When is it OK to Call a Floorman?

This is a question that you hear discussed quite a bit in poker rooms. You call a floorman for a multitude of reasons: clarification of rules, table changes, to get chips, to get on lists, a problem with a dealer, to make the guy next to you go to his room and shower and change his clothes, and so on. All of these reasons are considered fine, with the possible exception of the following: that awkward situation that arises when a player feels the need to call a floorman on another player because he/she feels another player is breaking or at least bending the rules.

It can be for bad behavior, but it is usually for one of two things: a string-raise or taking too much time to make a decision. The latter is usually referred to as "calling the clock" on someone.

If you watched the last few tables of the 2008 main event of the World Series of Poker, you witnessed Tiffany Michelle call a clock on a player because she thought he was taking too long to make his decision. The decision was for the player's life in the biggest tournament in the world, and on TV it showed that he had taken less than a minute to ponder when Michelle called for a clock. The other player became upset, and she then claimed that she was a short stack, which she wasn't even close to being.

She later told me that ESPN had edited the episode to make her look bad, and that he had stalled much longer than that. Another player who was there denies this. I don't know the real truth, as I wasn't there, but she has definitely taken a lot of heat over the matter (among other things).

I have never called the clock on anybody in my life (at least that I can remember). If a player has a big decision to make, I feel he should be allowed ample time to do so. I have been in situations where a player has taken an unreasonably long amount of time, but fortunately someone else has always called the clock before I was forced to do so.

I'll give you a few guidelines that I consider fair before calling the clock on a player. The first is, simply, how long has he taken? I believe that a player should be allowed at least a minute, and possibly longer, if it's a major decision.

The next is, and I just touched on this, how big a decision is it? Will it knock the player out if he calls, or will it cripple him? If so, have a heart and allow the poor guy a few minutes to think. It takes some players longer than others to replay the action in their heads. However, if it's just one more bet in a limit game or something comparable, come on, let's go!

Last and most important, in my opinion, is the player who is taking the time to act. Does he stall often? Does he try to ham it up for the cameras by trying to be dramatic when it's an obvious decision? Does he stall to get on people's nerves or to just get attention in general?

If the player is one of these guys, don't feel bad about calling the clock, as these players need to learn some manners. As a matter of fact, do us all a favor and follow these guys out into the parking lot and really teach them some manners!

The other touchy reason to call a floorman is for a string-bet. I usually let them slide, but I have called a floorman a few times when it was real "stringy." If you don't know what it is, a string-bet occurs when you release your chips without saying "raise" and then attempt to do so by going back to your stack.

You'll often see players go out with a handful of chips to raise, count out the call, and then, realizing that they don't have enough chips in their hand, go back to their stack to get more without saying anything. Buzz! That raise will not be allowed; the player will be allowed to just call.

As I said, I've called only a few string-raises in my life. I usually like to just live and let live. In the past few years, I can think of only one, and it's a pretty good example, so here's how the hand played out.

I was an instructor at a poker boot camp and was playing in the tournament at the end of it. I raised from late position with 8-6 offsuit and got called by the big blind. The flop came Q-8-6 with two hearts. The big blind checked and I bet the pot. He then threw a 10,000-denomination chip into the pot, which was about 3,000 at this time, and about a full second after it hit the table, he announced, "OK, let's do this," or something along those lines. His raise would have put me all in.

I knew he meant to raise, even though he didn't say it, but it was clearly a string-raise anyway, because he didn't say it before the chip hit the felt. The rest of the players stared at me, waiting to see what I'd do, and I must admit, I wasn't sure what to do. After all, this was a poker boot camp and I was an instructor. But what kind of a lesson would I be giving if I let this go? It would definitely be called in a regular tournament.

I wasn't going to be doing him any favor by keeping quiet, although that's what I wanted to do. But, he was there to learn, and it was better that he learned there, I figured. Also, this was a perfect spot for me to get a free card. I was pretty sure that I had the best hand with bottom two pair, but I was happy to see a free card once I knew that he was willing to go all in. If the turn card paired the queen or was a heart, I could get away from my hand and live to fight another day with my remaining 6,000 in chips.

When I called the string-raise on my opponent, he wasn't too happy. I didn't want to upset him, as he was a nice guy, but as I said, it was a clear call. The rest of the table quickly jumped in on my side, which was fortunate, as the dealer couldn't speak English. Another player pointed out to him that even if he had said what he said in time, it still would have been a string-raise, as he never actually said the word raise or any form of it. Although that is technically correct, I would never call a string-raise for that reason alone.

Anyway, the turn was an offsuit deuce, a complete blank, so after he checked, I quickly moved all in. He just as quickly called, and I expected him to show me a flush draw. Strangely enough, he had A-Q - top pair, top kicker. Why in the world would he check-call fourth street? If I had a flush draw there, I'd have checked behind him, taking the free card.

As it stood, I was sitting pretty as more than a 4-1 favorite with one card to come. But, inasmuch as I had already lost five other pots like this one that day, I figured I'd stand up so that I could make a speedy departure if a deuce, ace, or queen came. Sure enough, an ace came on the end. The river sent me to the beach. This tropical locale wasn't very lucky for me, but at least I had a nice spot to head to after I busted out.