Poker Group Chat That Runs Your Game: @Mentions, Invites and Scheduling in One Thread

Every regular poker game has the same problem: the chat. There is a group text for the regulars, a second one for the people who sometimes come, someone who is still on a thread from 2023, and the person who has to copy the invite link into all three. PokerSweepStars groups put the whole thing in one place, next to the tables you actually play at.

A picture, so you can tell your groups apart

Every group has a cover. Pick one of eight themes when you create it, or upload your own photo. Uploaded pictures are screened automatically before anyone else can see them, so a public group can never end up with something on its cover that should not be there.

Browsing groups is a swipe: full-width cards, one at a time, like flipping through a deck. Your own groups sit in a grid above. Join by tapping a card, or type an invite code for a private group.

The chat, with @mentions

Each group has its own chat that stays with the group, not with a table. Type @ and a name and that member gets pinged, so "@Dave you in Friday?" reaches Dave even if he has not opened the app in a week. The chat also carries the group's announcements: when a game is scheduled, when it starts, when someone new joins.

The chat has the same line the tables have. Racial slurs are stopped before they send, with a warning. Cross the line anyway and you are muted, longer each time, and a Moderator notice tells the room what happened. Anyone can report or block from any message, and blocked players disappear from your view of the chat.

Invite people, without hunting for the button

An Invite people button sits at the top of every group. Three ways in:

• Share a link. Copies a link, or opens your phone's share sheet.
• Pick friends. Your friends list, with one-tap invites.
• Search by name. For anyone on PokerSweepStars who is not on your list yet.

A personal invite shows up in the recipient's Messages with an Accept button. Accepting joins the group in one tap.

Private groups the owner actually controls

Public groups are open. Private groups take requests: a player asks to join, the owner sees the request, and approves or declines it. Owners can also name moderators, who can approve requests, remove members and clean up the chat, so the owner is not the only one holding the keys.

Schedule a game, invite the right people

Set a game for Friday at 8. Pick the members who should get the invite, or leave it open to everyone. The invited players get the push and the message; the game stays visible to the whole group, so anyone can still register. PokerSweepStars reminds registered players 15 minutes out and sends the "game is live" push when the host starts it.

Already at a table? Rally does the same thing right now: pick who to ping, and they get a one-tap link to your seat.

What it replaces

• The group text, because the chat is where the game is.
• The invite link someone forgets to send, because Invite people is on the group.
• The "who is coming?" thread, because registration is on the scheduled game.
• The stranger who wandered in, because private groups go through the owner.

Groups are free, on the App Store, Google Play, and in any desktop browser.