So last night, I'm at a 1-2 cash table. An OMC, who had been holding up the game all night, called a clock on another player who had been tanking for about 2 minutes. OMC was not in the hand.

I found it funny that OMC had to be reminded by the dealer EVERY TIME action was on him that it was time to act and was now concerned that 2minutes had passed.

The guy in the hand got really pissed because OMC was not in the hand and had "no right" to call clock.

The floor handled it well. gave player 60 seconds to decide. He folded and was shown the nuts.

Thoughts on calling clock when not in hand ?

It’s a freaking 1/2 game, there’s no need to tank for 2 minutes.

In most casinos everyone at the table has the right to call for the clock and the old guy did the right thing. The fact that he was playing slow as well should be addressed separately but doesn’t matter at all when it comes to him calling the clock.

FWIW, being old is at least somewhat of an excuse for being a little slower. Trying to PioSolve a spot in your head isn’t one.

I support calling the clock on anyone who is unreasonably slow in these games. Poker should be a fun pastime for people to play a game, not an endurance sport in this context.

People need to call the clock more for stalkers / slow players.

I give everyone one long tank in a tourney and I will not call the clock on them. After the one time, assuming it’s a massive decision, I’d still give them ample time.

I can see waiting 3-4 minutes before calling clock in crucial spots.

I love it when I am not the only one calling clocks. Some people are just selfish pricks that need to play faster, it's important that they get that pressure.

Calling the clock in a cash game?

I get it in a tournament with blinds increasing, but in a cash game just talk to the guy and ask him to play quicker generally so you can give him more time when he actually has a decision to make.
Calling the clock in a cash game when you aren’t in the hand is just awful. You may be influencing the final outcome and you have no idea what the last aggressor wants to happen.
Calling it in a tournament when you aren’t in the hand is a little more acceptable because you are losing time in the current level, but even so, I think it should be avoided.
Tha Kassouf ‘9 high like a boss’ hand seemed to me to be influenced by someone not in the hand calling for the clock. Just think, if she had had a bit more time and finally called we would have been spared so much annoyance over Kassouf’s antics later in the tournament.

i see habitual clock callers as weaker players, so i'm happy to see it happening at my table.

Time is worth something. One player wasting time is multiplied by the amount of people at the table. Everyone has the right to call the clock at any moment they feel their time is being wasted. And exactly because you have no idea what the aggressor wants to happen can you call the clock while not in the hand, because you have no bias. If they can't make up their mind in the time I've allowed them to take they aren't going to make a good decision no matter how long they take, so just stop wasting time.

No issues when called on me and no issues calling it on someone else. I usually say it in a way that encourages acting quicker on their own. something along the lines " Hey XYZ, would help you if I called the clock?" They usually make a decision in the next few seconds and clock isn't even called. Sometimes they just respond yes, and I call the clock

Why would that matter to you?

People go to the poker room to play cards, not to sit around and wait for 2+ (or 3-4 like somebody else said) minutes for another player to make a decision. If they wanted to sit around doing nothing while waiting for someone to finally decide what to do, they could have joined their wife on a shopping trip.

As long as someone is not tanking all the time, i do believe everyone has the right to take his time when he has to make difficult decision. I play a lot of private games and people know each other in these games. there are people i have been playing with for a decade now and usually people do not call clock on each other unless it is someone who is known for wasting time lol. I remember hands where one player was in the tank for 10 minutes and no one called the clock. I usually never need 3 minutes to make a decision but when i do i would like everyone else to give me that amount of time. so i do the same with other players.

He was probably just returning the favor.

I've found this pretty effective to deal with habitual tankers and leaves tanker with nothing to complain about.

Once it gets to the point where a clock should be called instead of calling clock, I just address the player and say.

"look, I never call the clock on people and wont start, but could you give us a rough idea on how much more time we have here. I mean are we talking 30 more seconds , 5 minutes, longer?"

this gets the point across and his pretty hard for villian to get pissed for calling the clock...... because you didnt

I pretty much agree with this
Poker is supposed to be a fun social game and one habitual tanker can destroy a great game

I used to be more hesitant about calling the clock but the tanking keeps getting worse and worse


There are people who constantly tank over every decision.
They're either hollywooding or slow thinkers and in either case I don't feel bad about calling the clock on them

There is someone I play with who makes a production out of every fold when he is rasied
I think in his small brain he thinks this prevents people from raising him light
I call the clock on him often


If someone plays fast and every once in a while has a big decision for a lot of chips I'm fine waiting

I rarely call the clock but this is absolute nonsense. I don't give a crap if I influence the outcome and I don't give a crap what the last aggressor wants. Me and 6 other people who aren't in the hand are waiting on this fool to hurry up and make what is usually a trivial decision. It's not the WSOP, the pot is 25bb OTR, you either have it or you don't, get on with it.

Can't stand people that tank every hand, especially on trivial decisions and I will happily call the clock on them. For reference, I will act almost instantly for ~90% of decisions as they're so easy and then if I need a minute I'll tell the table I'm gonna need a small bit of time. Most people are completely understanding because they know I've got a genuine decision.

The game would be better if more people called the clock.

People who tank every hand think they are viewed as having some sort of higher intelligence at the table. Likened to people who brag about being tough or having big feet. Doesn’t change the reality. Just fold idiots

I don't call clock ever unless they're a habitual slow player in a small pot. Some people get irked and take the full 60 seconds so it's hard to tell whether it would be longer to just wait to let them decide or whether it would be longer to call clock.

In general I think people overly tank too frequently and for too long. But if that was a big hand for 1/2 stakes I don't think 2 minutes is a reasonable amount of time. Floor should have given the player at least another minute or 2 before going to countdown, provided it was like an all in decision or like 100bb+

I have never called clock on anyone in a cash game, and I never will. Just chill out, enjoy yourself, no need to make so much panic and rush people, better to just let people take their time in a tough spot, and they might return the favor

Every table should have a timer on it. Anyone, including the dealer, should be able to start the clock at any time. Almost every small stakes game is drop rake, so the house should really want to implement this. Tanking sucks for everyone except 1 person; it's not fair to everyone else. And most people are clicking buttons when playing small stakes anyway, so why would they need more than 30 seconds?

You have two minus plus another one on the clock. If you can't make a decision in 3 minutes you should probably question your mental well being.

Oh and a 100bb spot is not very special in live games.

Calling clock during a low limit cash game is a shitheel move. If anyone did that to me I'd make it a point to needle and slowroll that person at every possible instance.

As long as they have been given a reasonable amount of time there should be no issue with calling the clock, even if not in the hand. I have had the clock called on myself for tanking on a tough decision (cash not tournament) and have no issue with it. Usually at that point i have already apologized to the table and I understand the call. Often times it helps me with the decision.

Only time I have an issue with it is if the person hasn't really tanked that long and its a quick call for the clock.

Tourney situation I have zero issue with anyone calling the clock at any point. Increasing blind levels effect everyone and the time is more valuable.

Seems like we agree that stakes matter, but we don't know why.