Building a Real-time, Multiplayer Poker Game: Phase 1 of 3

Building a Server‑Authoritative Poker Engine: Phase 1 of 3

I'm a high school student developer, and for the past few months I've been building a real‑time multiplayer Texas Hold'em game from scratch. This is Phase 1: a fully functional local prototype that runs on Node.js + Socket.IO.

Important: This is not deployable yet. It's a local‑only testing prototype. I have two more major phases planned before it's ready for public release on platforms like Itch.io, CrazyGames, and Poki.

Real‑time multiplayer: up to 12 players per table

Full game logic: side pots, rebuys, all‑in, showdown