Showing Cards

[Irish88]

Playing in the early rounds of a 50+ person tournament, I raised w/ a pr of tens only to be re-raised by the button. I called. Flop comes KK8. I check, he bets all-in. I fold and show him only the TT.

Am I required to show the rest of the table if I don't want to?

[HPG ADMIN]

It is definitely courtious to show everyone. As far as a rule, i'm not sure but i would think you would be required to show or the dealer would be required to show them. If you show a hand to only 1 person then that person has an unfair information advantage.

It gives the one opponent an unfair advantage of knowing your strategy. Personally, I wouldn't have shown that hand at all.

[Curmudgeon]

Personally, I never show. But, I've found that in most games I've played in a general rule of "Show one, show all" exits.

Have othes found this general rule?

Cheers: Curmudgeon

[Irish88]

I guess my question was is it a rule "Show one, show all" or just table etiquette?

You are right, I shouldn't have shown them to begin with.

[HPG ADMIN]

It actually depends on the house/casino rules because not everyone has the same rules. There are no universal poker rules. The generally acepted rule is to show everyone. But if you aren't made to show the whole table it's because the dealer doesnt care and the other players dont care enough to say something.

If you show one person, it would be considered rude not to show anyone else. Personally, I only show the monster awesome hands that I get, so everyone is led to believe that I only play killer hands. Gives you more of a chance to buy the pot later. Just don't bluff immediately after you show a strong hand.

[Curmudgeon]

Irish88:

I've seen both, and if memory serves, etiquette predominates.

Cheers: Curmudgeon

[gezzuzz]

Showing cards sould be part of your strategy.. Newton's Law Applys to poker as well. "Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction"

Think about it..

If you show your hands often i find people will tend to not pay to see your cards.. because they know you will show if you had the flush or what ever good hand they might of thought you to have.. is this good or bad? well if you do have the flush this is bad... but if you have 2 pair and the other guy has trips this is good... if you bluffing do you really want them to pay to see your cards?

so i don't think showing your cards will hurt your game.. i can hurt just as must as it can help..

One rule if follow is know which play pay to see card and which don't.. and learn a betting system for each.. also if a player has just folded to you in heads up match twice in a row they will want to see your cards.. so if you have something good you can milk them.. if your on a margin hand take it easy..

even the best players in the world and be out-smarted

peace
G

[DerekBarrett]

You shouldn't have showed the tens, and since you showed him you should have shown the whole table. I believe in - "Show one, show all."

~Derek

I agree with G.....I will often show my hand as a weapon. If i mis a flush draw, and It didn't cost me much, I'll show, effectivly makeing my table image a "Fish". Later in the day, I will check trips when a flsuh draw is on the board and when it misses, raise which will almost always draw a call, becuase earlier i was a "fish".....Cheers

[Alaskan]

I think Irish88 wasn't too dumb to show the tens. If the guy didn't have a king he might of showed, hoping to get Irish on tilt, but really he'd just give him info he might not of gotten otherwise. He might also project the image of being pretty tight, so he could come in guns blazing to steal a few pots later on.

But as far as etiquette I believe show one show all is fair. In my home game that is the practice. I don't like how some guys show their buddies a bluff and then snicker, I don't like finding out three hours later that a hard laydown occured that would of given me information on a player...had I seen it. Personally I just don't think its good manners to buddy up in a game, like showing your cards to one person and one person only over and over again would entail.

On the other side though I have been to some games where the practice is if you show one card you show all of them. This isn't during showdown, where I think you must always show both cards if you've been called or need to prove you have the winning hand, but when you're folding after a hand is through.

One of my favorite plays got spoiled by this at a home game. I walked in and was told the "show one show all" rule and I thought okay I have to show my hand to everyone. A couple hours into the night a hand comes off where I'm heads up against this aggressive Korean player that I'll call Lee. The guy is aggressive but he's predictable, so I love having him in the big blind when I'm on the button. A hand comes up where I have 6-4 of diamonds. I know the hands pretty much crap but I raise anyway, in an attempt to steal the blinds and get a free round. The small blind folds but Lee calls after a few seconds of reflection, but he stamps the chips in making me think he's trying to slow me down. The flop comes up 9-9-2. He bets out. Now I know he would not bet out with a set, so usually I would reraise, but Lee had shown he was able to lay down hands once he was involved, so I thought I could get some more bluffed chips off the turn. Also, a call here might look like a smooth call, adding more legitimacy to my represented trips. So I call. The turn comes an 8. He overbets the pot and now I'm sure he has nothing. He has a lot of chips left so I'm pretty sure I can get away with this gut-wrenching play, the all in with nothing. If he bet out with trips I'm prepared to pay for it just worked brilliantly. I move the chips in and he shakes his head pissed and folds.

Here's my play. I hold up my hand with one card - the 4, and ripping off John Juanda I say "I had you Lee." It looks like I'm hiding my 9 and that Lee made a good laydown. If I showed the bluff here Lee would have backed off every hand for the rest of the night because I had seen him do that before. I don't want him to do that. I want him to overplay a weak hand hoping my card rush has ended, not twist in his seat with anger hoping not to get humilated by a bluff again. He isn't the kind to try to catch you in a bluff every hand after that, knowing that if he runs into me with the chip lead (which I had after that pot) he will playing for all his chips...and he won't have a clue as to what I have. Doing this it looks like I just got lucky and he'll take the attitude that he will get me next time.

When someone said we need to see both of them I did, but I didn't like it. It had been one of the best bluffs of my short career but it probably lost me money because not only did Lee hold off for the rest of the night, but pretty much everyone else did. If I saw a guy do that too I'd try to stay out of pots with him (they didn't get to hear my heart beating like mad as my hand pushed the chips in - all the while the non-poker savvy part of the brain is screaming "you dumb shit!")

So, I think you should be able to show only one card and not get penalized, but you should half to show whatever cards you decide to show to everyone.

You show your cards to improve strategy. If you are a fairly, but not too aggressive player like me, you show only your really good hands, that way people will fold when you bet the same, but bluff next time. If you are a tight player, you should show a good bluff against an aggressive player every once in a while to screw with him. People would then get reeled in when you have the nuts.