Players Must Act on Hands in a Reasonable Amount of Time

During the WSOP, I followed the main event updates on WSOP.com. I read one report that was written as follows: One player was taking a long time to act on each hand and it was annoying the other players at the table. He insisted it was within his right to do so saying: “I’ve got two minutes. I play within the rules. I put up $10,000 of my own money. I’m the short stack and I’ve got two minutes to act.”

The others appealed to the logic that, since he was short, it would be beneficial to him to see more hands. He still refused to look at his cards before it was his turn to act in case they got a read on him. Tablemates suggested he could look at his cards and, if he had something like 8-3 offsuit, he might fold a bit quicker. He replied in an outraged voice, “Now they’re telling me what cards to play.” The floor confirmed to his unhappy tablemates that he did indeed have two minutes to make his decision, but also told the stalling player to “play cards.”

I was curious to see what some highly respected tournament directors had to say about this, since the update made it sound like the ruling was that he would be allowed to continuously take two minutes to act. I was relieved to read Jack Effel’s response: “Reasonable amount of time to us is about two minutes, but like we told the player, we are not going to give him two minutes every hand. And if we believe someone is purposely stalling on every hand, we will accelerate the amount of time the player is allowed to take as we deem appropriate…which we will push down to 10 seconds to act if necessary.”

Dave Lamb replied: Players have “a reasonable amount of time to act on a hand.” The TDA defined it that way to allow for the differences in satellites, 30-minute levels, 2-hour levels, etcetera. Clearly, it would be crazy to allow players two full minutes to act if playing in a satellite or turbo with 15-minute levels. I would not consider two minutes each time a player was facing action to be at all reasonable; most folding hands can be evaluated in a matter of seconds. Two minutes to act on a hand is considered to be part of the extra time needed to make a decision on a hand, not permission to slow the game down unnecessarily. I would consider it “reasonable” to warn a habitually slow player that a penalty for stalling and intentionally delaying is also part of the rules.

Matt Savage agreed with both Effel and Lamb. “I would not allow a player to take two minutes on each decision,” he wrote. “This would be considered to be unreasonable.”
So, there you have it. Three tournament directors all agree that players have responsibility to act on their hands in a reasonable amount of time. By the way, I agree with them.

Today’s column is dedicated to the late, great Chad Brown. I was fortunate to know Chad and was honored to attend his memorial held at Binion’s in Las Vegas. The celebration of Chad’s life started with a video of Chad in happier, healthier days put together with love by Vanessa Rousso, his ex-wife. It contained footage of him from his school days, from his dancing days, from his baseball days, and from his many poker victories. The one thing that was constant on the video, and the thing I will remember best about Chad, was the smile on his face.

Ali Eslami, one of Chad’s best friends, spoke of Chad’s, “choice to lead a happy life.” He told a story about Chad playing heads-up against Erik Seidel in a WSOP event and how Chad had Erik all-in twice as a huge favorite and lost both times and ended up coming in second. Eslami asked him how he could take the beats so well, and Chad’s response was, “I choose to be happy.” Even once he knew his cancer was inoperable, Chad chose to be happy during his last few months, weeks, and days. He wasn’t bitter and never asked, “Why me?” He told his friends that he had led a great life and wouldn’t change places with anyone. Matt Savage spoke about how courageous Chad was up until he took his last breath and how he wished he would be able to react with dignity and courage like Chad did if he was faced with a terminal illness.

Following the memorial, there was a charity tournament in Chad’s memory that raised $35,600 for the TJ Martell Foundation. PokerStars matched the amount donated, making a total sum of $71,200 to the charity.

The world would be a better place if there were more people like Chad in it. Perhaps we should strive to be more like Chad and live our lives happy. ♠

Linda Johnson is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and is a founding member of the Tournament Directors Association. She also is a partner in Card Player Cruises. She invites you to join her on a poker cruise; details at www.cardplayercruises.com.