A new to the room dealer tonight caused quite a blow up one table over:

As action got to a player in the hand she said to him "you have 10 seconds to act or your hand will be dead" (she wasn't joking or kidding). It took quite awhile to get him calmed down (he was facing a large bet and blew up*), and the dealer apparently tried to claim that was "normal" where she dealt previously (granted, where she dealt has a horrid reputation, but still...).

I've never heard of any room where a dealer was able to demand that a player act within a certain time absent one of the rare "speed poker" games. Is there such a room?


*I think he could have handled it all much better.. but still.. being told you have 10 seconds to act as action gets to you or your hand will be dead is pretty insane...

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p.s. despite the evening's propensity toward drama, I stayed calm later on when a lumpy geezix slow-rolled me with his quads (I had a boat). I just secretly wished evil things upon him... so take THAT lumpy geezix!

Amazing 'event' .. never heard of this before. In my experience only the floor can 'start' a clock and when/where the floor isn't available it certainly would be way more than 10 seconds given to act.

A dealer is supposed to officiate the proceedings but clocks should be initiated by the players at the table unless an excess amount of time has passed and the floor gets involved at the dealer's request.

I can't even imagine the circumstances where this was 'sprung' on the table as whole, much less the player involved 'all of a sudden' when a big bet was placed. You certainly can't say 'never' in poker, but this would ruffle my feathers as well. GL

Seems likely we're not hearing the full story, but I am glad to see that the subject of tanking has become so hot. Live NLHE games are getting unbearably slow.

The room I frequent is managed by dysfunctional douches who make and enforce the rules in a relatively arbitrary manner. Shocking, I know. The dealers will sometimes put a player on the clock.

I dont know if they still have it but in Melbourne they used to have a 1/2 turbo cash game you had 20 seconds to act, I think it was just to get the rake up but I liked it no tanking/Hollywood over trivial decisions

Never have heard of that one before. Likely there are a few casinos somewhere that might have some kind of rule like that , but more likely it would be in some underground card rooms I suppose. 10 seconds is a really short clock. Maybe there was some history at that table. Strange.

how long did the player tank before he was given 10 seconds to act?

We've seen posts from people describing rooms where the dealers can call for a clock, and rooms where the dealers are the ones who enforce the clock. These are both relatively unusual AFAICT.

Procedurally, I think it is non-ideal for the dealer to run the clock. There is a nice clarity to knowing that a floor ruling from someone at arm's length from the game (and the players) is required to kill a hand in an unusual way. A separation of church and state, if you will. But in a small enough room, I can see why one might just let dealers handle it to minimize the staffing load on the floor, who may also be in charge of other things at the time.

Either way, 10 seconds seems short for both the initial and final warning, but I'm guessing people who like turbo games were probably just fine with it.

Someone should have reminded Dorothy that she was dealing in Kansas now.

He didn't tank... reread my post: as soon as the action got to him the dealer said "you have 10 seconds to act".

I've played with the guy before -- he's not a notorious tanker (nor would this dealer who was brand new to the room know anything about most of the players).

The only thing the guy did wrong was to jump up as soon as he was told he had 10 seconds and yell "where the hell am I? wtf, have I been transported to a Mardi Gras turbo game?" (Mardi Gras is a local casino that has Turbo/Speed Poker games).

Did the floor get involved, and was he held to a ten second clock, or was he given a reasonable amount of time? Either way, it still sucks, as I am sure it blew his concentration.

And was the dealer given every player the same 10 second warning for every action, or was this guy the first one?

I would not have "blown up", but it's hard to blame the guy. That is just totally unexpected to hear right when action gets to you. I'd be like, "What the everliving **** are you talking about."

Floor did get involved and got everything calmed down... I doubt the dealer will be trying this one again.

He wasn't held to any 10 second clock.. floor stayed at the table for awhile though to make sure things ran more smoothly.

The same dealer then pushed in to the table I was at...she didn't try any time controlling with any of the players. But, then again, our table was right next to the podium where floor is stationed.

I had a talk with the guy who had been given the 10 seconds later in the evening. I know him well enough and I think he's a nice enough guy that I decided to stick my neck out and suggest a better approach to negative situations.. as in poker, as in life.. time to learn coping and problem resolution skills that will work to your benefit and not have people who are across the room thinking you are the one causing the problem. :-/ He gave me a hug. :-)

There's a room like that here in SoFla: The Big Easy in the Mardi Gras casino. The OP also plays in SoFla (usually at Magic City IIRC) and said that the dealer was new to her room. Perhaps s/he transferred over from that room.

Sounds like he had a lot of stuff going on and the dealers action just set him off.

I like what you did,some wouldn't bother.

I wish the answer to the thread title was "every room"

Nope, dealer wasn't was from Mardi Gras.

I don't really understand .... was her UTG on the first hand she dealt? She didn't say this to any other player before him or in a previous hand?

Assuming she believed there was such a rule, why would she suddenly apply to this hand as soon as the action got to him?

this is almost comical. It sounds like the dealer and the player had some kind of a falling out or something personal going on.

So where did she say she dealt previously where this was supposedly normal procedure?

+1000

And I still think we're not hearing the full story, either that or the dealer is an irrational basketcase, maybe both.

That's pretty jacked up for the dealer to do. Saying that to a player, when they have a big decision to make, can completely throw someone off their mental game, as it did here.

The thing I'm tripping over is that the dealer seems to have targeted this player. She didn't "call clock" on any other players, right? So why this guy?

In any case, the proper reaction on his end would be to immediately call for the floor. It was magnanimous of you to take the time to speak to him about his reaction afterward, and it's extra-nice that it went well.

Dealers call clock in my room, after about 90 sec on average, but floors enforce. FWIW, I HATE dealers calling clock. I get why (so players aren't uncomfortable), but it seems weak. Not sour grapes, as I have only had it called once in 20 years, just seems like that's the players role, not dealers.

What this does is move the game along without forcing the players in the hand to reveal anything by calling the clock. Same thing with enforcing other rules. I hate that some rooms require a player to enforce a string bet, as it forces the players in the hand to give up information on their hand (based on whether or not they want the string bet enforced).

If the dealers were able to do it consistently, and there was a known set of rules (like a 2 minute time limit per action), I wouldn't have much problem with dealers calling clock