Quote:
Originally Posted by DisRuptive1
What should be done about a player who stalls the game pre-flop when the tournament is close to the money? Specifically a short stack who is incentivized to play as few hands as possible in order to give up the minimum number of ante chips.
By stalling I mean taking 2 or 3 minutes to make a pre-flop decision and not making decisions post flop until they have 5 seconds left after a floor starts a clock countdown.
One floor person I talked to said he would stand there and put him on a 5-second clock on every hand. However, if multiple people do this, we don't have enough floor people.
I think he should be warned once and then given a penalty; the penalty might actually help him make the money. But my reasoning for the penalty is to stop the behavior so that players play their hands rather that slow down the game. Maybe like too many pre-flop clock calls would give reason to give a penalty.
The penalty can't help him make the money unless you mean he plays worse than just having his hand folded.
I recently had a situation in which players were complaining about a player slowing the game. Clicks had been called a couple of times .... They were already in the money but this was a big tournament and there was a lot of money to be had. I pulled the player from the table and explained that while I wanted him to be able to play his best I also needed him to try to keep the peace of play more reasonable and that I would be shortening future clock calls.
I did not feel a penalty was warranted in his situation because I did not sense he was trying to slow down the game. He was the short stack when I got the first complaint but still was slow after building up an average stack.
Near the bubble a player who is brazenly stalling could be given a penalty. But another option is to go hand for hand. This is especially useful if multiple players are stalling.
One thing to consider, this summer flooring multiple large tournaments I have noticed that almost every time I get near the bubble some player asks me to go hand for hand early because "of course the short stacks" are going to stall. Yet my observation of play is that it isn't happening. Some players are just inclined to believe it is happening and will tell you it is happening ..
. You should observe for yourself. Remember that in today's poker world play is pretty slow most of the time.