Author Topic: Player stalling on a shot clock tournament  (Read 4947 times)

Boris

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Player stalling on a shot clock tournament
« on: February 25, 2020, 08:51:40 AM »
Hello folks,

I had a situation a few months ago and I totally forgot to write about.

Shot clock tournament.
How does it work :

- Each player has a determined amount of time to take action (most of the time 30 seconds)
- A visual clock is on the table (most of the time) Dealer is responsible for resetting the clock for each player.
- Dealer has to announce "5 seconds left"
- At any time, player under action may toss a timebank token which grants them additional time at the end of the initial 30 seconds.

The situation is the following :

For 2 complete orbits the same player is using their 30 seconds before folding. I foiled him because while "thinking" he was actually watching a soccer game on his smartphone which was on the rail.
There is no clock on the table but there are 10 clock screens in the room which covers every possible angle so everyone could get the information very quickly.

On a specific hand he was under action, a player asked me a question about the tournament and while I was answering him I forgot to announce the last 5 seconds. Fact is player has been thinking for 45 seconds before I realized so.
When he folded I asked him to give me one timebank since he overflowed his initial timebank. He refused under the fact I did not warn him  about the last 5 seconds.

Floor is called, and after explaining the player was aware about the timing for the last 2 orbits since he was waiting to fold, floor decided the player will keep his timebank due to a dealer mistake.


My thoughts according to the rules is the player was intentionally delaying the game (Rules 5 and 70) so even if dealer made a mistake by forgetting the last 5 seconds, player should have been warned.

What about you guys ?

BillM16

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Re: Player stalling on a shot clock tournament
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2020, 09:48:46 AM »
Is it fair to cherry-pick TDA Rules on timing in a House Rules tournament with an exotic set of clock rules?  I don't think so.  House Rules apply and it seems that the floor ruled accordingly.  As stated in the introduction "TDA Rules supplement the conventional rules of this house." 
« Last Edit: February 25, 2020, 09:54:05 AM by BillM16 »

Boris

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Re: Player stalling on a shot clock tournament
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2020, 11:44:28 AM »
It was WPT Main Tour in October 2019, which was under TDA regulations.

Shot Clock is getting popular in major events and we never discussed about it. That's why I thought it was good case to review.

 

BillM16

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Re: Player stalling on a shot clock tournament
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2020, 12:02:27 PM »
You are right, there are many variations that are becoming popular in some venues.  The larger venues, like WPT, usually provide written house rules that the TDA Rules supplement.  It is rare for the TDA, which meets every two years, to address avant-garde tournament variations.  The TDA did adopt a "Recommended Procedure" for the Big Blind Ante structure in 2019.  Other variations may be occasionally mentioned (Shot Clock, Short Deck, Bomb Pot) but nothing official.

You might want to look at the Non-TDA Tournaments forum board.  Click below:


PokerTDA » POKER TOURNAMENT RULES QUESTIONS & DISCUSSIONS » Non-TDA Tournament and General Poker Rules Discussion


« Last Edit: February 25, 2020, 12:15:37 PM by BillM16 »