I was recently in a 1000+ entries 1-day WSOP tournament and we were at the point where the field was consolidated down to 3 tables and everybody had to move to a different position/table. At this point the average stack size was around 10BB's and the tournament switched to 1-hand at a time status so the advantages of stalling would be minimized. Having said that, at my table sat the chip leader who was shamelessly stalling (IMO) every hand he was involved in and even some he was not. His stalling actions were very creative and required the tournament director to visit our table more than once to deal with his issues but the issues cleverly never elevated to the level of receiving a warning or penalty (whatever that means) for stalling. Initially I was annoyed by his obnoxious behavior but I quickly got over it when I started to realize all the benefits I was reaping but I doubt I recognized them all so I'm asking you to complete my short list below.
The advantages I recognized were...1) even though it's 1-hand at a time, if each table looses 1 player per hand then the player at the table playing the slowest would be busting last and would finish 1-2 positions lower than the other 2 players and would win more money. 2) Players at a stalling table can more easily observe action/bust-outs at the other tables while they're in a hand which could be the deciding factor on whether they continue in the hand they're in. 3) Players at a stalling table who are out of the hand can get up and go observe action at the other tables to gain an edge by knowing how many are all-in and how many will be on the next hand. That's what I did and the tournament director/floor supervisors had no problem with me observing action at the other tables.
What additional advantages are there to stalling late in tournaments especially in BB ante tournaments? With BB ante tournaments on the rise, I think stalling becomes an even bigger issue. Do you agree? Are you expected to give a politically correct response to this question or are you encouraged by your employer to always lay it out the way it is and let the chips fall where they may regardless of how poker professionals/TV/casinos/advertisers/sponsors etc. might react especially those advocating for all tournaments to speed up or be BB ante tournaments? LOL Thanks!