How to play on the TV with your phones

1. Set up the TV

On the TV or laptop, open KARDX, pick Texas Hold'em and press Create table. The TV shows a QR code, the table's link and its code, and stays on the table for the whole game.

The TV waiting for players: two seated, a QR code, the table's code and the Start hand button — The TV before the first hand: the QR code, the link and the table's code.

2. Join from your phone

Scan the QR code with your phone's camera (or type the table's code on the KARDX home page), pick a name and sit down. When everyone's in, anyone presses Start hand — on the TV or any phone.

The join screen on a phone: a field for your name, a Sit down button and a Just watch button — Joining: a name (or the sparkles for one), then Sit down, or Just watch.

3. Your phone during a hand

Your two cards stay hidden while you're not holding them, so nobody glances at them: hold them to peek, or double-tap them to keep them showing (on a computer, hold Shift). On your turn, the buttons at the bottom are yours: fold, check or call, or pick a raise with the quick sizes and the − / + buttons. Tap the face to send the table a reaction. Everything else — the table's code and Invite someone (its QR code and a link to send), the stakes, auto-deal, bots, sounds, leaving — is behind the ⚙ at the top.

A phone during a hand: the other players along the top, the board and the pot on the felt, two cards, and the betting buttons — Your phone in a hand: the others along the top, the board and the pot, your cards and your buttons.

4. The TV during a hand

The TV shows the cards on the table, the pot, everyone's chips and whose turn it is, with their clock. D marks the dealer; the next two players post the small and big blinds (SB, BB). With only two players in, the dealer posts the small blind, so one seat shows both.

The TV during a hand: four cards on the board, the pot in the middle, and one seat ringed in gold with its clock — The TV in a hand: whose turn it is rings in gold, with their clock under the seat.

5. Showdown

At the end of a hand the cards still in are turned over and the TV says who won with what. The next hand deals by itself after a short countdown, or press Start next hand.

The TV at showdown: the players' cards face up, the winning cards lifted, and the winner's seat in gold — Showdown: the winning cards lift and the winner's seat turns gold.

6. Watching

Not playing? Open the table's link and choose Watch to follow along on your phone and send reactions.

The watch page on a phone: the table and the board, with no cards in hand — Watching on a phone: the table without a hand, and the reactions.

7. Bots and the odds panel

Short of players, or learning? In settings (the ⚙ at the top), Add bot seats a computer player — Good (the easiest), Great or Pro, with a style given at random (Rock, Calling Station, Maniac or Shark) — between hands, and Fill with bots seats a few at once; alone at a new table, Play with bots seats them and deals. With a bot at the table, Show odds on your phone tells you what your hand is, how strong it is (its rank among starting hands before the flop, its chance to win after it), what a call costs and what the Great bot would do.

A phone at a table with two bots, the odds panel open under its cards: the hand, the chance to win and what a call costs — The odds panel: your hand, how strong it is and what the Great bot would do.

How to play