Planning Poker Deck
Powers of 2
Doubles each step, making large task boundaries explicit. Useful for teams tracking technical debt or infrastructure work.
111222444888161616
Card values
The cards in this deck
111222444888161616323232646464???
In the room
What a live round looks like
Each player holds their card face-down until the facilitator calls the reveal. Simultaneous reveal is the safest way to get an honest estimate — nobody anchors on the first number they hear.
- Everyone picks a card — votes stay hidden until all are in.
- Cards flip simultaneously — no anchoring from early reveals.
- Outlier votes surface instantly so the team can discuss.
- Strong consensus closes the round in seconds.
Blind mode
Lock in, then reveal — no anchoring
Blind mode enforces the core principle behind any planning poker deck: independent estimation. No card is visible until the last voter locks in — then everything reveals at once.
- Voters lock their estimate before seeing anyone else's.
- The reveal fires only once every participant has locked in.
- Prevents the loudest voice from pulling the whole group.
When to use
When this deck works best
Infrastructure sprints, devops work, or when the team regularly encounters tasks that vary by an order of magnitude.
In practice
A real estimation scenario
DevOps backlog refinement. Migrating a single service is a '4'; migrating the entire data layer is a '64'.
Trade-offs
Strengths and limitations
Pros
- Explicit doubling prevents splitting hairs
- Works well for wide-variance backlogs
Cons
- Less familiar than Fibonacci
- Gaps feel large at the top end
Try this deck in a real session
Free planning poker — no signup required. Your team joins from one link.