What do you think is an appropriate amount of time for a person to tank?

I’m looking for a some parameters. The minimum time before clock really should be called. Example 2 minutes, 3 minutes...?

Then:

1) If standard hand. Not huge pot, not a sick runout. Like no 4 liners to straight or back door flush or whatever.

2) huge pot, lotta things going on throughout the hand. Perhaps history between 2 players who 3, 4 bet light etc.

So is it for example: 2 minutes (or whatever) minimum is more than enough time for most hands, not a huge pot etc and could be 5, 10, 30 minutes or 3 hours for a 2000bb pot?

We have a few players in the room who habitually tank in trivial decisions hands as well as (obv) big decision hands.

I try never to call clock if I’m not in the hand and use my own metric if I’m in the hand. I want to be courteous while waiting for others to make their decision. But surely there is a point when it becomes disrespectful to those not in the hand regardless of the situation; especially when it’s habitual by the same player(s).

depends on the pot size and who is tanking. there are people who always play fast that I would never consider calling the clock on no matter how long they take. there are people who tank all the time and i've called it very fast on them. but generally i try and give people time to make a decsion if it's a big pot.i'd say for someone who isn't a tanker in general 2-3 mins before calling the clock in a big pot is fair.

2 minutes


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If it’s a habitual tanker and not a large pot, I’d give them 2 min. Otherwise, I don’t call the clock in cash games that are raked. Time rate might change my thinking since tanking will cost us money.

With no prior history, would almost never call clock before 2 minutes has passed. In big pots with players playing deep or super deep, 4 to 5 minutes could be ok. Stakes do matter,.

If a player is habitually slow in trivial spots, that's a pain. Normally you want to telegraph your intentions to players who are a bit slow with statements like "i'm thinking of calling clock soon" or "i'm going to call clock on you in future hands if you keep taking so long." This is mostly to avoid creating an adversarial relationship or completey surprising a player.

Tables can normally form a quick consensus on these things so feel free to consult your peers if you are in doubt about the appropiate intervals.

For habitually slow players, sometimes the only thing you can do is get the floor involved.

The standards for calling clock are different for tournament, in general, we should pull the trigger much sooner.

I never call the clock. I feel there's always someone at the table more willing to call it, and if they haven't called it yet, that's fine by me.

Now let’s get a bit more specific.

1) 1/3 stakes.

2) 2/5 stakes

3) not big pot

4) big pot

I think 2 minutes is a minimum too in any situation FWIW.

What’s the maximum time or is there a max? (I think 4-5 min like monikrazy is fair to player and the table, FWIW).

Just something to consider is that time passes very slowly at a live table when someone is tanking. So most of the time people overestimate how much time has actually passed. A minute seems like 5; 2 mins like 10, etc. So make sure you have checked your watch and not just go by feel. Also, many people take it as an insult when the clock is called on them, and then will Deliberately wait until the floor arrives, take the entire countdown time, and then fold just out of spite. That can add 2-4 more minutes, and end up extending the wait more than if he just acted on his own.

All that said, sometimes you just have to pull the trigger. You usually can tell if the guy is just being a jerk Or not. Did he say something like "sorry guys" to indicate he is aware of the delay but really needs time, or is he just imitating someone he saw tank on TV? I tend to give nice players the benefit of the doubt.

One thing I don't take Into account is the stakes. The money at risk in a 1/2 game may mean more to that player than a 10k pot to someone playing 10/25. Rather I compare the size of the pot to an average sized pot for that game. If its unusually large for that game, I give more time, Even if the absolute value of the money isnt that large.

I've called clock only a few times in many years. Certainly situational and two of the times the Players actually said 'Thanks' when I did it .. including one time when I wasn't even in the hand.

Since this is a hot button spot I've now resorted to 'simply' just putting my phone on stopwatch, starting it and then putting it on the table in front of my stack.

Two reasons .. I don't really want to call clock on anyone, but I don't mind letting them know that it's getting close to that point (IMO). Secondly, Coming from a sports background 'I know' that time stands still when you are not involved but may seem to fly when you are in the moment. The stopwatch lets everyone at the table know that even 30 seconds is a LLOONNNGG time but it seems even longer when you not the one in the spotlight. (Anyone who watches basketball should be very aware of what can happen in 10 seconds or less of 'real' clock time .. LOTS)

Just like in the construction zone .. give um a brake .. just not too long of one! GL

PS .. I tend to agree that stakes really shouldn't matter .. only the situation.

I rarely play cash, but I can't really think of many situations, unless I was in the hand and was doing it to try and tilt the other player, where I would call the clock in a cash game. The only reason why I would consider it is if there is a chronic tanker, who is costing the dealer money by reducing the number of hands they could deal.

In tournament play, I typically am pretty patient, it takes a while for me to notice that the player has been tanking (usually 2 or 3 minutes). My rule of thumb is that if I notice a player is tanking, then I will glance at the clock. If another full minute goes by, I will call clock.

I very rarely have had to call the clock.

Let’s be honest, if it’s someone that I like I’m never calling the clock on them. If it’s a fish I’m never calling the clock on them. I only call the clock on nits and habitual tankers, and even then only if it’s an unreasonable spot to tank.

Yes, but only to the couple players who aren't on their phone.

I have no data to base that on but to me it feels like people call the clock significantly less than they did in the pre-phone days. At least in raked cash games.

Just personally, I remember 10 years ago I was often staring at my watch while somebody tanked. Wondering at what point I should call for the clock if nobody else did. The last couple of years, I've been doing what almost everybody else does, texting and surfing without having any idea how much time really passed. Including situations where somebody tanks while in a hand with me, unless the room has a policy against phone use while you have cards.

Right, agree perception of time is often way off. So like others I’ve been resorting to checking stopwatch on my phone when certain players start their tank. That’s actually what brought up my situation the other night.

I showed the dealer my phone at 2 min? Just to get a reaction from him, to gauge things. Tanker had noticed me. And started on me after the hand. I didn’t call clock or do anything else. He ended up taking 4 minutes. (This particular hand was def a 2 min max decision IMO.)

Again I’m talking habitual “offenders”.

Here’s my thinking too. There’s decisions to be made that need X time.
So that decision process takes X time.

Then there’s the amount of time needed to make the decision.
Once the thinking process has been done, it’s a matter of simply making a decision.

I don’t see needing over a minute from that point to pull the trigger - call or fold if an all in.
(or if not an all in to raise and how much. Let’s leave that out for now.).

A reason to take more time could be if it might lead to a tell from villain. He might start talking or something. Let’s leave that out too.

30 seconds dealers gotta earn

Why would you give this guy 2 minutes?

In a small pot, its ok to say something maybe even as soon as 30 seconds. Normally just a gentle nudge like "Hey, its on you", or "can you hurry it up please." Or " why has the action stopped?"

Players sometimes lose track of the action.

1/3 vs 2/5 not really sure there is much of a difference for clock standards; table stack depth and player stack depth in the hand is most important.

I usually go 2 minutes for a normal size river decision. If it's a large pot, I'll just wait. I rarely end up calling the clock.

Because a lot of cardrooms have rules that prevent you from calling the clock right away.

with habitual tankers i've pulled out my phone and used the timer on them.
in small pots i've called the clock in less than a minute, in big pots after a minute.
keep in mind the floor still has to come over,and then they get another minute.

its hard to put a fixed time. depends on so many things.

What ive found that works for me.

If I get to the point where I think clock should be called, instead of just calling clock.

I look at player and simply ask how much more time are we looking at here before you make a decision. If they say man im sorry I just need another XXX then I give them a break.


if they ignore me or say something obnoxius..... Clock.

No min/max?

Simple scenario/small pot easy decision process = min

Complex situation - decision tree /big pot = max

Most, like me, put a 2 min minimum before it’s a thought to even consider calling the clock.

No max? 3 hours ok?

Gotta be some max IMO.

That reminds me of a couple hilarious situations where it took the floor several minutes to show up.

One was when the floor asked what’s up and the dealer told him “I don’t remember, we’re already in the hand after next”. Another time, dealer tells floor that seat X called for the clock on seat Y. Floor asks “did seat Y have sufficient time to make a decision?”. Dealer says nothing but the whole table is like are you serious?

yes, in practice there's a min/max ... my point is no matter when I decide its time to clock the dude, I always ask them how much more time are we looking at and then decide what to based on their response.

more times than not they act very soon after the question. problem solved.

That’s a nice suggestion.

Still haven’t heard any concrete answers when enough is enough though. Can’t implement your idea if I don’t know WHEN most players feel is too much time in ANY LLSNL scenario.

Was hoping for some concensus on absolutes. 4-5 minutes so far seems about right.

I’m going with 2 minutes min, 4-10 max. Prolly after 5 minutes I’ll just rack up (which I’ve done before).