Time Bank

1. Introduction

The Tournament Time Bank is a new feature that can be configured for all poker tournaments. It is an individual time reserve that each player can use throughout the tournament to prolong the time they need for making decisions. This time reserve is persistent and a player has a fixed amount of time that can be requested from the Time Bank in one tournament. If a player has used up all of the reserve time, they can no longer use the Time Bank in this tournament. At the final table of a multi-table tournament, each player may be given a new time reserve, regardless of how much time they previously had in the Time Bank, or the Time Bank might be disabled altogether for the final table. For a more detailed overview of the logic of the Time Bank, see chapter 2 (Tournament Time Bank Overview).

The players can manually request the extra time from their Time Bank by clicking a timer when 3/4 of their turn has elapsed. In the situation where a player has invested some money during a hand but has not made a decision during the normal time, the Time Bank is automatically activated. This also adds an extra layer of protection against disconnections as players have a longer time to reconnect and make a decision when playing an important hand. For more information on how the players can interact with the Time Bank, see chapter 3 (Client).Note: Using the time balance in one tournament will in no way affect the player’s time balance in other tournaments.

2. Tournament Time Bank Overview.

The Time Bank feature adds an individual time reserve for each player. It can be wholly or partially used whenever the player wishes to make an important decision after the default turn time has elapsed. Also, if the player has already invested money other than the ante in the hand, the Time Bank will automatically be used in the games. If a player is sitting out, the Time Bank is not used and the automatic action (check or fold) is taken.

The Time Bank time is configured individually for each tournament. There is no way to replenish or add time to the Time Bank balance in the course of the tournament, except that a new Time Bank might be given to each player for the final table of multi-table tournaments. In this case the current Time Bank balance will be reset for all players to the same amount of time. If no Time Bank reserve is configured for the final table, it is disabled altogether for that stage of the tournament.

The Time Bank functionality also improves disconnection protection. Regardless of whether the player is connected or disconnected, the Time Bank will be used in the same way, providing players with extra time to reconnect when the Time Bank is automatically activated during an important hand.

Note. After the Time Bank is used, the remaining time is rounded to the nearest second. For example, if the player had 0.50 to 1.49 seconds remaining after using the Time Bank, it would be rounded to 1.00 seconds for the next usage. If the player had less than 0.5 seconds remaining, it would be rounded to 0 and the Time Bank would no longer be available.

Example

A multi-table tournament has been configured to have 60 seconds in the Time Bank for the tournament and 120 seconds in the Time Bank for the final table.

A player in this tournament has 60 seconds in their time reserve in the beginning of the tournament. Soon, the player has to make an important decision. The default time allocated for this player’s turn is almost expired. The player then clicks the timer button before the turn is over and uses 25 seconds from the Time Bank to make the decision. The player now has 35 seconds left to be used during the rest of the tournament.

The player reaches the final table of the tournament and the Time Bank balance of all the players is set to 120 seconds. During the gameplay at the final table, the player experiences connection problems during their turn. As they have invested some money in the hand, the Time Bank will automatically start after the default turn time has expired. The player is able to reconnect after 40 seconds of the time reserve is elapsed and has 80 seconds remaining in the Time Bank.

3. Client

After 3/4 of the player’s turn has elapsed, the timer showing the time remaining until the end of the player’s turn becomes a clickable button. A message informing the player of this will also appear, as shown on the screenshot above. The player can request extra time from the Time Bank by clicking the timer. The extra time will start when the player’s normal turn time is over and will stop when the player has made a decision. When the Time Bank becomes active, the timer will change color, and it will display the remaining time in seconds, as shown on the screenshot below. The exact number will be visible to all players in the table.

When the player’s Time Bank is not currently activated, the exact time reserve left is known only to the player and is shown in parentheses behind their nickname. When the player mouses over the number, a tooltip “Time in Timebank” is displayed, as shown on the screenshot below.

For example, in the first screenshot above, the player Vitaminka has 28 seconds left in the Time Bank, but only she can see it. In the second screenshot below, the player Vitaminka has 17 seconds left in the Time Bank. However, as her Time Bank is currently active, everyone can see her time reserve on her timer button.

The player cannot request more time from the Time Bank than what is left on their Time Bank balance. If the player has requested extra time, but runs out of the Time Bank’s reserve, the default action will be instantly taken, which is either checking or folding. When the player has no more time left in the Time Bank, the timer will no longer change into a clickable button and the message will no longer be shown during the player’s turns.

After the end of the regular player turn, when the Time Bank becomes active, a message will appear in the chat box, informing all other players in the table that a player has requested extra time.

3.1  Automatic Time Bank Activation.

If a player has some chips invested in the hand, whether through a small blind, a big blind, or a bet, the Time Bank will be activated automatically upon the expiration of the normal decision time. In this case, the timer will not become a clickable button, and the message will not be shown to the player. Automatic Time Bank activation does not apply when the player’s Time Bank balance is zero. Also, the Time Bank will not automatically activate if the only money that the player has invested in the hand is the ante.

3.2  Sounds.

Two new sound effects have been added to the Poker Client in connection with the Time Banks feature development. The first sound is played when the popup message appears near the player’s timer, informing the player that the timer has become a clickable button and that by clicking on it the player can request the activation of the Time Bank upon the expiry of their turn.

The second sound is played when the player’s Time Bank is activated at the end of their turn, regardless of whether the player has activated it manually or it has activated automatically.

If the player has the Client sounds turned off, they will not hear the Time Bank sounds.

3.3 Older Client Versions.

The Poker Clients with a lower than the 9.3 version do not fully support the Time Bank feature.