May 12, 2017 The World Series of Poker changes the rules for Calling The Clock, and Lee Davy reaches out to the best players in the business to seek opinion while also chiming in with one of. This is a discussion on When is it the right time to call the clock? Within the online poker forums, in the General Poker section; I think i wrote a thread on this issue a couple of years ago. Nothing you did is the better way to call the clock. You're all adults playing a game for money, he's wasting time, even if he has an actual decision he's taken way too long as it is. There is no need to be coy and think you're above everyone who just call the clock like a normal human.
The World Series of Poker has become the latest poker tournament to implement measures designed to speed up play, announcing a rule change for the 2017 Series that fundamentally alters the way a player can be put 'on the clock.'
Over the past couple of years, a number of poker tournament series have taken steps to speed up the pace of play and prevent stalling. The World Poker Tourimplemented the Action Clock, a tablet-like timer set into the poker table in front of the dealer, in its WPT Tournament of Champions.
PokerStars has introduced 'shot clocks' in nearly all of their tournaments at $10,000 and higher, starting at PokerStars Championship Bahamas. The ARIA High Roller series was among the first to utilize timers and time extension chips with the Super High Roller Bowl.
I do not find it enjoyable playing most no limit hold’em tournaments without a shot clock.
Poker superstar Daniel Negreanu, a leading voice in the industry and a participant in all of the above tournament series, has been among the most vocal players pushing for changes that reduce tanking in poker. He wrote in his blog that he believed it was only a matter of time before a clock was added to at least some WSOP events.
'I do not find it enjoyable playing most no limit hold’em tournaments without a shot clock,' he wrote. 'In any of the [no-limit hold'em] events I do happen to play, I will be taking advantage of my right to call for clocks on any habitual tankers.'
The WSOP is taking a different approach than fixed timers, but looking to address the issue nonetheless. They've put forth a rule change for 2017 that will allow players to call the clock on other competitors much more quickly, and a tournament supervisor can put a clock on any player he or she feels is deliberately stalling, without prompting from a player at the table.
Previously, players were permitted to call a clock after a 'reasonable amount of time.' That was usually defined as two minutes. At that point, a tournament supervisor would ask the dealer if the player had a reasonable amount of time. If the dealer affirmed that to be the case, the player would be put on a one-minute clock, with his or her hand declared dead at the end of the final, verbalized 10-second countdown.
Professional poker player Greg Himmelbrand pointed out that this can be a slow, cumbersome process. He said the many steps described make it so that by the time a clock has been put on a player, it's already been too long.
Now, if a player feels another player is consistently taking too long to make decisions or deliberately stalling to ladder up the money or into the money, he or she can call a clock at any time. Additionally, the new clock is to be shortened to between 10 and 40 seconds, at the supervisor's discretion.
'I like the new rule,' Himmelbrand said. 'This is a big fix for that.'
Tanking on the bubble has become almost a given at poker tournaments nowadays. Habitual slow play and excessive tanking has also raised concerns with players like Negreanu who feel the 'fun factor' is reduced for amateur players, driving them away from the game.
However, the rule changes do certainly open up some potential issues. For example, what if a supervisor gives one player a 10-second clock but another player the full 40 seconds? The player on the shorter clock will undoubtedly raise an objection. Additionally, if players are stalling at multiple tables, it may be too difficult to put a clock on them simply due to a lack of human resources.
Poker rules and regulations guru Allen Kessler told PokerNews that stalling is a definite problem he has observed at the WSOP on bubbles and at pay jumps. Himmelbrand agreed, saying he noticed 'blatant stalling' on the bubble of the WSOP Main Event.
'It needed to be changed,' Kessler said of the old rule. 'I like the idea of being able to initiate a clock quicker for chronic stallers.'
Kessler does have a concern, however. He's worried that 40 seconds is too short a time. He said a one-minute clock with the option to reduce the time frame if a player has a clock called repeatedly would be a better option.
'In key spots, 30 seconds plus 10 isn't enough,' he said.
The official wording from the WSOP does note twice that the use of the clock should be based on 'the game situation,' a key factor in Himmelbrand backing the change.
Consider two scenarios, he said. In the first, a player has a medium-to-large stack and is facing a standard preflop raise. In the second, a player has been check-raised all in on the river. In the former, he said 10 seconds or so is all someone should need. In the latter?
'By all means, take five minutes to put the hand together if need be,' he said. 'Situation A should get a zero second auto countdown; situation B could have the clock not even started for a while.'
Himmelbrand said the only negative he sees is the potential for a vindictive tournament supervisor to abuse the ability to call a clock on a player without another player requesting one.
I expect that it's just going to be used in blatant stalling situations.
'But I expect that it's just going to be used in blatant stalling situations and that it'll help keep the game going,' he said.
As long as that's the case, and if implementation of the new rule goes smoothly, the WSOP will just become the latest major tournament series to take steps to put the screws on habitual stallers and tankers.
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The World Series of Poker has implemented a new rule for 2017 regarding how things will be handled when a player wants to “call clock” on an opponent. For those of you who are new to poker, “calling clock” or “calling the clock” is a formal process by which a player asks that a floor person force another player to make a decision on a hand if that player has taken too long to act.
The tricky part about calling clock has always been that it is very subjective. Who is to say, exactly, if a person is taking too long or is stalling? In one hand, protracted thought may be appropriate while it is not in another. Maybe someone who looks like they are stalling is really thinking hard. And how much time should be given by the floor?
The changes are not really much more concrete than they were, but they do seem to take into account tournament situations and give the floor leeway.
Previously, the rule gave all players a “reasonable amount of time,” which was defined as at least two minutes, to act in a hand. If the clock is called, the player in question gets one minute more to act, the final ten seconds of which are counted down by the floor person. If the player still hasn’t acted, his hand is dead. The floor person could also shorten the time if it is deemed that the player is intentionally stalling.
Here is the new rule:
Once a reasonable amount of time has passed and a clock is called, Floor People, in their sole discretion, may give the participant an additional 0 up to 30 seconds to make a decision. If action has not been taken when prompted by the Floor Person, there will be a 10-second countdown followed by a declaration or stopwatch alarm. If a participant has not acted before the declaration or alarm sounds, the hand will be dead. Rio, in its sole and absolute discretion, reserves the right, at any time, to invoke a clock or speed up the amount of time allotted for a clock. Any participant intentionally stalling the progress of the game or unnecessarily calling the clock will incur a penalty in accordance with Rules 40, 113, and 114.
As you can see, there is no two minute minimum applied to the “reasonable amount of time.” Additionally, the clock time is shortened from one minute to anywhere from zero to thirty seconds plus a ten second countdown.
The new rule also gives the Rio (and by extension, the floor person), the flexibility to call clock without a player asking for it.
Poker Clock App
One point of interest from the WSOP’s notes about the new rule is that the floor person can also decide to not start a clock on a player, even if someone at the table asked for one. There are plenty of situations where tanking for several minutes should be permitted and if an impatient player wants clock called, the floor can easily deny the request, ruling that the hand is a crucial one in a key spot in the tournament, so those involved should be granted all the time they need.