What are your thoughts on Tanking?

[rvnhss]

Tanking, delaying time. Do you do it? Do you hate it when other players do it? Is it part of your strategy? Do you only do it in specific situations?

I usually play in MTT's so I don't mind it. Give the opposition more time to be eliminated. If we're close to the bubble I'll definitely wind the clock down, unless there's are only two or three tables because there's not much point then. If it's on the bubble and I'm obviously ITM I won't tank. Also, if people throw things or get sh*tty at me I'll tank a little longer just to "assert my dominance" haha.

 

[userX]

Everyone plays as they see fit. The main thing is not to break the rules. Everything that is allowed by the rules is not considered wrong. I use the time bank if there is a need for it. But I will never use my time bank to annoy the opponent.

 

[Dzill_230]

I noted both comments because there is some truth everywhere. Personally, I also don't consciously take time to make a decision, but I can do it if I'm forced to do so - they throw away all the garbage or express their emotions in some other way. Yes, this does not leave me indifferent, but maybe opp plays on several tables, the main thing is patience, and leaving emotions at the table, I don't always set myself up, but this is life and that's why it makes me happy, it means I'm alive!!

 

[Pokerpoet2]

I very rarely Tank when playing Poker, I consider what I am going to do on the River long before I get there, in fact many times On-line I will click the Check/Fold button while the other players are tanking, because I feel I have no chance of winning that particular hand.
So there really is no point in dragging it out, I am already thinking about the next hand. Although saying that there is evidence that if you tanked every hand you played there is a strong possibility of laddering up the pay table without playing a hand, in the later stages of a game.
So it boils down to how desperate you are to make a few extra Cents/Dollars.
In Live games however it is part of making a bluff work, If you Hollywood in a Live game it can give the impression that you are unsure about your hand strength, and can set your opponents up to raise you, or bluff with their own hands while you are holding the "nuts". A very profitable tactic.

 

[machinm19]

I agree with the above poster that tanking hands in the latter stages is a great way of laddering up the pay scale although chances of winning are reduced so its a tricky conundrum to negotiate.

 

[dreamer13]

If you look at everything purely from an EV point of view, then stalling is indeed a positive action.

 

[Roobz75]

I very rarely Tank when playing Poker, I consider what I am going to do on the River long before I get there, in fact many times On-line I will click the Check/Fold button while the other players are tanking, because I feel I have no chance of winning that particular hand.
So there really is no point in dragging it out, I am already thinking about the next hand. Although saying that there is evidence that if you tanked every hand you played there is a strong possibility of laddering up the pay table without playing a hand, in the later stages of a game.
So it boils down to how desperate you are to make a few extra Cents/Dollars.
In Live games however it is part of making a bluff work, If you Hollywood in a Live game it can give the impression that you are unsure about your hand strength, and can set your opponents up to raise you, or bluff with their own hands while you are holding the "nuts". A very profitable tactic.

I agree with most of your paragraphs.
Like you, I make a decision within the first few seconds of getting cards, so there's no need to deliberately run down the clock or 'tank'.

 

[Roobz75]

I do see elements of 'tanking' from aggressive players, particularly the ones that ovebet before the flop, then realise their hand has perhaps little chance of winning, when there are caller(s). Then they start to tank, by trying to re raise their bet and shake off the caller. Burning futile seconds of trying to raise again on the turn etc...losing chips instead of just checking/folding gracefully than continuing till the river, to get a bad beat, when the caller has the best hand.
Then spending the next couple of games either on tilt, or sitting out....😆😆

 

[Sopt]

I don't have a problem with it and use it myself sometimes in MTTs near the bubble. In my opinion it's an essential tactic to survive till money with short stack as everyone else is doing it also so you are just gimping yourself if you don't do it.

 

[RustyRed83]

I dont really care, when others do it, I see it as a sign of weakness. When I do it, it is probably becasue I'm surfing the web.

 

[LaNimmer]

When on the bubble and may not make it. At the final table sometimes. I generally fold immediately if I have no hand or no chance to bluff.

 

[PINOY]

Mostly i do it in satellite game when having big stacks so short stacks will be very short and will be force to risk it.

 

[Canaldo Kao]

If it's in the rules, you can use the Bank time however you want and think best!⌚

 

[julio gonzalez]

Hello, I also play in MTTs. and like almost all the players I tank when we are in a bubble. they also do it in big live tournaments. it's part of the rules of the game

 

[choprav]

I use it to think obviously, but yeah of near the bubble to help finish in the money and let people with nearly no chips go out. Its game play - and everyone has the same amount of time, also it's not like its 10 minutes it's only a matter of seconds so I dont see the harm

 

[AizenFalck]

I think everyone has a reason for tanking at a certain time. For example, I use it every time I want to delay the game before the bubble, not only for my benefit, but also for someone else at my table who is struggling to get to the prizes. I almost never use it to take time to think hard about the play I am going to choose. Regards

 

[Fepitaph]

I don’t care if someone is tanking, to be honest, when I hear someone condemning this, I immediately imagine a naive child who wants everything at once. What are you talking about, you play poker and not speedrun on Minecraft, if you make decisions thoughtlessly, then keep in mind that maybe someone is thinking about every step. and if we are talking about when people simply sit out players in order to get into the prizes, then tembolle, they have even more excuses.

 

[Cooking]

I really don't mind if other players decide to use all their time to make a play, because I know that sometimes I do the same thing. I only slow the game when it's bubble time and I'm shortstack, so, I understand if other players do the same thing.

 

[RENEY444]

Yes , at the bubble online i let my time pass every hand if i am short stacked .

 

[pentazepam]

Stalling is a sort of tanking with a purpose - to survive the bubble or advance in payout levels. That is OK.

But tanking during normal play and tanking almost every hand, just to balance the time you take before different decisions: Boring and irritating as hell. In a big pot, it is understandable but some people destroy the game with a ridiculously slow response time.

(Not to mention people that multi-table more tables than they can handle online and time out almost every time.)

 

[fundiver199]

As others have said, the concept of tanking is kind of mixed up with the concept of stalling here. Tanking means taking a long time, because you are unsure about your decision. This can sometimes be annoying for other players, but its a legitimate part of the game. The time bank is there for a reason, and if you never use it before making a big decision, you will end up making more mistakes.

Stalling is something entirely different. Stalling is dragging out time, even though you know perfectly well, what your decision is going to be, which is usually to fold. Most commonly when you have a junk hand preflop, which you are never going to play, but instead of folding it right away, you run the clock down.

This can be used to gain a small advantage near the bubble in a multitable tournament, because it increase the likelyhood, someone will bust at another table, before you have to put all your chips at risk. Some poker sites like ACR have a policy against it, and then you are breaking the TOS and risking sanctions, if you repeatedly do it. But on other sites like pokerstars its allowed, and then its just part of the game.

I will say though, that people sometimes overestimate, how much of an advantage they can gain by stalling. There are specific situations, where its advantageous, but there are also situations, where you are shooting yourself in the foot while possibly annoying other players in the process. That for instance is the case, if you have a bunch of shorter stacks on your left, and these players are also tight. Then you want to give yourself as many chances as possible to steal their blinds rather than slow down action.

 

[June4Spades]

I must admit I also do it in tournaments with a flat payout structure (e.g. the first 100 win a ticket).

 

[rhoudini]

Tanking and stalling have become part of the game, there is no way to avoid it.
Of course there are extreme cases, for example, that annoying guy in some high stakes tournaments, Martin Kabrel, who takes all the 30 seconds everytime to announce his decision on the last available second, even if he has a hand like 72o and knows he is not playing.
But what can someone do besides get annoyed? Nothing. Rules are rules, and if he has 30 seconds to act, he might take it or not.

Back to normal people, yeah, probably we have to accept that this makes part of the game, specially in No Limit games, where big decisions might take a lot of time. Sometimes it is part of representing and bluffing too.
If you don't like waiting too much, you can try Limit games (what about learning other variants?) because their dynamic is a lot faster.

 

[fundiver199]

Of course there are extreme cases, for example, that annoying guy in some high stakes tournaments, Martin Kabrel, who takes all the 30 seconds everytime to announce his decision on the last available second, even if he has a hand like 72o and knows he is not playing.

But at least most live tournaments now have a clock. In the not so distant past this was not the case, so even for a trivial preflop decision it would be up to other players at the table to call a clock on someone, who was stalling the action. Which near the bubble only the chip leader would really have an interest in doing. So in the extreme case an entire table could collude by taking endless abouts of time before even the most trivial decisions, hoping that someone would bust at another table, where hands were actually played.

 

[Emily Trott]

There are a lot of people who play more than one game at a time so I'd think that would account for a lot of this tanking.