Poker Timer Sound Alerts: Let the Room Hear Blinds Go Up

1. Why sound alerts matter

At a busy home table, players focus on their hands, not the clock. Without an audible cue, the host ends up announcing every blind change, and levels can slip past unnoticed. A sound alert does that job automatically, so the whole room knows blinds are up.

2. What the WTGB timer plays

The free web timer gives two distinct cues on every level. One minute before a level ends, it plays a short warning beep so players can finish the current orbit. When the level actually changes, it plays a different, slightly stronger tone and moves to the new blinds.

• One-minute warning: a short beep near the end of the level
• Level change: a distinct tone as the new blinds begin
• Breaks follow the same pattern, so the end of a break is announced too

3. Turn sound on and keep it on

Sound is enabled by default, but browsers block audio until you interact with the page. Press Start once and the timer can play its alerts. The sound button toggles alerts on or off, which is useful if you want a silent level while talking through a rule.

4. Make sure the room can hear it

A cue no one can hear is no cue at all. Set the device volume high enough for the far seat, and if you send the clock to a TV, decide whether the alert should come from the device or the TV speakers.

• Set device volume for the farthest seat, not the host chair
• On HDMI, system audio usually follows the picture to the TV, so test it; see /guides/poker-timer-hdmi-extend-display
• When casting a tab to a Chromecast, tab audio travels with it; see /guides/chromecast-poker-blinds-timer
• Silence phone notifications so they do not interrupt the shared audio

5. The one-minute pre-game test

Test the alerts the same way every time, before players sit down.

• Set a single level to one minute and press Start
• Confirm the one-minute warning fires and, right after, the level-change tone
• Adjust the volume so it is clearly audible from the far seat
• Put the clock full screen so the visual change backs up the sound

6. Sound plus a visible clock

Alerts work best alongside a large, readable display. Keep the current blinds, remaining time, and next level on screen so the sound confirms what players can already see. For the wider comparison of free timers and their alerts, see /guides/best-free-online-poker-blinds-timer, and for the browser-versus-app trade-offs see /guides/poker-timer-app-vs-browser.