Showing your cards

Although I don't consider myself a beginner, I wasn't sure where would be an appropriate place to post this topic.

I was wondering what the general attitude towards showing your cards is. When is it an advantage to show a bluff? When would you show the the best hand? I occasionally show my cards although without being in the situation i'm not sure when these occasions are. Is showing a single card ever an advantage, or is this more of a fun option, teasing the opponents if you like?

Take it away!

Never show your cards.
I will occasionally in a CC game if I raised and I can thell the opponent had a hard time folding, but that is only in tese games.
Everyone else can guess.

Show your cards when you opponent calls your last bet. Otherwise, don't.

If you have a good hand you can show it and bluff the next hands.
And vice versa, if you have a bad hand you can show it and wait for a good hand and you can make it a very profitable hand.

If your playing cash games, a lot of the time your opponents are multi-tabling and not even looking at hands that don't get to showdown so the whole exercise is mute.

Unless your sure you will achieve the desired result from showing your cards you should avoid this practice.

Never show unless required.

Although I bend this rule at friendly games like CC events.

IMO, it depends on the situation. I show every once in awhile to let someone know I wasn't in it for nothing. It's all up to you.

I will occassionally show a hand if I feel there is some value in it (i.e I'm short & in a SNG or sattelite, I'm going to be needing to shove multiple times... I shove.... they fold.. if I have a BIG hand.. sure I'll show it... might just get me the blinds the next time when I'm shoving atc's < this sort of crap though... is player read dependant. If it's while on a table with decent players.... I'm rarely showing.
THere also might be an occassion where I'll show after villain folds,.. letting them have some 'feel good'.. for making a good fold (< this also obviously 'depends'). On the flipside.. I might show a bluf.. "IF" I feel it will be or could be of some benefit down the road.

In cash game play... I don't show cards!

At least online I never show them. Especially because there are some opportunities where you're at a table with all inactives (freerolls), and I like the speed of the game to go quick by raising and automatic no show of my cards.

I disagree with that. If you have a bad image at a table, it might be a good thing to show a strong hand. This will help you build a tight reputation at the table again. It is always good to have a tight reputation at a table, because then it opens up some bluffing opportunities.

I never show my cards, I feel if someone wants to see my cards they will have to pay to see them.

Heads up I'll show a monster to an early fold. Just a littler reminder to villain "yes I know that you know that you know I'm stealing too often, but watch yourself"

Nope. Don't show em.

Not quite smart to show your hand to a oponent,he might pick a tell upon you.

I think some of you are jumping to the conclusion of 'you should never show your cards' a little too quickly perhaps? Take this scenario for example: You are small stack in a DON. Play folds round to you on the button. You have AK. You shove to make it look like a steal. If you get a call then great. If not, would showing here not give you more chances to steal the blinds with a lesser hand at a later stage?

Ok, so maybe this is not the best scenario. However I am sure there are occasions when showing your cards helps your table image and ultimately later plays in the game...

That's only if you don't know what you are doing :P

If you folded a big hand like "Pocket Kings" for example. I would show that, to make your opponent think you are only playing big hands.

You really think that your opponents are dumb enough to believe that you're only playing big hands? Maybe you should give them enough credit to realize that you're only SHOWING big hands.

I have never seen a reasonable (imo) argument for ever showing your cards without the hand going to SD. Certainly nothing ITT has changed that opinion.

This move pretty much tells me one of two things. The player is either saying:

"Look at these great cards I didn't get to play."
or
"See? I'm not a maniac. When I am shoving I have a hand!"

Both actually give me a little information about my opponent. The first screams newbie and tells me they are possibly overly emotional about the game, and will be willing to stick to an overpair or other hand they feel "deserves to win".

The second (your reasoning) is as bad. They are advertising so I don't think they will make plays with marginal holdings from position. Now I know they will, and if they are showing only good hands, I have a pretty good picture of their pre flop range.

So showing your hands just gives me concrete evidence which I will use to solidify your profile as we play.

The ONLY reason I have ever thought was a reasonable time to show your cards is to a player who is so bad and nearly tilted that taunting them will likely cause them to accelerate into full blown tilt. This player should be directly to my right.

^This. I don't even like to show in CC games... its like showing your neck to wolves... everyone will pounce on you if you give them a chance.

I appreciate your reply, some good points there.

I'm not necessarily in favour of showing cards, however I find this debate quite interesting.

Now that they have you thinking that they won't play the marginal hands, are they not now in a position to utilise this by expanding their range?

I do believe this should not be done often.

Unpredictability is a good attribute to have in poker, would you not agree? Surely if you give a little information to the table and then adjust your play to oppose the information you have given out, this would work in your favour? To people who are simply replying with: 'don't do it. you'll give away tells' Could this not be used to your advantage?

Just a thought, I'm still sitting on the fence.

In general I prefer not to show unless called down (required.) Sometimes tho it is useful to try to create a table image you want to project. It also is useful to tilt some players who hate to get bluffed

Showing a hand to advertise is okay if it serves a purpose. If you stay in with a marginal hand and the price is low, you may want to show that you are loose if you play a generally tight game. It helps in building pots on later hands. I see no purpose in showing a bluff. Generally, the more you show, the more they know. The essence of the game is deception.

You are proving Mike Caro's central observation about poker tells. People will naturally use a sort of level one deception strategy when they are trying to deceive.

This would only work in your favor if you are playing the worst poker players on the planet. And since you are openly and purposely using a variation on the "weak when strong; strong when weak" ruse I now know you might not have played all that many hands of poker in your life, or have gotten stuck at a certain level of poker thinking. Now I don't know this for sure... but it is worth considering as I build a profile of how you play.

This reminds me of the Monty Hall puzzle. Have you ever heard of that? If not, it is worth spending some time thinking about as it applies to poker since the odds and informational situation in this puzzle are very similar to a poker hand. One lesson from the Monty Hall puzzle is that information, even when it doesn't seem to apply, is almost always valuable.

If you are gonna show cards for metagame... then it has to be when you've put in the work to make it worth it.

Here is a situation that contrasts the simplicity of just turning over your preflop range.

I feel certain not even WVH can fault Furguson for showing here...

YouTube- HUGE 72 bluff by Chris Ferguson vs Mike Matusow Poker After Dark

I never show.

But I love those that show their bluffs. That's where I aim my trap.

I'm the same as you. I rarely show my cards. And even then it's usually just so I can setup a bluff later on if I had a dominating hand.

fish to sam farha "will u show ur cards if i fold"

sammy "never to no one"

Never show your cards, not even one of them. No informations for our opponents ! Don´t show a bluff, don´t show your aces or kings proudly. Most people do this, its wrong. Take the option muck winning / losing cards in the main lobby of your poker room, if available...

I think that if you can tell a player at the table is tilting or about to go on tilt you should show a bluff every now and then. other than that make them pay to see.

lol exactly. Especially if you are asking this question then you shouldn't be showing your cards in any game you intend to win. Less=more

you don't think you should "help" the players at your table tilt a little by showing a bluff or two?

There's a price for everything. If they don't pay they don't see. Even if the player is multitabling he sees if you show! And, most likely if he is using HM or PT the information is there forever.

This really depends on the stakes being played. I am a micro stakes player so yes many of my opponents will not be able to realize I am only showing good hands.

This^^^^^

Showing your cards at the right spot may serve some sort of metagame purpose at mid/high stakes against a regular opponent, but as a rule of thumb, never show your cards.

A lot of beginners make the mistake of thinking that showing a successful bluff will put their opponent on tilt (or perhaps make everyone think your great), but all it really does is give a free insight into your style of play.

I just do not show them.