i have seen people calling clock on themselves. Not normal not unseen

What was the previous action?

Unless villain has done something weird like donked or bet an unusually large or small amount then you should have worked out your plan on the flop.

IME someone calling clock who is still in the hand is rare; when it does happen tho, calling clock doenst seem to be all that influenced by the strength of weakness of the hand the player has (like others have said, they just may be impatient.) The standing up and walking thing to focus on here, and what it tells you depends on what else you can observe from the player

Given that players sometimes not realizing when the action is upon them is a real thing in live poker, which affects the game speed -- I don't mind when a player says "time" in a live hand, as it acknowledges that they know the action is on them, and if you're hero and need a few extra seconds to think, it prevents anyone from interrupting your thought process to ask if you know it's your turn.

Interestingly enough, the folks I've encountered who occasionally call for "time" are not habitual tankers.

Whenever I see someone call the clock it's usually within good reason.

For the first time in my life I called clock on someone last night in a live game.

I didn't have a particularly great hand, but felt I was probably ahead, anyway, I called clock cause the guy was drunk and obnoxious and took forever to act all night.

My clock call was just because I was annoyed with how long this person usually took.

The moment he went into the tank at all I just called clock. Cause I didn't want to sit their for 5 minutes while he was half asleep

If I'm ever in a situation where I need to go into the tank, I announce. "I'm going to need a minute"....

Usually it only happens when they make a play that either surprises me, or I know I'm behind and I want to do the math. I hate chasing but if the math is too good to pass up I will.

If a big bet is involved, the player making the request is probably not bluffing, except, maybe, if his/her opponent is taking a really really long time. With smaller bets or stakes it probably doesn't mean much about the strength of his/her hand, as players want to get on with it. If I had a clock called on me and I thought it a close decision, I'd err on the side of folding.

It means someone is taking too long and making the game worse.

Did anyone object to clock being called? If he was legitimately calling clock on you way sooner than necessary, other players would have spoken up if it was out of line. When someone is in a tough spot in a big hand, I don't care if they take a few minutes.

The takeaway here, if he's calling clock prematurely given the situation, you'll know it because other players will think it's a dick move. If you're tanking and playing slow, they won't defend you.

I recently called clock on one of my best friends in a cash game. (He ended up having a KKTTT full house that was 2nd best possible hand, losing only to KKKTT). This guy is in my wedding for crying out loud, and after too much tanking I called clock on him. Now imagine we were strangers. That's what happened to you. Play faster.

just yesterday guy called clock too quiqly two times and both times had nuts

I feel the players calling the clock typically is not involved in the hand but if so I would say that suggests they are strong honestly!

I'm not sure about this particular tell, but I have a funny story about a hand I was in.

I floated 6-high on the button in a 3-way hand. Long story short, the SB had QQ, the CO had a mid-pair, and I had 6-high. The flop was A-high, and we all called the SB's C-bet. I bet the turn, the SB folded, and the CO called. On the river I made a substantial bluff (pretty big pot), and the CO went into the tank and started asking me questions, staring at me (he was sitting directly to my right). I felt like he had an under pair or a weak Ace and that he would fold, but he was taking FOREVER while I sat there, still as can be, and staring directly at one corner of a card on the table. Finally, I felt I needed to show a "sign of strength" to get him to just finally fold his darn hand, so I mustered up my best confident voice, looked calmly up at the dealer, and said, "I call call the clock." The way I heard myself say it, it sounded bulletproof. He took another 20 seconds or so, reached his cards out towards the muck and asked me, "Show if I fold?" I quickly said, "Sure." He showed 99, and then I showed him the 6-high bluff.

A couple minutes later, he told me directly: "Dude, when you called the clock, I just knew you were so strong there!"

Exactly this.

Agree the clock call is a generally reliable sign of strength, because bluffers will generally avoid potentially aggravating an opponent and inducing a "spite call" (as Mike Caro called it). Bluffers in general are conciliatory and gentle.

Strong players do switch this up when against strong players (not against amateur players). As with a lot of the more well-known tells, strong players, if they think their behavior is likely to be perceived as strength, will call the clock. I could show quite a few examples of this from the last few years, and think because this is one of the more well-known tells, it's been used as a false tell a good amount.

So you are saying that some strong players will utilize this as a bluff vs other strong players?

on a side note, I really hate it when the clock is called on me when faced with a big pot or those unenviable scenarios where you have KK and the other guy has AA (or KK at minimum).

maybe it is just the pressure of the moment, but I feel like it is harder to gather more info from the other guy since they know they just need to hold their breath for a minute. Whereas no clock, I might see or hear something over a few minutes that might give them away.

You are the reason why people call clocks. Sitting there for minutes just hoping he gives up some sort of tell, while holding kings for crying out loud.

If you sit there doing crap like that on my table and you show down kings after all that I am going to call clock on you whenever possible.

There are seven (or eight) other players at the table who came to play some cards and a dealer who relies on tips.

Sitting there for "a few minutes" to study your opponent is disrespectful to everybody mentioned above and a potential reason for recreational players to look for a different casino game to play.

First time I see you do that, you get the benefit of the doubt because you face a big decision. If it happens again, I am calling for the clock as soon as I see you wasting time by going back to "studying" your opponent, no matter if that's me or another player at the table.

Ok so I'm supposed to stack off for 5-10x buyins. That's stupid. I never advocating utilizing a lot of time to get a read on a regular basis. I'm talking about very rare scenarios where both guys have monsters, both deep stacked, need time to give it thought, and look for tells.

I'm all for calling the clock if there is a pattern of abuse but in very big hands there should be ample room if say the pot size is along the biggest of the session.

5-10X buy-ins.....really? How do you get this deep into a hand with a simple pair?

3 way hand and faced w 5 bet preflop. I 4 bet to 2x buy in and then AA shoved.

You never know what may bring on a 'clock' type thinking session. I was faced with a 3 BI call yesterday and I 'knew' I was a favorite at the time with middle set.

Hero 66 ... I flat SB Flop bet from MP of 80% pot
V1 (B) 78 ... shoved in 4 BI after I flatted Flop lead by V2
V2 (SB) AA ... tight OMC, possible JJ but not likely based on PF action .. AA/KK 95% of the time here and insta-shoves his shorter stack.

Board J65

I'm 54.6% and the 'math' says call all day when calling off 3 BI to win 5.5 BI if I scoop. The side is 4 BI total (4.5 BI total in main), so even if I lose the main pot I make some profit in the side pot.

So I tank for a bit ... IT'S 3 BI!! How long does it take you to win it back? And I was near the end of my session. It would wipe out all of the previous 3-4 hours worth of 'work'. I finally call, board blanks out, and get jabbed at for slow-rolling.

How many poker players are willing to flip for 4-5 BI? I think it warrants some tanking ... I know this really isn't exactly what this thread is about, but it seems to fit the last couple of comments. GL

If the math says it's a call then what is there to think about. If you weren't willing to risk losing your stack then you should have racked up and taken the money home. There is literally no excuse for tanking because you're not actually thinking, you're not calculating your risk of ruin if you make the call and lose are you?

Well only 3 hours it seems.

Yep .. and that's why I know I'm not 'there' yet with poker. This should be an easy call, but my 'tank of gas' theory jumps up from time to time and reminds me that I still let 'stuff' creep into some decisions ... that's the battle during the tank. And it really shouldn't matter since I was playing 5-10-20 over the weekend ... why would a three 1-2 BI decision cause me to tank? GL