The decision that times out
Most interruptions cost nothing because the round was already decided. A decision window is the exception: while it is open, a break hands the round to a timer, and the timer either applies a default action or voids the round. This page takes the window, the default and the arithmetic apart.
- decision window
- 30.0s
- mean decision time
- 9.4s
- rounds that timed out
- 720
- took the default action
- 56.7%
- voided, no default
- 43.3%
- runtime javascript
- none
The stake is committed and the round is running. A break here, before the round is decided, is the only break that can void the stake - and only if the rules have no default action.
The decision window is open. A dropped connection or a timed-out decision is decided here: by a default action, by a void, or by the window expiring.
The outcome is fixed on the server. A break now is a display problem only: the round settles as decided and the result is shown on reconnect.
The round is voided and the stake returns to the balance. This is a rule outcome, not a loss: the money is where it started.
A decision window is the time the rules allow for an action in a game where the player acts. If the window closes without an action, the game either applies a default action it defines (stand, fold, check) or, if it defines none, voids the round and returns the stake. In the samples 56.7% of timeouts took a default and 43.3% voided.
The window and the margin inside it
A decision window is sampled here at 30.0 seconds, against a mean player decision time of 9.4 seconds. That margin is the whole reason timeouts are rare in normal play: the window is set well above the time an ordinary decision takes, so a timeout is a signal that the connection or the client broke, not that the player was slow.
The window is not a deadline for skill. It is a cut-off for the connection, set far beyond the time a decision needs.
When the window closes, the round does not hang. The rules move it on, and the two ways they move it on are the rest of this page.
The default action, and the void
| Resolution | What it means | Rounds | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| default action | the game takes the action it defines for a timeout | 408 | 56.7% |
| void, stake returned | the game defines no default and cancels the round | 312 | 43.3% |
A default action is not a judgement about the player; it is a rule that keeps the table moving. It is normally the passive action - stand, fold, check - chosen because it is the least committed move in the game. Its cost is real, though: if the passive action loses, the stake is lost, and the player never made the decision.
What a timeout can cost, in arithmetic
Worked example / samples F and J
- rounds that timed out: 720
- resolved by a default action: 408
- resolved by a void, stake returned: 312
- a losing default costs the committed stake
- a void returns the committed stake in full
- rounds whose outcome the timeout itself changed: 0
The last line matters. A timeout does not create an outcome the game did not already allow; it selects the passive action from the actions available. That is why the stake return is the outcome on 43.3% of timeouts - those are the games whose rules prefer a void to a guess.
What to do about it
- Know the window before you play: the terms state the decision timer for each game type.
- Know the default: the rules state the action taken on a timeout, or state that the round voids.
- Prefer a stable connection for any game with a decision window; the window is the only place a break can decide a round against you.
- Do not raise a stake to make a timeout feel worth it; the window does not widen with the stake.
- If a timeout produced a default action you did not choose, the record shows it, and the escalation route is support rather than a re-stake.