At PCA 2015 I had an interesting situation occur regarding calling of the clock.
At the end of the level a big pot developed in which one of the players involved in a heads-up pot was taking extra time to act. Players are approximately 8 players to the money.
A player not involved in the pot saw that there was under 1 minute left on the clock before the next level change and requested "Clock" be called with 00:00:20 secs left on the clock. He requested clock solely because he was due to be the big blind before the next level and wanted to try and force the player to act in order to get his big blind in before the blinds went up. Not an unreasonable request.
Unbeknownst to him, players were due to go on break. Upon realizing that players were going on break, he left the table.
After the player has left the floor finally arrives with 5 seconds left in the level. The count is started and 1 minute is given before the hand is declared dead.
My question is this: What would you do?
My thoughts on this:
- I find this to be a unique situation and an angle shot by the player requesting clock.
- Why - Because 1) This player is not in the hand, 2) This player left the table after requesting clock
- His only chance of getting one more hand in is if the player tanking insta-mucked after clock was called.
- The player requesting clock is influencing action on a hand he's not involved in.
While every player has a right to request "clock", I find it highly irregular that a player would leave after making the request. I think they should stay at the table.
In this situation, players were due to go on break. The blinds going up is irrelevant, unless the player insta-mucks. Otherwise the point is mute.
Secondary question: Would you continue to count down the remaining "clock" time after players have gone to break, when the player requesting clock is not at the table any longer and no further action can take place after the completion of the hand?
Looking for a compelling reason to continue the countdown.