Stalling has been a longtime issue at the World Series of Poker with players often taking excessive amounts of time to make a decision in a hand.
After seeing several players in the Main Event engage in time wasting while hoping to secure a pay jump, including one who stalled for more than 15 minutes on Day 6, tournament officials responded on Sunday.
When Day 7 of the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship started at Paris Las Vegas, all the remaining players were notified a “shot clock” would be implemented in an effort to speed up play.
It’s the first time the Main Event has had a clock on players, although it’s been utilized in recent years at WSOP Europe and other poker series such as the PokerGo Tour and World Poker Tour.
“It should have definitely been done earlier in this tournament,” professional poker player Shaun Deeb said.
The Main Event continued late Sunday and Rami Hammoud of Canada held the unofficial lead at final break of the evening with 28 players left chasing the $10 million first prize. All the remaining players are guaranteed at least $265,000.
The Main Event resumes Monday with Day 8 and is scheduled to play until nine players are left. The final table begins Aug. 3.
Under the shot clock rules, each player has 20 seconds to make a decision or be forced to check their hand. If they are facing a bet and don’t act in time, their hand is ruled dead unless they use a time bank chip.
The extension provides an extra 30 seconds to act, and each player was given six time banks at the start of play.
“I think the Main Event, specifically, has so much pressure to it that it takes time to count your opponent’s stack and take a breath,” said Tyler Gaston, the Day 6 chip leader. “Most of the people playing in the Main Event, myself included, haven’t really been on this stage before. I think it puts them in a bad spot.
“I just think on this stage specifically, I don’t think it’s great.”
Gaston was involved in a lengthy hand against Loren Klein on Saturday night with 72 players remaining.
Klein, a four-time WSOP champion, bet all but one chip before the flop. When Gaston put his opponent all-in, Klein “tanked” — the poker term for stalling — for more than 15 minutes hoping a player at one of the other tables would bust and give him a pay jump. The 72nd-place finisher made $105,000, while the player out in 71st place made $125,000.
A tournament supervisor finally put Klein on a clock and gave him one minute to act. Klein tossed in his final chip with his time nearly expired and ultimately was knocked out in 72nd place without the $20,000 pay jump. Klein was heavily criticized on social media in the aftermath of the hand.
“I get it. You feel like a (jerk) calling the clock on the guy,” Gaston said. “But also it’s unfair to the rest of the tables when he’s taking equity from them.”
With the Main Event back on ESPN this year, WSOP officials have tried to speed up play and moved away from the slow, livestream format of the past in an effort to attract new viewers and grow the game. Tournament officials declined to comment on the decision to add the “shot clock.”
Deeb, a nine-time WSOP winner, believes the shot clock is more beneficial to the recreational players remaining in the field because pros are the ones leaving one chip behind and stalling for pay jumps.
“I’m glad they implemented it. The players seem to be fine with it,” Deeb said. “I think the pace of play today has been much better. All the tables are playing an equal number of hands and that’s the fairest thing. You cannot have tables playing half as many hands as other tables this deep in a tournament with this type of money jump.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
