One of the most controversial subjects in Sit & Go’s and tournaments is the use of the clock to manipulate the action (often referred to as stalling). This is most commonly a problem in online poker, where players have a fixed time bank and cannot see their opponents face to face. It has become a heated subject at times, with pros like Daniel Negreanu fiercely opposing the tactic, while other online pros defend the practice as just part of the game. Despite this though, most sites do not give out any penalties for stalling, since it is hard to enforce and players are seen as being allowed to use their time bank as they wish.
It’s worth nothing that you’re not actually breaking any rules by stalling. However, if you are going to use this slightly underhand measure you should consider the circumstances and possible consequences carefully. Firstly you should check to see whether other people are doing it already in your tournament. If so it is perfectly within your rights to do the same thing so that an equal number of hands is played on your table (for example, on the bubble of a MTT or Sit & Go). If you don’t pay attention to this kind of play you could be the one forced into paying for a crucial blind increase. The logical outcome of this, however, is that everyone starts stalling and the game grinds to a halt on the bubble, so you want to be careful about initiating such tactics.
Secondly, you should ask how important the situation is. If you are short-stacked on the bubble of an MTT or there is a very big blind increase coming you should clearly be more inclined to stall, so save this tactic for only the most crucial situations.
Bad karma?
Finally, you should ask what negative consequences there might be if you start stalling, and this is the main reason people are more reluctant to do so live. As already stated, the game might grind to a halt, which could be bad for you if you have an edge on the bubble. Worse still, other players might get upset at your tactics and decide to try to knock you out, or spite-stall to ensure that the blind increases hit you instead. Similarly, you may find your reputation being attacked by vocal players with different views on the move’s legality. Therefore, if you are going to stall make sure it’s mainly in response to the behaviour of others. At least try to restrict your use of this tactic to key points in tournaments and Sit & Go’s and hopefully you’ll minimise the negative reactions of other players.
Stalling in practice
Assuming you've decided stalling is a tactic you are happy to contemplate, we can now move on to the practicalities of clock abuse. The most important thing to note here is that to be aware of the best times to stall you must have a good awareness of your overall situation in a tournament or Sit & Go. This means that in an MTT you should be keeping an eye on the lobby to know how many players remain, when the bubble is and where you stand overall. In a Sit & Go you should be even more aware of when the blinds are going up, which are the biggest jumps and when an increase is going to significantly influence the game because of its effect on one or more players’ stack sizes.
Multi-table tournaments
In terms of MTTs, stalling takes place mostly around the bubble, with many short stacks wanting to ensure they get into the money before they risk their remaining chips. If you are in the bottom positions, therefore, you should probably stall in the run-up to the bubble, especially since it’s likely other tables will be doing the same (you can look for these by finding the smallest stacks by table in the lobby). This will also help you if things gets tight and you want to see how many hands people have left before blinding out. If you are a few places off the money spots with just a few players left to get KO’d you can usually make it without playing any hands. Slowing the action makes even more sense here, particularly since there are few hands you actually want to be dealt at such a point.
An average stack is a different consideration. If there are a lot of scared short stacks at your table you want to get in as many hands as possible. If there are bigger stacks playing aggressively you may want to slow things down.
Sit & Go’s
In Sit & Go’s the situation is even more extreme. If you are one of the short stacks on the bubble and a large blind increase is coming your best hope may be to use stalling tactics. In this spot you can gain a significant advantage by stalling so that you pay the blinds just before they go up, forcing the players behind to pay more and allowing you to win more chips by shoving, or even forcing another small stack into being pot-committed in the big blind.
While stalling in MTTs is fairly normal and straightforward, manipulating the clock in Sit & Go’s can be much more crucial. Obviously, it only comes into play when you are one of the short stacks and the blinds are so high that you and the other short stacks have close to five big blinds.
For example, you could be in a spot where both you and another short-stacked player have 1,000 chips on the bubble with the blinds at 100/200, and you can stall in the small blind so that the blinds increase to the next level of 150/300. The cumulative increase will have a devastating effect on your opponent since he now has no fold equity and will be pot-committed when the big blind gets to him. This effectively allows you to wait and see if he gets knocked out before you are forced to make a move.
Putting your foot down
This kind of stalling is typical in Sit & Go’s, as it has such a huge effect on the outcome of the game, but there are still situations where you might deviate. For example, in the above situation if you were in the big blind and the opponent with 1,000 was on your direct left, it would be better to stall so that you pay the increased small blind of 150 but he pays the increased big blind of 300, since this does him more damage than you.
Of course you should also be aware of other players who are likely to do this to you and try to outfox them by thinking a few hands or minutes ahead. Always make a note of such players in your notes – it may get confusing but it can become a fascinating strategy subtext to your regular game!
Just remember that stalling can be a controversial subject, so you shouldn’t use it too much, or to the extent that it is obvious and will cause other players to try to do the same back to you more in future. Nevertheless, it still has legitimate and important uses in poker tournaments and Sit & Go’s, so make sure you always keep an eye on your cards, opponents and the clock. It’s just another part of the balancing act that is poker!