The WSOP introduced shot clocks to the Main Event for the first time on Day 7, and the decision immediately sparked controversy.
Joe Stapleton announced the change on the WSOP livestream.
“A decision has been made overnight,” he said. “There was quite a bit of insane tanking yesterday so we have introduced a shot clock today on Day 7. You have 20 seconds to act preflop, 30 seconds post per street, and you get six time extensions, otherwise known as a timebank card – they are worth 30 seconds each and you get six per day.”
He went on to say, “It is a little unconventional to introduce a shot clock at this point, but the powers that be felt that with some of the 15-minute tanking that went on yesterday, introducing a shot clock was necessary.”
Shot clocks were used at the 2026 WSOPE Main Event in Prague but they've never previously been used in the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. It comes after a player tanked for 17 minutes on a single decision on Day 6.
It is covered in the official WSOP rules, where section 80 states: "Host Properties, in its sole and absolute discretion, reserves the right at any time to implement an Event-wide 'player shot-clock' into any tournament at any point in that tournament’s structure."
Main Event speeds up
It means that players now get a maximum of three minutes and 30 seconds to make a single decision – and if they use all of their timebank cards they will only have 30 seconds to make every single decision from then on.
ESPN is broadcasting the Main Event and some are speculating that this has something to do with the decision. However, while it will speed things up, it could also cut out a lot of drama from some of the biggest moments from Day 7 onwards.
Here are the best reactions from players on X, with high-stakes pro Chris Brewer kicking off the debate with the following two posts. Brewer believes that adding shot clocks heavily favors the pros who are used to shot clocks from playing in high rollers.
It's a point that was backed up by Maria Ho on the WSOP livestream.
"As someone who’s played quite a few tournaments with time banks I have to say the first couple of times it definitely made it even harder for me to focus on the decision at hand," Ho said.
"I kept thinking about how much time I had, I’d look up at the clock, and down at the iPad. There are so many layers of complications once you introduce it to this type of field. It will be interesting to see how that affects other players’ decisions, players who are not used to playing with timebanks."
High-stakes player Andrew Lichtenberger agreed.
Naoya Kihara, who has won two bracelets this summer, also argued that it would hurt amateur players more.
In a series of posts on his X account, he said, "If someone's going to be disadvantaged, it's obviously the amateur players who have no experience playing under this kind of pressure. Rules should fundamentally exist to protect amateur players, and making a change like this midway through is just excessively unfair."
He went on to say: "Even if you're going to introduce a shot clock, wouldn't it have been better to give it a bit more time? Like 20 time banks or adding three per break? This is the main event with 120-minute blinds."
No more big Main Event moments?
Sam Grafton made a great point about the "death of poker personalities" on livestreams.
He said high-rollers were under so much pressure to make decisions that there's no time for anything else. He said that great WSOP Main Event moments such as Scotty Nguyen's "You call, it's gonna be all over, baby!" would never have happened if shot clocks were being used.
Even players who are pro shot clocks disagreed with adding them in mid-tournament. As did WSOP commentator David Williams.
I am very pro shotclock in the main (and going 8 handed asap), but adding it mid tourney is nuts.
— Galen Hall (@galenhall) July 12, 2026
I’m extremely pro shot clocks for poker tournaments but this is insane
— Ryan Riess (@RyanRiess1) July 12, 2026
Whether the WSOP adjusts the system later in the tournament remains to be seen, but it's a decision that's likely to be debated long after this year's Main Event is over.
Here are more reactions from players to the news.
