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What is PokerMates?

PokerMates is a companion app for organizing friendly poker games with friends. It helps you track games, manage buy-ins, create seating charts, predict winners, and calculate settlements - all without supporting real-money gambling or payments.

Is PokerMates free?

Yes! PokerMates is currently free for all users. All features are available at no cost. In the future, some features may become paid or require a subscription, but for now, enjoy everything for free.

Does PokerMates support real-money gambling?

No. PokerMates does not support real-money gambling, wagering, betting, or payments of any kind. The app is intended solely for social game organization and statistics tracking. Any settlements occur outside the app between users.

How do I sign in?

Sign in with Google, Apple, or Facebook, or create an account with your email and password. If you forget your password, use "Reset Password" for a link to set a new one, or "Magic Link" to sign in instantly. You can also tap "Demo Mode" to explore the app without an account.

How do I invite players to my group?

You can invite players by sharing the group invite link, adding them by email, or creating local guest users. Email invites include a magic link for instant account activation.

What are guest users?

Guest users are local accounts you can create for one-time players who don't need full app access. They can participate in games with limited features and don't require registration.

How do seating charts work?

The seating chart feature lets you visually arrange players around the table. You can drag and drop players to seats or use the randomize function. The seating chart is saved with each game.

What are predictions?

Pick who you think will be the top 3 players in your group over a period — a week, a month, a year, or all-time. The app scores you when the period plays out (3 points for a player in the exact position, 1 point for the right player in the wrong spot) and keeps a leaderboard of who's best at forecasting winners. If you'd rather not keep the rule in your head, the Prediction Leaderboard's ⋮ menu has a "How scoring works" explainer.

Can I share or export the prediction standings?

Yes — each of the three cards has its own ⋮ menu. Prediction Leaderboard, Actual Standings and All Predictions can each be shared on their own (to WhatsApp, email, your phone's share sheet, or the clipboard) or exported on their own as a CSV. That way you can post just the standings to the group chat without the rest of the screen coming along.

How do I remind everyone who still owes money?

Open the Settle tab (or a group's Outstanding Balances), narrow it to one group if you're in several, then choose Share → "Remind members in-app". That sends a single in-app reminder to everyone in that group with an open balance — the people who owe and the people who are owed — and tells you how many it reached. Anyone in the group can send it, not just admins, and it skips anyone who has snoozed their balance. It's an in-app nudge rather than an email, so it appears in their notifications inbox.

Do notifications tell me who did something?

Yes. Push notifications name the person rather than just the event — "Avery is going", "Avery added a moment in Friday Night", "Avery opened a food order for Friday Night", "Avery settled $40.00 with you" — so a glance tells you who it was about and whether it needs you now. In a public group, where members may not all know each other, the same alerts show a first name and last initial instead of a full name.

Can I share to something other than WhatsApp?

Yes. Anywhere PokerMates offers to share — the Notify sheets for RSVPs, food orders and settlements, plus balances, moments, rules, seating and predictions — you get WhatsApp, More… (your phone's own share sheet, so Signal, Messages, Discord, Slack and the rest all work), and Copy to Clipboard. The Notify sheets add push notifications and email on top of those.

How do I rate the app or leave a review?

Menu (☰) → Rate Us, then tap a star. 4 or 5 stars offers the store listing for your platform; 1 to 3 stars leads with "Tell us what to fix" and opens in-app feedback, because a problem we can act on is worth more than a star we can't. The store button is offered either way — we don't hide it based on your score. We may also ask once you've played a few games, at most twice, and "Don't ask again" is honoured.

I just signed up and everything is empty. What now?

That's expected — and the empty screens explain themselves rather than just saying there's nothing there. The Scheduled tab tells you a game will wait there collecting RSVPs; the Completed tab tells you finished games land there with their results and settlements; My Stats describes the running total, win rate, best and worst nights and profit chart you'll get after one game. On the Games and Groups screens there's also a short "Welcome to PokerMates" checklist — start a group, set up a game, then play and settle up — which tracks your progress, jumps you to the right screen when you tap a step, and disappears once you've played a game.

How does settlement calculation work?

PokerMates automatically calculates settlements based on buy-ins, rebuys, and cash-outs. It optimizes payment flows to minimize the number of transactions needed to settle the game. All payments are handled entirely outside the app — PokerMates uses deep-linking to open your preferred payment app (such as Venmo or PayPal) with the correct amount and recipient pre-filled. No money is ever processed within PokerMates.

How do I keep track of who owes whom over time?

Every game's settlements roll up into a group Balances view showing all unpaid amounts across your games — who owes whom, how much, and how long it's been outstanding. Payments left open too long are flagged as "stalled," with gentle in-app reminders you can snooze. Settlements use two-way confirmation: the payer marks a payment sent, then the receiver confirms receipt.

Can I set house rules or a shot clock?

Yes. Choose from 25+ built-in House Rules across etiquette, showdown, betting, gameplay, and housekeeping — including a shot clock for slow players. Set a stance for each rule (like "Allowed" or "Not Allowed"), add your own custom rules, and let a game host override any rule for a specific game. Share the full rulebook with players via WhatsApp or email before the game.

Can I coordinate food for game night?

Yes. Set up a Food Order for any game — share a restaurant order link, have the host order for everyone, or let players pick their own. The app tracks who has ordered, surfaces everyone's dietary preferences, and lets the host send reminders to anyone who hasn't ordered yet.

Is my data secure?

Yes. We take data security seriously. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. We never sell or share your personal information. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Which platforms are supported?

PokerMates is available on all platforms: Web App (any browser), iOS (App Store), macOS (Mac App Store), and Android (closed beta — register for an install link).

Can I export my game data?

Yes, and it's available to all users while PokerMates is free. Look for the download icon: stats, balances and game data export as CSV or JSON, and each of the prediction cards exports its own table as a CSV from its ⋮ menu. Sharing is separate from downloading — the share icon sends a readable summary to WhatsApp, email, another app, or the clipboard, while the download icon saves you a file.

How much testing goes into a release?

Every release runs an automated suite across all five platforms we ship on — iPhone, iPad, Android, macOS and the web. That includes thousands of unit and layout checks at nine device sizes, end-to-end tests against a real backend, a full automated poker night on each platform (create a group, RSVP, buy in, cash out, settle), and security checks on database permissions.

We would rather hold a release than ship a poker night that breaks halfway through settling up. That said, no amount of testing catches everything — new features are where problems are most likely, and a test suite mostly protects what already exists. If something does slip through, tell us from Profile → Send Feedback in the app and we will fix it quickly.

I found a bug. How do I report it?

We appreciate bug reports! Please email us with details about the issue, including steps to reproduce it, screenshots if possible, and your device/browser information.