The Tournament Director Forums
Main => General Discussion => Topic started by: fiveonomo on December 10, 2008, 07:25:01 PM
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Hello everyone, I am new to the boards but not poker. We are thinking of taking our poker playing to the next level and I am thinking of buying the software. Is it worth it? Usually I only have 5-10 players, but we may be expanding in the future. Is the software hard to use? I really dont want to buy it and have to be concentrating on the computer when I am trying to play. Any thought on this would be very helpful, thanks in advance. Scott.
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It is definitely worth it! I have between 7 and 12 players each month. In between events I set up my layout, sound events, controls at the bottom of the main clock screen (so i can bust players out), and the TD does the rest.
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Thanks for the info! So if I know who is playing I can set it up in advance with names, etc..., thats cool. Is the software easy to navigate and understand?
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There is a free 1 month trial of the program, so you can see how it easy it is for you... run a few tournaments and see
Basically on one level it is very easy to set up and run... But it also goes very detailed and with more customization it can be a bit heady...
On the easy level, you just have to input a few things, many of which the program will suggest how you should go, for example your blind levels... and the suggestion the program gives depends on things like how many players, how long you want the tournament to go and more... At this stage your best friend will be the problem button on the main page, it will tell you what you are going to need to input to get the tournament going, for example if your player have or haven't bought in yet...
On the harder level you can customize how the tournament looks, put in your own logos or advertisements, play custom sound bites when certain events occur, run a league that keeps track of your players over many tournaments, and more...
PLUS you have a lot of experienced TD users that offer lots of help whenever you need it, and the developer of the program answers near every question personally... its better than the help desk for microsoft, if I do say so myself lol!
As far as you having to be at the computer during the tournament, for the most part no... You can use the tournament as a blind countdown, and with small tournys you can manually do everything yourself... If you start a league and you want to keep track of player's stats, or you expand to more than one table you might want to input a player getting taken out from the computer, but it takes a few seconds to do, maybe a bit more if the program suggests you to move a player to keep the tables balanced... but that is totally up to you and your group...
In short, this program is invaluable to taking your home games to the next level and is as powerful or more than any program used professionally (as in casinos)... But find out for yourself, use the 30 day trial at your next home game and see how everybody likes it
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Couldn't have put any better Phaze, well done. (Maybe Corey could use your post as advertising, lol.)
Have a look at some of the layouts people have done on here and you'll realise just how flexible this software can be;
http://thetournamentdirector.net/forums/index.php?board=4.0
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Thanks for the information! I appreciate you taking the time to give me your opinions. I think I will try the 30 day free version for my next game which is scheduled for 1/10/09, 30 days from today. I will look at downloading it next week, in the meantime I am going to hang out here and learn what I can. I think this would be a great thing to have.
However, I may say the heck with it and buy it now. I assume that once I buy it and install it on my computer that I could play with it (mock games) and try to understand it before the real game? Thanks, Scott.
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I would definitely give yourself at least two weeks to set up and practice. Especially if you want to play around with the layout and sounds.
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Cool, thanks. I decided to buy it. I am waiting for my access key, cant wait. Thanks for the help, i will probably have questions soon. Scott.
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Here is a stupid question.......I have bought the software and I have my email with the access code/license agreement. Where do I go to get started? I cant find it. Help......thanks, Scott.
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on the first page when TD first opens up, the second button from the bottom that says Register... click on that and enter your codes
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I am sorry, I hope this gets easier. Do you meen the first page after ypu download the 30 day trial or the first page of the web site. There is absolutely no where for me to register this thing.
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Thanks Phaze, I have it now. It has been a long day messing with the TD, I am going to bed. I will work on it tomorrow. Thanks again for the help. Scott.
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FYI, the email with your license information has step-by-step instructions for registering it.
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Guys thanks for the help! I was really tired yesterday, not thinking clearly. I have played with it all day today and I seem to understand it much better, I think it is a pretty awesome program and I cannot wait to use it in our first tournament in January. I have a couple more questions.
1) If i put the information in for the next tournament, (set it up so when I get there most of the info is already there) will I be able to save it and come back to it? So I would be saving it before the tournament actually started. Right now it is not letting me save anything.
2) I think my computer needs some work. I have finally gotten mad enough at it that I am taking it to the shop. The quesiton is if the program is accidentaly lost during the clean up do I have to pay for another access code? I still have mine, just hoping I can load it on to the computer again.
Any help here is appreciated. My goal is to have everything running great by Jan 10, 09. Thanks in advance. If I dont post back it is because I am computerless tonight, when I go to work tomorrow I will respond. Thanks guys. Scott.
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1) normally you would just click save as then save the tourny in a way that you would understand... I find for my tounaments I save it as a date, ie. Dec 12 2008
then you can click on the auto save near the top of the game tab and when ever something happens it will save (mind you if you exit the program and start it up again later the auto save will not be selected). If you just click the save button it will save your work with whatever file you have opened at the time... this might be why it does not look like it is saving...
It is also quite likely that if you are having computer problems it might be because of that.
2) If you lose the program during the clean up just go back to the web site here and download another copy and put the codes back in and you are good to go... I've done this lots as I've had to reformat my computer more than a few times :'( :)
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I took my computer down to the shop yesterday, it has needed some upkeep for some time. I am sure this will help the program run better. I did print off the help section, all 108 pages of it, and that has helped. I am reading it from front to back, I have to say I think this is an awesome program. I play with a group of guys that I have been playing with for years, we are forever forgetting our time to change blinds, what they are, etc...... mixed up or we forget to do it. Our next game is on the 10th of January and I want to have it up and running by then, I am sure I will.
Thanks for the help with the saving of the info. I am hoping to hear something on my computer by Monday. Once I get it back I can start learning again. It has so many features, I would like to add my own picture and maybe a banner. Thanks again Phaze, I will keep you posted. Scott.
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Hey guys, I just got my computer back from the shop. I spent some $$$ but wow, what a difference. I am going to try to learn the TD now, the computer is acting right so I should be OK. I have many questions that I am trying to answer myself, like can I put a custom picture of something on the tournament screen? Can I set up a game for the furure and save it even though I do not have all of the information? I printed off the help tab and I am using that to step through this. I am pretty excoted about using this for our first tournament in 2009. Scott.
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Yes you can put a custom picture for any screen backgrounds... look for background button and insert your own... as well as you can layer pictures on top. ie your logo, advertisements etc.
Yes you can set up a game and save it, then on the day you are to play, just load it back up and your on your way. Also along these lines, if you find that your games are always the same set up you can set it up once, save it and call it a template then you just load your template, re-save it as a different name (I use the day's date) and you don't have to constantly remake your whole tournament... there is also a feature that does that for you, but I haven't really used it as my way works for me... maybe somebody else can point out how it is done
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Thanks Phaze!
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If you're always going to use the same game structure and want to set it up, so that all you need to do is add players, look at this post for instructions: http://thetournamentdirector.net/forums/index.php?topic=1284.msg6148#msg6148
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Thanks for the help badbeat.