Revealing Your Cards-Should You or Shouldn't You?

I recently read an article by Daniel Negreanu dealing with revealing your cards after everyone folds and the advatages and disadantages of doing so.
In certain situations, revealing your cards can give you an edge that you can exploit later in the game. There are many ways that revealing your hand can benefit you, especially against novice players.
Revealing your bluff hand, for example might be good for your table image because bad players have very long memories. By showing one of your bluffs, they get to thinking that you do it all the time to steal pots and blinds. When you have the best hand, they will call in situations where they would have folded if you didn't show your bluff.
Even if you show a strong hand, there are advantages to this stragedy. Against a weak player, You will be able to bully him more often because they will think that when you bet, it's always because you have great cards, even if you don't. Also, it can scare away aggressive players.
An aggressive player won't attack as much becuase they will think back to when you raised before and had a strong hand.
The times when you shouldn't reveal your hand is against great players. It's a more effective stragedy against less skilled players.

As those of you who play the nightly series with me know, I show more hands than I should. I show big hands so people know I play monsters but I also show bluffs I make...especially ones where I don't even have a piece of the flop. I do that so people will always have it in the back of their minds that I just took a big pot off them with 3/7 offsuit. I don't show to make someone look bad or to brag in anyway about how I just won but only to keep people guessing what I might have.
Like I said before, I think I show to much though. I know some people never show because it gives information to your opponent but if you give them conflicting information then it could work to your advantage.

I guess its a players choice, i rarely show my cards, there are some advantages to showing sometimes, but i dont think it gives you an advantage in the long run,, thats just my opinion>>>>>>>>>buck:hello:

I only show my cards on a situational basis. If I need to change my table image a bit i might show a big bluff or a monster hand to try and manipulate the way my opponents will play against me. I do think though that to a highly experienced player online that this would not be a good idea, but again it is players choice.

I very rarely show my hands but if I know and respect the player I playing with then maybe. But most of the times if he wants to see it then he has to pay for it.

If you show too many hands to suggest bluffs, then when you don't show a hand it will imply not bluffing... showing too many hands probably tends to give too much information.
Showing just the one hand while at a table could have some use, though, as it could confirm a particular image, either as a bluffer or as a solid player, but just the one set of cards, generally, I think, otherwise you give away too much information. It's something to be used only very sparingly, though, and certainly not all the time. Perhaps you sit down at a table, and decide to play a junk hand, and don't get called, you may then want to show those cards, so that the first impression all the players have of you is as a crazy player, so when you then immediately tighten up, you'll possibly get a few more calls when you next play a hand.

Recently in Pot Limit Omaha/8 I've had a number of hands where I've missed a draw or was sure that the other player had made a hand at the river, and folded to their bet, and they've then shown me their hand. In each case, all it's achieved is confirming to me that my read on the player was absolutely right, so I both felt better about the way I played the hand. In that kind of situation my opponent showed his hand with the result of making me feel better, which is the last thing you want, so it just showed how revealing your hand can be a bad thing.

I dont like to show my hands if i dont have to. In the rare occasions that I do show my hand, its because I believe that person (and the table) should see it. Ex: If I was involved in a head where it was just bets and raises and my oppoents and I put each other into the tank constantly and it was a really intesely played hand, then yes I might show.

Usually though, I like to make players pay to see my hand. If Im holding the nuts or a big pocket pair and they call me down, they'll know that I play strong hands. If im [semi]bluffing and they call me down, then they know how I bet and play when Im on a draw or just trying to buy the pot. In the end, after they pay, they are still getting the same information, its just not free information.

I always feel that over-showing hands is a bad idea, i also think however that never showing is also a bad idea. I will show certain hands to the table in situations where i want to change my table image, throw in some deception, and mix it up a little.

However, showing should be rare and if your currently successful at a table dont show, or if your playing against strong opposition the same applies. Now if i know a player reasonably well and i know that a successful bluff will make him/her tilt then ill show it. I know that the next time i make a hand ill also be more likely to get paid for it.

Generally in a full night of poker, ill show maybe twice, and thats it. The players that NEVER show, tend to be less successful when it comes to bluffing, there always seems to be someone that will call "Just to see".

There were a few threads about this in the past, am i wrong?
Anyways I personally NEVER show (or try not to at least) unless i have to.
Some say showing has it's advantages, like showing a bluff and then playing an actually strong hand the same way to induce someone to call you.
I prefer keeping my opponents absolutely clueless as to what i have. Better to give no information at all then being deceptive IMO.
The only time my opponents will see my cards is when i showdown a hand, and usually if i'm at showdown, i've got a very strong hand (except in s/h games of course). This advertises my tight image.
Basically i just like keeping my opponents in the dark rather than trying some tricky deception stuff which can be seen right through by good players.

buckster436 said:

I guess its a players choice, i rarely show my cards, there are some advantages to showing sometimes, but i dont think it gives you an advantage in the long run,, thats just my opinion>>>>>>>>>buck:hello:

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I completely agree with this. If you read Dan Harrington's Vol 1 book, he says you should never show your hand. Let your opponents wonder what you may have had.

As some of you know i too will show a lot of hands, when playing with the people i know and respect here at CC. However at other MTT's, away from CC members, where everyone and there brother is playing i make them pay to see my cards no free looks. Least that is how i go about that.

What Ed said.

No, no, no, no! The only time I show my hand is when I have to (at showdown). If I'm caught in a bluff and have to show, I remember that my table image may have just been skewed, and play tighter until I feel my image has changed somewhat. If I had the nuts/monster hand at showdown, I remember that, and that I may have a tighter table image, and use that to my advantage later on.

Like others have said, if I'm playing in a friendly game (such as our CC events), then OK, yes, I may show just out of comaraderie/respect. But any other time, NO WAY am I giving my opponents anymore information than I have to. After all, I am trying to take their money; why would I want to help them keep it?