Have you noticed how tanking spreads?? It spreads from things they read and see on tv/internet and I also believe from person to person "in game"!

Each year since about 2013 I've noticed it seems to be getting progressively worse (I play in England for the most part these days, I'm unsure if this has anything to do with it). The disease is most prevalent in those who like to play tournaments, which is such a huge pity as having a freshly busted guy sit down at your cash table is usually such a delight.

I think the disease is coming from multiple outlets, most of it from televised tournaments I suspect. I can honestly say Ive never watched a single tournament so maybe I'm wrong, but I have seen the odd clip (How anyone can watch tournament poker is beyond me, its hard enough watching a big cash game, but at least people are winning/losing a buck or two each hand)

The thing about it is sometimes you can be sat at a table where no one is showing any symptoms and then somebody will sit down and tank pre/fold in ep and it spreads like ****ing wildfire!

I'm sure this isn't just in my mind (if you haven't noticed it you will now), the recreational players (and even a fair percentage of studied guys) will often copy the behaviours of the people with the bigger stacks, if a tanker or two start running hot then the game is ****ed! It works the other way too to a certain extent (but not as well), when I or other fast players have a big stacks the hands p/h will be much higher.

Just wanted to share an observation, hope you found it interesting.

Monkey see, monkey do.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2017/...lock-29306.htm

I relentlessly berate regs who tank and if required I'll simply call the clock on every decision.

Recs who tank is a bit of a different story... They get more leeway but you gotta draw the line somewhere. Thankfully the games I play in are time-raked so I always have an excuse to berate slow players.

Not sure why it took so long to hit the UK; it was at its north American peak roughly 2008-09. It has mostly been cured. Clock is no longer. 4 letter word.

There is a new strain I'd call the card funeral (where a player knows he's beaten and knows he's folding but has to take a minute to mourn the loss, often with some muttering, eye rolls and showing a few neighbours).

hi all,

over the last couple of nights i watched play from the WSOPE 2017 main. the featured table was streamed with 30 minute delay - so, whatever a player did, everyone else would know half an hour later. and guess what - no tanking whatsoever, really fast poker.

I lived in San Diego 2006-2013 and I don’t remember ever being annoyed by anyone taking too much time (I never played any tournaments so I wouldn’t know about that side of things).

“The card funeral” haha yes I’ve heard that mentioned before, the thing about that is though it is much shorter than these prolonged tanks and less common as they have to reach the river and the “mourner” has to have perceived himself as having been given a beat or cooler.

In England there are several very irritating traights amongst the guys who have studied the game a little, one is tanking (especially pre in ep before they inevitably fold) another is the use of the term “speech play” (It makes my skin crawl to about the same degree as hearing the word “banter” in regular life), the last one is when an English man uses the word “value”, it’s just so disgusting coming from a man with an English accent, it’s just so stingy and cheap sounding it’s hard to put my finger on excactly what it is, you’d have to come over here and hear an English poker player say “value” uuuugghhkkk gross😂

Where are you because this is not true of my experience in vegas. tanking is still prevalent here and people still think its somehow rude to call for a clock.

I never call a clock on a tanker. I do NOT consider it rude either. I do this to avoid a personal confrontation. Besides I KNOW that at any 9 or 10 seat table there are almost always a couple of folks totally willing to do it. So the clock gets called on the tanker and I don't have to deal with any negative feedback.

I don't think it spreads like a disease, people tank because they're legitimately lost in the hand because they're either playing with scared money or they're playing in stakes that are too high for them (or they just suck at the game).

A little while ago someone was tanking for a long time, and another player called clock. The dealer nods her head, looks with her eyes to see if any floor supervisors are around, then just sit there so I intervened and said "He just called clock"... The player heard me and went crazy "You call clock on me!?!? Why you call clock!!" I never threw the other player under the bus. If he wanted to think I called clock, I was fine with it. After the hand was over he kept asking me why I call clock on him until he finally got a table change...

It is mostly rec players that tank. While a few are actually trying to work out the math involved with the decision, most of the time the internal discussion is:

"He could be bluffing, but I don't want to lose a lot of money by calling but I'd look like an idiot if I fold because he could be bluffing, but I don't want to lose a lot of money by calling, but I'd look like an idiot if I fold because he could be bluffing, but . . ."

I forgot to point out that 99.9% of our cash games are limit.

I also think a lot of it is players wanting it to look like they have a hard decision as a way to justify all the money they already put in the pot.

Ding Ding Ding Ding we have a winner
I agree 99.99% is this

What about when a tanker also has turtle-like movements? Makes me wanna puke.

Tom Dwan must be your favorite player. I think he popularized both of these when he first started coming out on TV. They tilt me enough to have to change tables.

Some do it to make their opponent sweat in case their opponent is bluffing. You know, the type of player who thinks he's always getting bluffed but doesn't call.

The close relative to the chronic tanker is the methodical, 'I have to act the same exact way no matter what my cards are' guy who waits for action to be on him, looks at his cards, looks at the stacks of players left to act or who have called or bet already, pauses for 15 seconds, and then acts. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it really slows the game down.

I really think TV is the cause of most of the tanking.

TV poker is extremely high stakes, and it is played by players who are super-sensitive about tells. So they take a long time, Hollywood, very carefully move their hands, etc.

On the other hand, your average game of 1-2 no limit is full of drunk players who aren't paying attention to tells anyway, and the stakes in the pot amount to a few cheeseburgers. So people should really just act fast and only tank when they really face a tough decision like facing a river shove from a tight player against their bottom 2 pair or something.

This is 100x worse than tanking. At least tanking usually only occurs on relatively big decisions. The player who takes 15 seconds to act... every time kills the game. One of these jackasses at the table is bad. Two is like torture. If you absolutely must wait until the action is on you to look at your cards, at least do it quickly and act quickly. I swear sometimes act like there may be a cobra between their cards they are so deliberate.

The cure for this disease is limit.

There should be trap door under each chair. If there is a clock and you fail to act on time, it automatically opens and you’re gone and replaced by another player. Would solve most of these issues.

Now you’re getting a little ridiculous.

I think binary solutions do not allow for corrective behavior. I favor electrical contacts in the seat, with time dependent increasing voltage. Going from 'Licking a nine volt battery' at 10 seconds to 'Don't tase me, bro' at 1 minute, to 'Ol' sparkey' at 2 minutes.

The "disease" is coming from all you punk ass mother ****ers who are afraid to call the clock on these people. Start calling the ****ing clock already. We have a very simple solution for this. Call the clock dumb ****.