, on the league page
  • Results recorded automatically, never typed in

The venue

  • Runs on one Windows laptop, on your own Wi-Fi
  • No internet needed while you play
  • House screen with join address and QR code
  • Spectator rail for any table
  • Five themes and your own logo
  • Your own table and empty-seat artwork, from our template
  • Admin console for members, tables and settings
  • A printable poster with your QR code
  • Updates upgrade your database by themselves
  • An admin guide that covers the whole night
Pricing

One price per venue. Start free.

Less than a round of drinks a month, for a night that brings people in on a quiet weekday.

Free
$0
  • One cash table
  • The Felt & Brass theme
  • House screen and spectator rail
  • Tournaments
  • Leagues

Yours to keep for as long as you like. Upgrade whenever you're ready: the same download, nothing to reinstall.

Download free
Licensed venue
$14.99 / month per venue
  • Unlimited cash tables
  • Multi-table tournaments, rebuys and add-ons
  • Weekly events and prizes
  • Season leagues and player pages
  • Public league page for your website
  • All five themes and your own logo
  • Your own table and empty-seat artwork
  • Covers two machines: your laptop and a spare

If your internet goes down, the game carries on. If the subscription lapses, a running tournament still plays out to its winner.

Subscribe: $14.99 a month
Questions landlords ask

The short answers.

Do my customers need to download anything?

No. They scan the QR code on your TV, or type the address it shows, and play in the browser their phone already has.

Is this gambling?

No money changes hands in the software. Everyone plays with play-money chips that have no cash value. How you run prizes for your night is up to you.

Do I need fast internet?

No. The game runs on your own Wi-Fi with no internet at all. The laptop only goes online when it starts, to renew the licence, and it keeps working for weeks if it can't.

What do I need?

A Windows laptop, your Wi-Fi, and a TV if you want the house screen. Players bring their own phones.

How do I install it?

Download the installer, double-click it, and click Yes, Next and Install. It takes about a minute. Windows asks for permission once, because the installer lets phones on your Wi-Fi reach the game. Then double-click Plug-n-Play Poker on the desktop. Until you have a licence key it asks for one each time it starts: just press Enter to play on the free tier.

I've subscribed. Do I need a different download?

No. It's the same software. Your licence key arrives by email: type it in when the game asks for it as it starts, and tournaments, the league, themes and your own artwork switch on.

How do I update, or change my card?

Download the installer from this page again and run it over the top: your members, results and settings are kept. To update your card or cancel, use Manage subscription.

Do I have to create the tournament every week?

No. Add a weekly event once — say, every Thursday at 8:00 pm — and the software creates each night’s tournament and opens registration ahead of time. Skip a night by removing that night’s tournament, or pause the rule.

Can it look like our pub?

Yes. Choose one of five colour themes, upload your logo, and if you like, your own picture of the table and of an empty seat. We give you a template to paint over, plus wording to give an AI image tool if you’d rather it drew one. You line the seats up with three sliders and see the result before your customers do. It takes minutes and needs no designer.

What happens to my members and results when I update?

Nothing is lost. An update never replaces your database. The first time a page loads afterwards, any new tables and columns are added in the background, once, and nothing already there is changed or removed.

What happens if a player's phone dies mid-tournament?

They keep their seat and their chips. The game folds for them while they're away and they can jump straight back in. A lost connection never knocks anyone out.

Can I run it at more than one venue?

Each venue has its own subscription. Your licence covers two machines at the same venue, so a spare laptop is included.

Shuffle up

Run your first poker night this week.

Download it free and run a cash table tonight. When you're ready for tournaments and a league, subscribe: your licence key comes by email within one business day, and you type it in once.

Download free Subscribe: $14.99 a month Windows 10 or 11 · 23 MB · installs in about a minute
Questions first? Email us poker@cherokeeaisystems.com