showing cards

when should you show your cards? I usualy muck..my brother says he will show good cards hoping people think he only plays good cards.Then he can bluff them later. Any thoughts on this?

I'll show in the same situation, or if i accidentally play too hard with an amazing hand (quads, straight flush, never gotten a royal, but it would be in there too) and no one calls me, I'll show so people can see I got an amazing hand.

It's like a hole in one in golf. If no one else saw it, it might as well have never happened.

I rarely ever show, maybe 1 out of 500 hands. I want people to pay to see if I have them beat.

I'll show a bluff once in a while - but the requirement is that the other player is tilting (or starting to) and probably folded the best hand. This works wonders in getting them to spew off the rest of their chips.

Other than that, why give out free info?

Do not show your cards.

I never show (litteraly, never unless I have to at the showdown). I figure if I am still in at the showdown and have good cards (unless I want them to think I am playing very loose or crap cards and can get to the showdown cheap to lose, or get lucky and win with them), then thats all they need to know. bluffing does not seem to be affected by not showing, since when they pay to see them, they are good cards. Personally I DONT want anyone knowing when I am bluffing. I only want them to know if my bets are telling them to fold, to fold (once that gets drilled into thier heads and they are folding to my good hands, I will play 72 off the same way I play AK). I dont care if my AK gets less when I do have it if I can take pots with junk cards more often, seeing as how we all get alot more junk hands than good ones anyway.

Kenzie 96 said:

Do not show your cards.

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Why? you might ask, here are a few good reasons:
1. If you show a bluff, your monsters may get sucked out on by those who will have no respect for your bets and will also make it harder for you to bluff in the future.
2. If you show that you had the goods, it may be a slow grind to accumulate chips/cash as most your raises will be folded and your monsters won't get paid off as often as they should had you not shown your cards.
3. When you show your cards, your giving your opponent information about your betting patterns, an observant player will take notes on the amount you bet against the texture of the board with what you were holding and will be able to narrow your starting hands in future confrontations.
#3 is the most important reason not to show your cards IMO.

shinedown.45 said:

Why? you might ask, here are a few good reasons:
1. If you show a bluff, your monsters may get sucked out on by those who will have no respect for your bets and will also make it harder for you to bluff in the future.
2. If you show that you had the goods, it may be a slow grind to accumulate chips/cash as most your raises will be folded and your monsters won't get paid off as often as they should had you not shown your cards.
3. When you show your cards, your giving your opponent information about your betting patterns, an observant player will take notes on the amount you bet against the texture of the board with what you were holding and will be able to narrow your starting hands in future confrontations.
#3 is the most important reason not to show your cards IMO.

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the reason is alot simpler. If you dont show they never know. Even when you show when you have a monster and no one calls it still shows them something. you want your opponents to be basing their thinking on nothing not on information you have given.

Seeing your cards HAS to be paid for!

ShineDown says it all!

I'll show quads and Royals if they din't get to showdown. Once in a very greatwhile, early in a tourney, I'll make a really sick stupid bluff and show it,but only if i get caught with it and lose. It sometimes sets up super LAG players for later.

One rule of mine that I never break, I NEVER show a successful bluff, that's just tapping the side of the tank, IMO No point in calling attention to yourself.

heatfan03 said:

the reason is alot simpler. If you dont show they never know. Even when you show when you have a monster and no one calls it still shows them something. you want your opponents to be basing their thinking on nothing not on information you have given.

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oh yea btw after rereading my post i think i made it sound like shinedown was wrong. im not saying he was he brought up excellent posts also.

I will show guads or a str flush just because....but I rarely show anything, ever. I rarely bluff so if I pull a real good bluff on somebody at a final table I'll show the. At a final table after hours of play this can tilt another player to the max...I speak from experience on both sides.

Showing cards

I rarely show cards at the table. By giving away free info, it gives your opponents insight on how you approach certain situations and your thinking patterns. I primarily show hands where I play loose-aggressive with the nuts or an almost unbeatable hand, making my opponents play out of their element, and make plays they otherwise wouldn't make. There are times when I'll show a monster bluff or show when I bluffed with the best hand. Of course, these are rare occasions for me.

I NEVER show my hand. I want to keep people guessing. If I raise 4 times in a row, they'll never know whether I caught a few strong hands or whether I raised with thin air.

I really can't think of a single reason why I'd ever want to show a hand.
If you have a strong hand, make a bet, they fold and you show your strong hand, what does that do? Well, it shows to your opponent that he made a good laydown. Do I really want to boost my opponent's self-confidence? Hell no.

A couple weeks back I made a royal flush on the turn. It didn't come to a showdown. And my opponents never got to see the royal flush. It just doesn't matter whether I took it down with 5 high or with a royal flush.

I like to show some of my hands from the just ok to the nuts!Lets the table know youre not afraid to bet youre hand,nothing to do with bluffing for me although it will build youre credit at the table youre playing

i show my cards sometimes

muddawgg said:

when should you show your cards? I usualy muck..my brother says he will show good cards hoping people think he only plays good cards.Then he can bluff them later. Any thoughts on this?

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I ll never show (good) cards and prefer automuch!I dont want to give free information.
Besides that I think it's even harder to get value at a hand if people think you re ONLY playing good hands.

Never show your cards.
They don't have to know what you were holding, and you can play what you want when the didn't know what you had.

"Never" show? That's just silly guys. I'm not saying you should show just to make yourself feel good (ex showing a strong hand that got cracked so you can show everyone how unlucky you were), or anything like that (same w the quads, btw). But there are situations where you want to show.

You should have a good reason to show, and that reason should usually be premeditated: you might make a play intending to show your cards at the end no matter what. The classic example is reraising a maniac or lag with total trash, showing the hand no matter what happens (he folds or you fold to his rereraise), in order to slow him down regarding attacking you.

You can also use the show to set up an opponent for a future play. Show him a pattern, change it up on him when all the money is on the line.

TJ Cloutier makes a point of showing all his strong hands early in a tournament, making his 'I only play monsters' image very pronounced and thus exploitable later when it really matters.

There are pros on the other end of the spectrum, like Eric Seidel, who never show. And that is good advice as well.

So I think, like most things in poker, saying "never" is a bit myopic.

Don't show without a good reason (usually preplanned), and don't show if you are inexperienced, or are not sure exactly what you intend to accomplish by showing, or are not conscious of exactly what information you are giving out, or if the information you reveal will be more detrimental than helpful to you in the long run.

But don't say that no one should ever show any cards ever....

A good way to show cards is only show cards in the beginning so you can build a rep that you play solid tight. And when blinds are big you can steal with the respect you earned

What your brother says is exactly what i do. I show only good hands too make them think i only play good hands, then i bluff them later on. I think thats the best way.

shinedown.45 said:

Why? you might ask, here are a few good reasons:
1. If you show a bluff, your monsters may get sucked out on by those who will have no respect for your bets and will also make it harder for you to bluff in the future.
2. If you show that you had the goods, it may be a slow grind to accumulate chips/cash as most your raises will be folded and your monsters won't get paid off as often as they should had you not shown your cards.
3. When you show your cards, your giving your opponent information about your betting patterns, an observant player will take notes on the amount you bet against the texture of the board with what you were holding and will be able to narrow your starting hands in future confrontations.
#3 is the most important reason not to show your cards IMO.

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I would have to just say number 1 is almost as important as 3! As this player had raised the last last 9 of 15 hands. All in every time preflop once on the flop. No callers every time. I made i a pot sized raise hoping to get to the flop with J7 suited. Knowing i'd get called but he reraised all in! I called out of sheer frustration. Imagine my suprise when he turned over pocket rockets!
Unfortunalty for him i flop a set. He should of played poker instead of making gambles.

Good point. Ill keep that in mind.

Afterlife000 said:

What your brother says is exactly what i do. I show only good hands too make them think i only play good hands, then i bluff them later on. I think thats the best way.

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I hear this argument all the time, but it doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.
So you only show your good hands? Then what about the times when you don't show your hands? Am I supposed to believe that you had a strong hand again and just didn't feel like showing it this time?

Sorry, but this is just too easy to figure out. The problem with this kind of attempted psychological warfare is that donks are immune to it for the same reasons why they are immune to bluffs (they just won't get it), and good players can't be tricked so easily.

There hasn't been a single instance where a player showing their cards to me influenced me negatively. Quite the opposite actually. If they re-raise me preflop, I fold JJ and they show KK all they achieve is make me feel good about my decision.

Even if they show a bluff after I folded the best hand, all they achieve is giving me information on how they played this hand and on how I might exploit it later.

You dont have too show EVERY single hand you play, just show them some good hands too make them think you play solid, they arent gonna be thinking "oh he had a bad hand since he didnt show". Works for me every time.