OVERVIEW

Poker Aviator is designed to streamline the game selection process when choosing from charity poker rooms.
Though much smaller than casinos, charity gaming can generate millions in revenue each year. They operate much like casinos, except a set amount of each betting round goes to charity. In my region, 4 charity poker rooms compete for patrons at their respective locations but lack the infrastructure of advertising and promotions to get the word out. They often don’t have web sites and primarily use social media to promote themselves and disseminate information.
MY ROLE
  • User Research • UX/UI Design
  • Solo Project for Springboard UX Bootcamp
  • Timeline: Jan-May 2022 • The project prompt was my choice
“When was the last time you looked for a specific event on Facebook? It’s next to impossible to not get sidetracked.”

PROBLEM

Players fail to find and compare the most profitable games when deciding where to play.
Poker is a game in which players make measured moves in hopes of big returns over time. “In addition to skill, a player must seek out all possible ‘edges’ or advantages in order to keep their bankroll in the black.” Proper game selection is one of those edges.

GOAL

Keep players informed of the most profitable charity poker games near them, to help optimize their win rates. Top poker rooms would increase patronage, leading to larger charity donations.

SOLUTION

Match players to the most profitable games near them with the least risk.
Customize Video

Customize your results based on:​

• Poker game type • Location • Budget

Budget Video

Tournament matching based on your budget

• Set a bankroll amount for a given time period • Allocate your bankroll between cash and tournaments • Track wins and losses

Plan a trip Video

Plan your next poker room visit

• View current event schedules from multiple sources • View cash promotions • View live table details • View event details • Register for tourneys • View tourney structures

Share Video

Share the latest poker news

• Communicate with other players • View a snapshot of all waiting lists • Save comment drafts

SECONDARY RESEARCH

The game selection process can be classified into 2 stages:

THE RIGHT LOCATION

6 Steps For Choosing the Right Card Room Location

  1. What rooms are within that radius? Hours of operation?
  2. Promotions
  3. Number of tables running
  4. Tournament schedule
  5. Stakes (common 1-3, 2-5)
  6. Rakes (how much the house takes from each hand – usually does not change)

THE RIGHT TABLE

Top 5 Essential Tips for Improved Game Selection

  1. Cash players seek money on the table
  2. Money flows from the less to more skilled
  3. Looseness is a good player’s favorite opponent trait
  4. Opponent passivity is better than aggression
  5. Drinking And Gambling Equals Losing Opponents
“The skill of finding bad players is at least as important as the technical skills of a good player.”

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Key takeaways from the 2 leading casino poker scheduling apps were applied to my solution.
  • Keep the user informed throughout the experience
  • Avoid excessive information on a single screen.
Heuristic-Analysis-of-Capstone-7
Heuristic-Analysis-of-Capstone-S-Carter-10

PRIMARY RESEARCH

User Interviews

After selecting five participants from my screener, I conducted moderated interviews, in-person, at one of the larger poker rooms in my area. Here is what I learned:

game selection is strategy based

Can improve win rates.

Minimize Losses

Arguably more important than winning.

THE Social Aspect IS IMPORTANT

What's the climate like?

EMPATHY MAP

People tend to avoid talking in-depth about finances. Making an empathy map from observations during the interview made it clear how much of their motivations were geared around finances.
EMPATHY_MAP-Cash
EMPATHY_MAP-Tourney

PERSONAS

The insights gained made up my personas which are based on the 2 main types of poker games, cash and tournaments. Their goals and pain points are what make them distinct.
Personas-Cash
Tourney Persona

“If playing cash is a sprint, a tournament is a marathon”

How might we help the user to…

01

Get matched to the most profitable games?

02

Set a budget to play?

03

Plan the next poker trip?

04

Share the latest news?

USER FLOWS

I mapped out the most efficient path a user would take in order to carry out the tasks above. This step ensured I was only creating relevant screens.
User Flow 1
User Flow 2-3

WIREFLOWS

After producing user flows and wire frames for each of my routes, wire flows helped clarify interactions between screens.
Wireflows - Sequence 1
Wireflows - Sequence 3
Wireflows - Sequence 2

MOOD BOARD

I wanted to reflect aspects of the poker environment, juxtaposed with an airline itinerary. Tickets and itineraries often use simplified ways of presenting information that changes fairly rapidly. This is usually well organized and designed to be viewed quickly.
Mood Board

STYLE GUIDE

Style-Guide-Poker-Capstone2

Testing and Iterations

I conducted 4 rounds of moderated tests, with 4 to 5 unique users each time. Primarily in-person, across 3 area poker rooms. Based on the feedback received, here are key stages of the evolution.

01. ONBOARDING

issue

Over 80% of users were unaware of app features and would skip customization screens.
Onboarding v1

recommendation

App features are explained in a carousel on the landing page. Customization is labeled as it’s own section.

Section headers and a progress bar helped maximize engagement which increased completion to 80%
Onboarding-carousel
OnboardingVid

02. Budget

ISSUE

The budget page was not user friendly due to excess information. It also had a disjointed win/loss input section.
Budget-OldVersion
Version 1
Budget Screens
Current Version

recommendation

Busy screen is split into three, by task, to reduce cognitive load.​

The bankroll screen contains tabs for each section. The win/loss input is accessible from all screens. Dollar amount can be split by cash or tournaments. Task completion increased over 60%.

03. PLAN A POKER TRIP

ISSUE

Only 20% of the participants knew that the room page scrolled. None of them knew that the event card on the room page was tappable with two functions; “event details” and “save to itinerary.”
Plan - Before
1. Home page 2. Room page 3. Event details 4. Itinerary

recommendation

Improve visual hierarchy to direct the user’s attention.​

Simplify the room screen by moving the room logo/address section into the slider. The event cards now have a single function (go to details page) and improved visual hierarchy. A “Save To Itinerary” call-to-action replaces the unlabeled calendar icon on the event details page. Users could now save events at a success rate over 80%.

Room Page prototype
Room page prototype - After

OUTCOMES

By the fourth round of testing, navigating the routes was a much smoother experience. Poker Aviator cuts the time it takes to plan a poker trip to a fraction by providing information from multiple sources in one place. Customized results simplify the process even more. Players stay in the know, without frequent trips to poker rooms or various social media sites. This lowers their risk of losing by reduced exposure to the poker room.

This project confirmed the necessity of this app for regions with charity gaming throughout the country. Two locations were so impressed with the prototype that they are interested in Poker Aviator for their rooms. Features provided such as table counts and tournament sign-up can actually reduce the workload of poker room staff. 

What poker room staff say…

We get 5 or 6 calls an hour from players asking how many tables are in play and requesting to get on the waiting list. This could save us time."
Jimmy S.
poker dealer
This is a great idea! I would 100% love to get you to make something like this for our room.
Tom A.
Poker room manager

FINAL SCREENS

NEXT STEPS

  • Incorporate goal setting and tracking 
  • Allow users to track where they place in tournaments to measure personal progress.
  • Expand calendar feature to view games available during specific time periods

LESSONS LEARNED + Conclusion

While testing, it was tempting to pursue new ideas from users as well as my own ideas. Part of the challenge was to maintain focus and trust the research of a well defined problem. This helped prevent feature creep and was essential to keep the scope of the project on track.
As a poker player myself, it was enlightening to gain insights from the perspective of my former opponents to make this app. It allowed me to see angles outside of my own thinking and pushed me to take the app in directions that I would not have imagined.
Thank you for reading!
Poker Aviator prototype gif
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