For Tournament Directors & Floor Staff
What LiveHands Is — and What It Isn’t
LiveHands is a hand-logging app for live poker tournament players. It lets players record the details of hands they’ve played — hole cards, board cards, bet sizes, positions, and outcomes — and export those hand histories for post-session study.
Think of it as a digital notepad for poker hands: the same information a player would write down on paper, in a structured format that can be exported after the session. No odds, no solver, no coaching — and nothing transmitted during play.
Print the one-sheet for your floor staff — it covers everything on this page.
At a Glance
The facts floor staff ask about most, in one place.
When it's used
Between hands, after a hand concludes — never during live action.
What it records
Cards, bet sizes, positions, outcomes — all manually entered by the player.
What it does NOT do
No odds calculation, no solver, no coaching, no strategic advice of any kind.
External communication
None during play. No live data in or out. No connection to outside parties.
Game speed impact
None. Same time window where players already check phones between deals.
Available on
iOS and Android. Hand data is stored locally on the player’s device.
How Players Use It at the Table
The workflow fits entirely within the normal dead time between deals — the same window where players routinely use their phones for other purposes.
A hand concludes
The player waits for the hand to fully resolve before touching their phone.
The player logs the hand
Between deals, while details are fresh, the player taps through a guided flow to record hole cards, board cards, positions, bet sizes, and outcome. It typically takes 30–60 seconds.
The next hand begins
If a new hand is dealt before the player finishes, the draft autosaves automatically and they resume later. No delay to the game.
After the session
The player exports their hand histories for study in analysis software. This step happens away from the table entirely.
Players never use the app during a live hand. It is designed for the moments between hands.
What LiveHands Is Not
Clearing up the most common misconceptions.
Not a real-time odds calculator
A recording tool. No probabilities, no equity, no math of any kind displayed to the player.
Not a gto solver or strategy advisor
Records what happened. Does not suggest what to do. No strategic advice, no range analysis, no coaching.
Not a communication tool
No messaging, no data sharing during play. Does not connect the player to anyone outside the tournament.
Not a data-capture device
All data is manually entered by the player, by hand, after a hand concludes. No automated capture of any kind.
Not a online poker client or game
A hand-logging and export tool. No poker gameplay of any kind.
Phone Policy Compatibility
LiveHands is designed to operate within standard tournament phone policies as defined by the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) and adopted by major series worldwide.
TDA Rule 5 (Electronic Devices and Communication) governs device use at the table. Rule 5-C prohibits players with live hands from operating electronic devices. Rule 5-D prohibits betting apps, charts, and poker strategy tools. LiveHands fits within this framework: it is used between hands (not during live action) and is a recording tool (not a strategy tool). It provides no odds, charts, ranges, or strategic advice.
Key points for your floor staff
No strategic assistance
The app cannot display odds, suggest actions, analyze ranges, or offer any form of coaching or advice. It records past events.
No data in or out during play
Hand data is stored locally on the player’s device. Export happens after the session, away from the table.
Functionally identical to paper notes
The same information a player would jot on paper or in their phone’s notes app — the only difference is the data is structured for later export.
Same as any between-hand phone use
A player using LiveHands between hands is no different from a player texting, checking social media, or using any other phone app between deals.
TDA Rules referenced: 2024 Version 1.0, October 9, 2024 • pokertda.com/view-poker-tda-rules
Common Questions from Floor Staff
The questions we hear most from tournament directors and floor staff.
Questions or Concerns?
LiveHands was built by Tom Sullivan, a solo developer and live tournament player. Tom finished 239th of 8,663 at the 2022 WSOP Main Event — his first live tournament — and afterward couldn’t reconstruct the key hands for study. LiveHands exists because of that experience.
Tom is happy to answer any questions from tournament directors, floor staff, or poker room management about how LiveHands works and how it fits within your tournament policies.