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Calling Clock

by Blake on January 11th, 2008

Yeah, I’m blogging this one.

So, last night at my local home game, a $1/$1 blind NL game played with no rake and an average $60 buy-in, just for fun, I got into a rather strange situation.

The table had cleared down to 5 people. One player had acquired almost all of the chips at the table, with about $700 in front of him. I had about $170. Everyone else had $30 or less and were just playing to try to get back in it.

In a limped pot, where I was a blind, I had 10/2 off. There were 4 players in the hand. The big stack was to my right, and had been playing almost every hand, as he couldn’t seem to lose. He was also pushing a lot, but had shown a lot of big hands and hadn’t really put a lot of chips at risk without something to back it up.

The flop came down 10 8 6, rainbow. I was first to act and checked around to the big stack, who bet $5. I started to raise, but felt like just calling to see what happened. The player to my left also called.

The turn was a 2. Nice, two pair. I check again, knowing big stack will bet. He does. Bets the same $5 as last time. I raised to $15. To the left of me folds.

Big stack immediately goes all in. He was me way covered, about another $160. There’s maybe $30 in the pot. Now I know I probably have the best hand here, but he’d been playing solid most of the night. I had far from the nuts: he could have flopped the straight, a set, a better two pair, but really it didn’t seem likely that he did. Still I didn’t want to donkey call off my whole stack with a 10 2.

So I say, “I’m going to need to think about this for a second. I don’t know how you can be beating me unless you played this really weird.”

The other player, who’d folded to my raise, says, “Clock.”

There’s only been a couple instances where someone’s called a clock in this game before. And that was after a long wait that was holding up the game, and when the player had had more than enough time to think about it. I’d been thinking maybe half a minute. This bet was for my whole stack on a rather strange board.

I said there was no need for a clock yet and the player insisted. He’d dumped a bunch of money throughout the night and was now trying to make it back, but it’s been hardly any time anyway and now I’m over here thinking about how much time I have and why this guy’s busting my ass when he’s not even in the hand instead of putting the piece of the hand together and getting the other player to talk a bit so I can try to figure out what he has.

Finally, after I continued to argue, the player said, “Okay, I take the clock back.” But by now, I’m irritated. Usually stuff doesn’t get to me, but it was 330 AM, and I was coming off a losing streak and I didn’t want to mess this pot up.

So pretty much without thinking any further (which I shouldn’t have let happen) I folded the hand.

The player showed 8 2 for a smaller two pair, which I likely would have been doubled up on if I hadn’t been interrupted by someone who had absolutely no business in the hand.

Add to the fact that this player complains about any time anyone does something he doesn’t like, and the whole thing just stinks.

Calling a clock on a cash game player is really no one’s business unless you are in the hand. In tournaments, where the blinds can be affected by time passing, yes, call a clock if someone is taking too long and it is affecting you.

If you own the house and you’re missing rake time, yeah, fine call the clock.

But interfering with a big hand involving two other players at an informal cash game is just straight bad poker etiquette.

The player emailed me later (he likes to send emails, though usually he’s the one complaining about what you did wrong to him) to let me know how much of a baby I am, and how I was just mad I folded the ‘obvious best hand’ (which, even though it was the 8th nuts, I think I probably would have called if I’d had more time to think about it, especially considering I’d gotten the player to say something that led me to believe I had the best hand), and how it was ridiculous for me to get mad.

Yeah, I complain about garbage in poker. But I don’t interrupt other player’s plays.

I think there’s a hand in High Stakes Poker where someone who isn’t in the hand (maybe Sean Sheikhan?) calls a clock on Sam Farha even though he hadn’t taken that long yet either and it was a big hand, and Sam went off on him. Wish I could find that clip.

Best believe every time it takes more than 2 seconds for Mr. Whiney to act from now on that clock is ON.

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POSTED IN: etiquette, home games