Poker is a game of thought, decision making and of course bluffing. But how does decision making determine how much time you use to make your next play?

Most tells in poker may be given away during the process of decision making. Some bluffs usually occur when a player takes slightly longer than usual to make a decision , indicating a marginal hand. The issue with taking time to play a hand is that it gives other players more chance to read you and get a feel for your hand.

A snap play, bet or call can indicate strength and represent the best hands or even the nuts. The great thing about ‘snap play’ is that it gives other players a reduced time to read your hand and puts pressure on them to analyse the game by their own hand.

Apart from the two issues stated above, decision making may result in time delays. Time delays have their own set of ‘unwritten rules’ in tournament poker. As with any ‘sport’ the unwritten rules mostly tie in with sportsmanship and etiquette. In poker, etiquette is what keeps the game civil and seperates the new age player from the gun slingers of the wild west.

So how much time should a player recieve to make a decision on how to plays his/her hand?

Personally, i like to break it up into the 4 main parts of a hand: Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn and River Stages and i use my POT SIZE / TIME THEORY.

Pre-Flop (Before Cards are Dealt): Players in early position should have the advantage of slightly longer time to make a decision as they are the first to play and set the trend. I would say that 15-25 secs is sufficient time. Players in later positions should need slightly less time to play as they can see the trend in play.

Flop (1st 3 cards are dealt): Once again, players in early position have a slightly longer time to play. The players in later positions have a longer time to analyse the cards as the players in early positions have acted 1st, thus should result in a shorter decision making and reduced time delays.

Turn: By the turn, we have fewer players involved in the hand as only one more card has been added to the set of cards on the table. This should not have a significant change in your hand, and even less time should be taken to make a decision by all players regardless of position.

River: The last and final card is added to the cards on the table. By this stage your hand should be clear in your mind and you should already know what action to take. The last step theoretically should be the fastest phase to play but it also is the phase that could make or break any player in No Limit Texas Holdém, so usually the time allocated to decision making is reflected by the pot size. POT SIZE / TIME THEORY is Smaller Pots = Less Time to Act and Bigger Pots = Slightly More Time to Act.

Remember that decision making and time delays affect the flow of any game. Be mindeful of players at the table and the dealer. Happy decision making!