not mucking

So what is the rule of thumb on showing cards after a hand. I have seen many people do it to make the opponents feel ignorant. But I've also seen some show them to show that they did indeed have the nuts. So when should you show them, or should you never show them. I have a tendency to not show them at all. . .ever. Is there any time when it my be prudent.

Ive read that you should never show your hand unless you have to.Showing your hand is giving away information,and unless it is paid for do not give it away.It is a matter of table image also.It doesnt hurt to show a bluff every now and then but most of the time keep your hand to yourself IMO.

You can show if you are planning on setting the table up. Show nuts if you plan on starting to bluff often, show a bluff if you plan on tightening up.

This^^

Dont show a bluff and then next hand continue to bluff it wont work for obvious reasons lol

Please post original questions only. Do not cut & paste someone else's post. Not very POLITE.

Original post.

When to show them?

j lazy was too lazy to make his own thread. I am too busy to babysit his future posts.

bai bai

i never show it could give them a boost of confidense or it could put them on tilt and then you have someone calling you down with bottom pair so i never show i think it creates more problems than it eliminates

Dont you want someone to be calling you down with bottom pair most of the time

I probably show too often but I show outrageous bluffs if I'm not getting action when I raise sometimes. Also, if I've been stealing a lot and get like AK on the button, I'll show when they fold. I also show big hands in the BB when they fold to me, to encourage people to fold to the BB and reinforce the fact that they didn't need to play that hand.

In a related topic, I chat a lot and I NEVER, and I mean NEVER, tell the truth about my cards. If I 3-bet with AK and get a fold, I'll say I had KK. If I'm stealing with T9s and get 3-bet by the SB, I'll tank, fold and say, "AQ, NB."

I notice that I tend to show the nuts a little more live if I am early in a tourny playing against people I don't know that are older... Mostly because it seems like they are calling me really thin and seem to put me on being uber aggro because I am younger. I do this early to help build a tight table image while the blinds are smaller... you know so that at some point I can be an young uber aggro player in the later levels and not get called so thin

really I think as a norm...not showing is always the way to go.

If you are going to show it should be a function of:

Building table image and/or Tilting a player that you may have a read to be vulnerable to a blow up.

Im also not sure whether I should show or not show my cards... ive noticed showing bluffs you will generally draw ppl to call almost anything you have.. but ive also seen a lot of table talk when i am on a good run w/ the cards at ppl guessing what i have... i like to keep ppl guessing, so i have stopped showing all together and have done much better at the tables... but like i read higher up in the blind.. you have to pay to play....

The best rule of thumb is to never show...make them pay to see. The only reason you should ever show is to set up later moves, and if you're going to do that you should be sure you have the skill to pull off those moves!

For the most part I would say that I don't show my bluffs....I actually can't think of any instance where I have shown one in a game that I was taking seriously (read: not freerolls). I generally have a pretty tight image when I play (read: I play too tight) which provides me with good bluffing opportunities that I don't want to compromise.

I have to agree with most of the players here. I never show my hand unless I have to. Most of the books I have read state to not show. You do not want to give anyone any more information than you have to.

and then you get Kd 10d, and the flop comes AdQdJd. You bet 4times the blind and the table folds to you because you are "tight". You have to change your game up, shift gears so to speak. There will be times when it will become prudent to show a bluff as well as the nuts, other wise you will be hard pressed to get a call when you do have a monster hand.

and YES, there are as many arguments pro and con for showing and not showing, IMHO its all about how the player plays thier cards. This is really where poker gets changed from one hand to the next. We all have to have different styles of play otherwise it would be 18 hrs a day of pushing a minmal amount of chips from one player to the next

i never show my cards,because my opponent can see my strategy.i think is a bad move to show your cards..or not if you want to confuse your oponent but i still like to muck my cards

In practice most people (at the low stakes I'm at, anyway) do it to show off a great hand, to brag about getting away with a bluff, or to try to coax the other player into showing their hand. The only time it's really useful is when it's a part of an overall psychological strategy. If you aren't already monitoring and manipulating your table image showing your cards can only hurt.

It can be a good tool to break things up if your image has become too stale - showing a bluff when you have a tight image or vice versa. If someone is getting pissed and you show them a bluff or crazy catch with a 27 it can put them on tilt. It can also help people get a read on you, so when it doubt it's probably not a good idea.