The context
PokerScout is Clickout Media's poker room tracking and review platform, aggregating live player counts, traffic data, and room recommendations across all major online poker sites. It operates as a data-driven affiliate media product where organic traffic and user engagement directly drive commercial conversion.
The Calculator Tools section — specifically the Texas Hold'em Odds Calculator — was designed as a strategic growth asset. In an affiliate media business, tools are not features: they are SEO entry points, retention mechanisms, and conversion surfaces. The brief evolved from "build a calculator" to "build a system that earns traffic, retains users, and routes them toward room sign-ups."
PokerScout already had editorial traffic. What it lacked was a tool-based SEO moat — the kind that earns backlinks naturally, keeps users on-page for 3+ minutes, and creates an organic bridge to poker room affiliate links.
Objectives
Design a Texas Hold'em Odds Calculator that functions simultaneously as a high-intent SEO asset, an engagement loop for returning poker players, and a conversion adjacency surface for affiliate room recommendations — without ever disrupting the user's primary task.
The missions
- Define the strategic positioning of the tool within PokerScout's content ecosystem
- Design the full calculator UX: card picker, board state, outs calculation, win probability display
- Establish information hierarchy and progressive disclosure logic across player segments
- Design the mobile-first layout for one-handed, session-adjacent use
- Integrate contextual affiliate modules without interrupting the core task flow
Duration
Ongoing
Role
Senior Product Designer
Project Team
1 Product SEO Director, 1 PM, 1 Senior Product Designer, Dev team
Mission 1: Strategic positioning — tool as a growth asset
Context
PokerScout's commercial model depends on organic traffic routing users toward poker room sign-ups. Editorial content performs well for mid-funnel intent but fails to capture ultra-high-intent queries like "what are my poker odds" or "texas holdem outs calculator" — searches made by users who are already playing or about to play.
Tools capture what articles cannot: they rank for action-oriented queries, attract natural backlinks from poker training sites and forums, and create behavioral signals (long dwell time, repeat visits) that reinforce SEO equity over time. A well-designed calculator doesn't become stale. Every poker session creates a new reason to return.
My daily tasks
- Mapped the tool's position within the full PokerScout content ecosystem (where does the user come from, where do they go after)
- Defined the three commercial roles the tool needed to fulfill: SEO entry point, retention loop, and conversion adjacency surface
- Aligned with SEO Director and PM on long-tail keyword strategy: scenario-specific queries over head terms
- Established the core design principle: the tool's primary job is always to serve the user's immediate need — the commercial layer is always secondary
1. Identifying the right SEO surface
📔 Context
The initial brief was functional: "design a poker odds calculator." The strategic reframe was: design an asset that earns organic traffic through tool-specific queries, holds users for 3–6 minutes per session, and creates a natural bridge to room recommendations.
🚨 Problem
- Head-term competition ("poker odds") was dominated by established brands with decades of domain authority
- Generic calculator pages without scenario-specific content had weak long-tail ranking potential
- No mechanism connecting tool usage to commercial conversion
💊 Solution
- Designed the tool to support scenario-level content specificity: each hand type generates its own contextual result copy — indexable and educational simultaneously
- Identified the tool as a natural internal link destination from editorial content (strategy guides, room reviews, beginner articles)
- Positioned calculator as a backlink magnet: poker training sites, forums, and blogs that reference pot odds will link to a calculator, not an article about pot odds
2. Defining the three-layer commercial architecture
📔 Context
Affiliate media design fails when the commercial layer is bolted on. The calculator needed to embed conversion opportunities at moments of genuine relevance — when the user's decision-making mindset is already activated.
🚨 Problem
- Standard affiliate CTAs placed above or below a tool are ignored (banner blindness)
- Hard-sell language breaks the user's cognitive flow mid-task
- No contextual signal connecting "I'm calculating a flush draw" to "here's the best room for this format"
💊 Solution
- Layer 1 — SEO: tool ranks for high-intent queries, drawing users already in a playing or study mindset
- Layer 2 — Engagement: rich interaction (visual card picker, multi-street calculation, outs display) justifies 3–6 min sessions and repeat visits per session
- Layer 3 — Conversion adjacency: affiliate modules framed as contextual recommendations ("where to play this format") surface at result display — when intent peaks
Measurable Results
- Tool positioned as a top-of-funnel SEO asset targeting long-tail scenario-specific keyword clusters
- Three-layer commercial architecture defined: SEO entry → engagement retention → conversion adjacency
- Internal linking strategy established: tool as destination for editorial content on strategy, odds, and hand guides
Mission 2: UX Design — interaction system for real poker players
Context
Poker players use tools in real conditions: one-handed on mobile, between hands at a live table, under time pressure. The UX needed to match this reality — not a desktop-first, relaxed interaction model. Every friction point in the card selection or result display is a reason to abandon and never return.
The tool also had to serve three distinct player segments with very different information needs: recreational players who need one number ("do I win?"), regular players who want outs and pot odds, and serious grinders who want equity and multi-scenario runs.
My daily tasks
- Designed the complete interaction flow: card picker, board state configuration, outs and win probability display
- Defined progressive disclosure logic to serve all three player segments from one interface without overloading any
- Built the mobile-first layout with thumb-zone constraints driving all primary interaction placement
- Designed empty states, loading states, and result state patterns
- Defined the visual hierarchy between win probability (hero metric) and secondary metrics
1. Visual card picker over dropdown inputs
📔 Context
The most common calculator pattern uses dropdowns or text inputs for card selection. Fast to build. Brutal for engagement. Typing "Ah" for the Ace of Hearts on mobile is error-prone, frustrating, and instantly signals "utility tool" rather than "experience worth returning to."
🚨 Problem
- Dropdown/text input interactions are error-prone on mobile touchscreens
- Low visual feedback reduces confidence in selections
- No tactile satisfaction → lower engagement, lower dwell time, weaker SEO behavioral signals
💊 Solution
- Designed a visual card picker with suit and rank selection in a grid layout
- Optimized for thumb-zone access: primary interaction placed in the lower 60% of mobile viewport
- Card selections display as visual card representations — immediate visual confirmation of each selection
- Result: higher engagement, more session time, fewer input errors, and a product that feels built for poker players
2. Information hierarchy: progressive disclosure by player segment
📔 Context
A recreational player and a professional grinder looking at the same calculator have completely different information needs. Designing for one means alienating the other. The hierarchy needed to work for both without creating cognitive overload for either.
🚨 Problem
- Showing all metrics simultaneously (win %, outs, pot odds, equity %) overwhelms casual users
- Hiding advanced metrics frustrates experienced players and reduces session depth
- No middle ground in the initial wireframe direction
💊 Solution
- Win % as the single hero metric: the one number every player segment needs immediately, displayed large and first
- Secondary metrics (outs, pot odds) displayed one level below — accessible without a click but visually de-prioritized
- Advanced metrics (range equity, multi-scenario) accessible via expand interaction — present for pros, invisible for casuals
- Contextual plain-language explainer added to each result: educates, reduces bounce, adds indexable unique content per scenario
3. Mobile-first layout — designed for the real use case
📔 Context
The actual use case for a poker odds calculator is almost always mobile: a player at a home game, a casino, or reviewing a hand immediately post-session. Desktop-designed tools that are "adapted" to mobile fail at the interaction level.
🚨 Problem
- Live table use requires sub-30 second task completion
- Standard responsive adaptation places primary interactions out of easy thumb reach
- Result display requiring scroll loses users before they convert
💊 Solution
- Mobile designed first, desktop adapted from mobile foundations (not the reverse)
- Primary interaction (card picker + calculate) mapped to lower 60% of viewport — one-thumb reachable without grip repositioning
- Result display sticky: win % remains visible while user explores secondary metrics
- Minimal chrome, maximum content: no decorative elements competing with task completion
Measurable Results
- Full calculator UX designed across desktop and mobile, serving three player segments from one progressive interface
- Mobile-first interaction model with thumb-zone optimization for live or post-session use
- Visual card picker replacing dropdown inputs — higher engagement signal, lower error rate
- Progressive disclosure: win % as hero, secondary metrics accessible, advanced metrics expandable on demand
Mission 3: Conversion design — affiliate module integration
Context
The conversion challenge in affiliate media tool design is not "how do we get users to click the CTA" — it's "how do we create a moment where the CTA feels like a natural next step, not an interruption." A player who has just calculated their equity in a hand is in a specific decision state. The design question is: what does that player actually need next?
My daily tasks
- Designed the affiliate module placement within the result state
- Defined the framing: contextual recommendation, not promotion
- Established placement rules — affiliate content never appears before the user's primary task is complete
- Coordinated with PM and SEO Director on room type recommendations by player segment and context
1. Contextual recommendation, not hard sell
📔 Context
Affiliate CTAs framed as advertising are ignored. CTAs framed as contextual recommendations — "based on what you're playing, here's where serious players go" — convert because they match the user's decision-making mindset at that exact moment.
🚨 Problem
- Standard "Sign up at [Room]" CTAs break the user's flow and signal commercial intent immediately
- Generic room recommendations not tied to the current activity feel irrelevant
- Placing CTAs before result display interrupts the primary task and trains users to scroll past
💊 Solution
- Affiliate module appears only after result display — task completion triggers the commercial surface
- Module framed as "Where to play Texas Hold'em" with contextual sub-copy tied to the variant being calculated
- Room recommendations prioritized by relevance to player type (recreational: soft fields and bonuses; regular: high traffic and rakeback)
- Visual design matches editorial content style — integrated into the page, not floating above it as a banner
Measurable Results
- Affiliate module placement rule: post-result-display only — task completion first, conversion second
- Contextual framing: room recommendations tied to variant and player segment context
- Module visual language integrated with editorial style — conversion without pattern-breaking
Key Results
The PokerScout Odds Calculator was designed as a business asset first, a feature second. By positioning the tool as a three-layer growth system — high-intent SEO entry point, engagement retention loop, and conversion adjacency surface — the work moves beyond standard product design into affiliate growth architecture. The interaction model was built around the player's real context (mobile, time-pressured, mid-session), and the commercial layer was integrated without breaking the user's primary task flow.
Success metrics to control post-launch
- Organic impressions and CTR for tool-specific long-tail keyword clusters
- Average session duration on calculator page (target: 3–6 min vs ~45s for editorial)
- Repeat visit rate from returning users across sessions
- Affiliate CTA CTR from result-display module
- Bounce rate differential: calculator vs editorial entry points
Win
- Strategic positioning: tool designed as a 3-layer growth system (SEO / engagement / conversion), not a standalone feature
- Interaction model: visual card picker + thumb-zone mobile layout optimized for real player use contexts
- Progressive disclosure: one interface serving recreational, regular, and pro segments without overloading or underwhelming
- Conversion architecture: affiliate module post-task-completion, framed as contextual recommendation rather than hard CTA
- SEO foundation: scenario-specific result copy creates unique, indexable content with each calculation
Frustration
- No post-launch performance data yet to report on organic traffic lift and affiliate CTR impact
- Long-tail keyword ranking takes 3–6 months before measurable signal
- Mobile interaction model dependent on dev implementation fidelity