Self-initiated · React Native · TypeScript
PokerNight — your group's game, finally in one place.
Built for real poker groups who run their nights across Venmo, WhatsApp, and a timer on a second phone. PokerNight puts buy-ins, rebuys, the blind timer, settlement, and player history into a single shared app so the game ends at the felt, not in a group chat argument.
Role
Product strategy & UX
React Native engineering
AI-assisted build
Scope
Full MVP from scratch
Auth, events & settlement
Community & leaderboard
The problem: poker night runs on three apps and a prayer
Most poker groups piece together their nights with a payment app for settlements, a chat for coordination, and a second phone running a generic timer. Nobody tracks history. Nobody agrees on the blinds. And when the last hand is over, figuring out who owes who turns into a conversation that outlasts the game.
Generic timers don't know your group. Payment apps don't understand rebuys. There was a clear opening for one app that knows the players, tracks the money, and runs the clock — built for the host and the crew, not the casino floor.
How I thought about it
Two people use this product in very different ways. The host needs to create the event, manage who's in, handle the money, and close out the night cleanly. Everyone else just wants to know the blind level, see who's winning, and find out what they owe at the end. The product had to serve both without getting in anyone's way.
1. Settlement had to be automatic
Every buy-in and rebuy is logged as it happens. When the last hand is played, the app already knows who cashes out and who pays up. No spreadsheet, no arguments, no “wait, did you rebuy twice?”
2. The timer belongs inside the game
Running the blind timer on a separate device breaks the flow and creates the classic “whose phone has it?” problem. Putting it directly on the event screen keeps the whole night in one place.
3. History and ranking keep people coming back
A utility app gets used once and forgotten. Player profiles, match history, and a leaderboard give the group something to check between games — your win rate, your P&L, and where you stand against your friends.
What shipped
- Player profiles with photo upload and a searchable community screen
- Authentication via email and password with clear error messages
- Event creation with location, date, buy-in amount, max rebuys, and directions
- Buy-ins and rebuys tracked in real time with a configurable limit per player
- Blind timer built into the event screen
- Automatic settlement at the end of each game
- Leaderboard showing total P&L and win rate across the group
- Custom app icon and header with Dynamic Island support on iPhone
Product surfaces
Success metrics
Real group adoption
3+ consecutive nights
Settlement accuracy
100% match vs manual
Blind timer stability
Full game, zero crashes
Build time
3 days, 30+ commits
What's next
- Game history and stats per player — win rate, biggest pots, and running P&L over time
- Push notifications when a game is about to start
- Recurring events so the host doesn't set up the same Friday night from scratch every week
- Live chip count tracking during the game
- App Store release to open it beyond the first group
Online poker, real money processing, tournament brackets, and spectator mode were all left out intentionally — the MVP needed to solve the actual Friday night problem first.