On Day 7 of the 2026 WSOP Main Event, organizers instituted a shot clock system for the first time.
The WSOP made the call to bring in the shot clocks after a player spent 17 minutes in the tank to try to earn a pay jump on Day 6.
While these shot clocks, or time bank cards, are widely-utilized across tournament poker, the choice to implement them midway through the year's biggest event stirred up no shortage of controversy.
It may not have been a popular one, but the decision was made in conjunction with 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."
Despite the outcry from the community, the WSOP kept shot clocks in play for the entirety of Day 7 and 8 as the field whittled down to a final table of nine.
Now they're reversing that decision.
'The most natural playing environment'
In a post to social media on Thursday evening, the WSOP released the following statement:
"After discussions with players and tournament staff, we’ve made the collective decision not to use a shot clock at next week’s WSOP Main Event Final Table.
As outlined in the Official Tournament Rules, players may call the clock if they believe an opponent is taking an unreasonable amount of time to act. Tournament staff also retains the authority to call the clock, but we expect to exercise that discretion only in exceptional circumstances while remaining neutral.
If repeated or excessive stalling negatively impacts the pace of play, WSOP reserves the right to introduce a shot clock.
Our goal is to create the most natural playing environment possible, giving players the time they need to make the biggest decisions of the tournament."
Early responders
Already, opinions are flying across social media.
GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu released a poll to his X followers – taking the temperature of the community in the wake of the reversal.
While Negreanu withheld his own thoughts on the choice, he did receive some interesting replies from other notable figures.
Patrick Leonard, who had a deep run himself, is in favor of removing the shot clocks for the final table, but said players who had saved them up to use wouldn't be happy.
2025 Main Event final table finisher Adam Hendrix approves, responding with: "Good decision."
Barny Boatman does as well.
In the coming days, we'll no doubt hear much more from other notables in the community – so keep an eye out for further coverage on this one from PokerOrg.
