Time Bank

Also known as: time bank chip, shot clock, time chip

A reserve of extra decision time a player can use beyond the standard clock for a tough spot, online automatically or live via time-bank chips.

A time bank is a pool of additional thinking time granted on top of the base time limit for an action. Online, each player has a per-hand base allotment (often a few seconds) plus a separate time-bank balance that activates automatically when the base runs out, ticking down only while you tank; it typically replenishes slowly or per level. Live, time banks appear in two forms: a tournament shot clock (e.g. 30 seconds per decision) where each player gets a handful of one-time-extension chips for the whole event, or a player calling "time" to invoke the standard countdown before a clock is called on them.

The purpose is to protect the genuinely difficult decision — a big river bluff-catch, an ICM-loaded bubble shove — while preventing chronic stalling. Banking time is a resource: blowing extensions on trivial spots leaves you exposed when a real decision arrives, especially near a pay jump where one tank can be worth a full buy-in.

Etiquette: don't tank in the dark on routine folds, and if an opponent is genuinely Hollywooding to gain a tell or angle, you (or the table) can "call the clock" — after which the floorman or dealer counts down a fixed time, and the hand is dead if no action follows.