Hi there
Was reading through a poker blog about a poker series satellite I am interested in playing in. The blogger posted this on the company organising the tournaments website. Not really sure what I think. Can or should TDs step in and stop this? What if any rules does it break? Obviously I think the players who assisted this player in somewhat colluding are doing the wrong thing. Anyways interested to see what 2+2 thinks.

15.53
HE MADE IT….
For the last 33 minutes Pierre has been sitting on a stack of 300..thats right 300. When the average is at least 23,300. He had performed his one and only re buy and gotten a little unlucky (he told me) to be extremely short stacked. For the last 33 minutes he has been taking the maximum allowed time for ‘thinking’ before ‘the clock’ was called on him each and every hand. Having to slow the game down so that he would make the break and be able to perform the one ‘add on’ for $150 for an additional 30k in chips.



Just as he was performing the slow tactics the table caught onto his plight and ‘helped’ the process by all ‘thinking’ for extra moments throughout each and every hand. One of the most amusing things to see played out but I guess it worked. As the title explains, he did in fact make the break with 300 in chips. He has performed his ‘add on’ and now sits with a stack of 30,300 and is in with a chance. ‘A chip and a chair’ is the phrase that comes to mind, he in fact had 3 chips, but it will still go down in history or ‘this blog’ at least as one of the greatest short stack stands of all time.



As the players now go on a short break we take this time to say well done Pierre, put those hard earned new chips to work my friend.



GOOD LUCK ALL

So for a half an hour this guy delayed the game so much that the button didn't even go around once? I have trouble thinking the whole table would be on board with that, let alone not complaining.

As for what rules it breaks, assuming they follow TDA rules:
2: Player Responsibilities

Players are expected to ... follow the action, act in turn, defend their right to act ... know and comply with the rules, follow proper etiquette, and generally contribute to an orderly tournament.

58: Penalties and Disqualification

A: A penalty may be invoked (for) disruptive behavior...

62: Etiquette Violations

Repeat etiquette violations will result in penalties. Examples include but are not limited to: delay of game...

So to summarize, this sort of thing is spelled out specifically in rule 62, but rules 2 and 58 cover similar subjects and the need for penalty.

That being said, most places won't really start enforcing these rules until players at the table start complaining, and even then they might not do much of anything. However that doesn't mean it's OK, intentionally delaying the game hand after hand is a huge d-bag move imo.

Oh screw that. This is the exact are definition of collusion. I would call the floor if I was playing or dealing.

yeah, something like this would piss me off.....

I would definitely let the floor and TD know what was going on, how I felt about it, and how it affects everyone else in the tournament.

This is cheating AFAIC.

I can't imagine the floor OR TD were unaware.

Did the players ALL want him to continue? Usually you want to see them knocked out, but in this case, he was ready to put some more money into the prize pool.

I'm not in favor of forcing an uncomfortable person to speak up and be the lightning rod for attention and ill-will, so the dealer is now forced to be the bad guy (costing them tips?) and alert the floor/TD.

1. Was he within his rights to stall? Did they have a policy against it? What if it was just a few hands instead of half an hour?

2. This was just to get to the add-on period, not to make it into the money.

3. Collusion? Please. Anything you don't like that involves more than one player is now "collusion". The term has become almost meaningless. For the record, I don't like what was described as happening.

4. Ever been at a table on the Bubble (multiple tables left) when there is almost a feeling of camaraderie? When the Bubble busts and everybody at the table survived they congratulate each other? Again, not a fan of what happened, but try to understand human nature. Many players are there to have fun and don't look at the situation in a cold blooded legalistic way. You can tell them that this is not fun, that this is serious business, that this is for money, and if they can't appreciate that, they should not enter the tournament. But we don't chase away the dead money, do we?

Like I said I'm not really sure how I felt about the situation. If I was there I definitely would have said something. It just doesn't sit well. I just don't think its good for their company's image. To be posting a situation which may be seen as somewhat grey, yet they didn't act upon it. Feels like they are opening themselves up for issues in the future.

I hope he went on to a good cash and the rest of the table was out of the money.

Final add on time and it gets you more than the average chip stack? Interesting.

Usually you have to play on the Internet to experience this type of poor etiquette.

This reminds me of a social pub league poker tournament game where everyone knows each other and is trying to help each other (or tolerate the deliberate stalling tactics of one particular player) for that player to stick around longer. It shouldn't happen in a satellite series game though...

He wasn't stalling to make the money, just to make it to the "add-on" period? Weird.

Same stalling practices applies.