Showing your cards

Eh, I think some of you are being too picky. If everyone folds to my BB I'll show my pocket if I feel like it. "Won't that give away your tells?" No, because I don't even look at my pocket until it's my turn to act. When I turn over my cards for everyone to see, it is MY first time seeing my cards.

You should never show your bluff hand to show the other guy "you got him". You must respect that player's play at all times. JMHO and that of many pros.

Also, some people show their cards to create a trap. Showing a bluff can make an opponent call another hand thinking its another bluff, but to me that's so easy to see through. Nothing cagey about it.

Diablo - Those are pros bluffing. I doubt anyone here is as good at bluffing as these guys and should probably not try to attempt bluffing until they can actually play the game well. And most pros will not show a hand or even a card unless they are pressured by their opponent.

Viking999 - If everyone folds to your BB - they aren't folding because they are fearful of your hand, they folded because they didn't feel they had a hand to play - so why would you show your cards?? It means nothing.

Personally, I never show my cards.

I hardly show because the less info you know about me and my style the better.

Playing live i don´t like showing because i know that some players can take valuable information from me. But a few times i have done what diablo said, just showing 1 marginal card.
Playing online, most players doesn´t pay attention to your acts, your betting patterns, your style, etc. They just play their cards. So sometimes i like testing that theory of showing a bluff will get more callers when i have a monster, and showing a monster will get less callers when i´m bluffing.
The results of my tests are very simple: I play at micro limit tables, where all players are terrible bad (including me). As i said before, almost nobody watches my playing style, how much i bet, etc. I know that even if i play 20 handed, on that hand i play i´m going to get called by K-10, A-2, etc. I just go fishing on that tables playing only premium hands. So testing the theory there it´s useless.

ps: there is a commercial of FTP about showing your bluffs. It´s funny. Enter here and watch Chris Ferguson: "Bluffed"

i agree with michelle - none of use are masterful enough to bluff like that
but it was a great play
made me laugh
when Noble had their suggestion contest where they gave the best weekly suggestion a cash prize every week
my suggestion was to have the option of showing one or two cards
i still haven't seen that in an online casino yet

Jesus - I watch everyone's playing style online. You can tell an awful lot especially about betting, at what chip count do they go all in, do they raise every time they are in first position, do they fold constantly after the flop, do they play almost every hand, do they play few hands, do they raise and then check on the flop, do they bet like they are playing limit poker (sign of beginner), do they re-raise alot after a bet ... gosh I could go on and on.

I didn't know kids your age could play money games online. I thought you had to be at least 18 years old.

Chuck - that's a great suggestion. It would make things a little more fun and baffling. LOL

I know that every factor you said it´s important to notice when you´re playing live or online. I said that almost all players online don´t do that. And of course i´m just talking about the fish i play against. I know there are good players like you at higher stakes. But at the stakes i play, almost nobody does what you said because they are fish. That´s why i said i don´t care showing my cards against them, because i know they won´t notice my betting paterns and the situations, but if i play at higher stakes, i know there would be more players like you and i would have to be very careful.

I also didn´t know that kids like me could play money games online. lol
I think it´s not legal, but i didn´t make a deposit. Just played the cardschat freeroll and finished 2nd, winning like $6.

Jesus - I guess I should come in and play the micro tables! Nah, wouldn't do that.

At microtables you can make really easy money, but also very little money. If i had more money, i would leave forever microtables, but for the moment i can´t do anything...just online microtables and live games with friends.
So wait some years and i´ll go to your tables Michele (or maybe you want to come to Chile and play live with me. We play a heads up and the winner takes a trip to Arizona).

Good point, but i think that it´s just a hypothetical situation that it´s nearly impossible that can happen. Maybe it can happen that you find a table with 2 or 3 fishermen, but a table full of them?. I think the ratio between fish and fishermen must be like 20:1, so finding 9 fishermen at one table it´s very difficult (that ratio was invented by me, but i think that there are too many fish around after winning some bucks at freerolls).

ps: I´m the king of going off topic. What has this post about showing your cards?!

Just a note: Doesn't it occur that say someone who wants the fish, play at the micro tables. Yet wouldn't one think there would be more than Just 1 fisherman besides yourself at the same micro table??

So indeed you can be playing fish but you have to realize that you could also be playing on a table full of fishermen.

Jesus - Maybe we can be exchange Poker students, you come to Arizona and I'll go to Chile. I'm sure I'd be more fascinated with your country and want to tour it more than I'd want to play poker though.

BTW - I got the "winner takes a trip to Arizona" - looks like you think you'd win! (just joking)

Okay, I learned the hard way to stop showing my cards. I am a beginner and play a pretty tight game. If I have it, I bet it. Well, I was so proud of my good hands that I always showed them. And I thought it was a nice gesture to prove I wasn't playing like a maniac and betting the farm on 2 7 or something. Well, I play with some of the same people frequently, and they figured out if I bet, I'm pretty sure I'm getting the chips. Well, now when I bet, they tend to get the heck out of the way. Result = fewer chips for me cause they know how I play.

So, as one of our little moderators told me...... NEVER show unless you have to! Screw 'em, they can think what they want.

I don´t like to show them, because when you do everyone knows how you play and besides if they want to see them they should pay for it! Hahaha

That may be true, but showing one hand isn't going to give away anything unless you do it consistenly. It can often mess with someone's head. If you force someone to fold with a big bet, and when they ask if you had it and you show the rags, it can really get them off their game. Next time around, if you are in again against that same person with the nuts, and you bet big, they might call you just because they want to see if you are bluffing again. Sometimes, it certain sitautions it can be useful to reveal information. See the last half an hour of Rounders for example.

I think that when you show, you need to be mindful of what you're showing. It's not just the cards, but how you behaved when holding those cards. This can be useful in giving off false tells later, but I don't think it's generally a good idea, especially in a cash game. I don't ever do it unless I'm HU in a tourney, and then, only rarely and with a player that I think I have pegged. There's too many ways that showing WILL (notice I didn't say "can") came back to bite you.

I love to show my hand.

It helped me a lot in one tournament. I was bored so I played some rags against a "Bully". Well we went at it 2500 b4 the flop, 2500 after the flop, 3000 on the turn. Well the river came and from how he had played I knew he missed his hand. I bet 10k after the river. I was wrong he had pocket kings but with an Ace and flush draw on the board he folded and flipped his cards. So I was nice and flipped him my rags. He was P.O.ed to say the least. Calling me names and such.

Well next hand I got dealt pocket Aces. I raised just like last hand. And only one guy called me. Guess who it was. Well I bet exactly like last hand even the 10k bet on the river. Well the board hit me with a full house. He went all in. I called.

He was playing pocket 10s so he had 2 pair. Sad when someone loses out but feels better when they lose and act like Asses.

So me showing the rags got him on tilt and doubled up my stack

I remember on noble i got dealt 5Q diamonds.
Flop came 55QQ5
When everyone folded from my small raise (damit) i showed

Misinformation can be as useful to you as information is to your opponent. As long as you calculate what information you will be putting forth, and make sure you aren't giving away anything inadvertantly. As I stated in my pervious post, in all my hands of poker, I have shown a big bluff only a handfull of times and these were against players already tilting or that I knew I could tilt by doing so.

Michele- to say that we (or most people here) can't bluff like a pro, therefore they shouldn't do it, isn't a really accurate way to summize the situation. If you, or me, or anyone here is playing a game with professionals, then being able to play and bluff at their level would be required. However, when we play, we are playing against people of similar or lower skill level as ourselves. Why would we have to bluff like a pro to make it a +EV play? I bluff people off of pots in the live games I play all the time. At least a couple times a session, usually more, I will bluff or semi-bluff at a pot. Saying not to bluff because your skill level isn't that of a professional, is like saying don't play poker until you're as good as Howard Lederer. How would people ever get the accurate amount of real experience in either without doing it?

Diablo - I stand by my post.

Telling people that they shouldn't bluff because they aren't as "good" as a pro is simply bad advice. Stand by it all you want, its bad advice.

Once again Diablo, you are not comprehending what is written before you. Please re-read what I stated above. It says - they should not attempt bluffing "until they can acutally play the game well" - not become a PRO. I never said they had to play like PROS. That's all I said - newbies to the game should learn to play the game well first, then attempt bluffing.

That's my opinion (and the opinion of many pros to beginners) and I'm hoping we all don't have to believe the same way to post on this forum.

I stand by my post. and readers can use the info or not. There is no one right answer.

Bluffing is a part of playing the game well.

Okay Diablo - you got the last word. right or wrong, you got the last word. Happy?

Do you not see the irony of your last post Michele?

I not a very good player,I never show,keep em guessing thats what I say

Diablo has it right. How are you going to learn how to play a bluff unless you do it? You need to learn from the beginning to play it. Whether it works or not you learn , and especially if it doesn't you remember what went wrong.