Hole Cards: See them when dealt, or wait your turn?

[Gutshot Gus]

On all of the sites it seems the norm to show the hole cards as soon as they are dealt,....
I think that I would rather wait until it is my turn and for them to pop up then. Does anyone else rather wait until their turn to see what they got?

 

[Tredford]

Online I look at the cards as they are dealt, so I can start thinking about my action - time is usually of the essence!

Live I usually wait, and watch the reaction of the other players as they peek and act.

 

[Tammy]

Online I'd rather see them now. Live it's better to wait until it's your turn, so that you can watch and see how players react and what they do. Online though I don't see the point in waiting. You can't act out of turn or give information away, and neither can your opponents.

 

[theStarfish]

Online I look at the cards as they are dealt, so I can start thinking about my action - time is usually of the essence!

Live I usually wait, and watch the reaction of the other players as they peek and act.

I do exactly the same when I get the cards. When I play with friends I see that they regularly make the same mistake, immediately looking at the cards and acting out of turn.

 

[MrPokerVerse]

Live, look when the action is on you. Always observing and listening to everything going on at the table.

 

[Tredford]

I do exactly the same when I get the cards. When I play with friends I see that they regularly make the same mistake, immediately looking at the cards and acting out of turn.

It's been a while since playing with friends, but watching one friend react when the flop hit... I could have told you exactly what hand he had! He nearly jumped out of his chair after the double take... Fold to the bet.

 

[Cooking]

I like to see my cards when dealt, because I can already make a decision of my action and decide if I'm going to focus on that table or fold and change my attention to other table. Actually I don't like to play GG poker for that reason.

 

[Kenzie 96]

Want them revealed to players immediately online, the damn game is slow enough as it is. If I notice I am not really focused on the game, I will hide my hole cards & follow the action around the table until I feel I have my focus back on the game. Been so long since I played live, have no opinion to offer.

 

[No Bologna]

No Bologna

I always look when they're dealt and get thoughts on what I'll do with the hand. Watch other players look at their cards for possible tells. I think it's silly to wait till their turn and is a waste of time. Why have everybody looking at you and gauge your reaction?

 

[Rost]

It doesn't matter to me. I think this is a sign that does not affect anything.

 

[bertaS1234]

I'd rather see them now, more time to think about the action

 

[Tammy]

It's been a while since playing with friends, but watching one friend react when the flop hit... I could have told you exactly what hand he had! He nearly jumped out of his chair after the double take... Fold to the bet.

LOL this made me laugh. "Uh. I fold." :laugh:

Want them revealed to players immediately online, the damn game is slow enough as it is. If I notice I am not really focused on the game, I will hide my hole cards & follow the action around the table until I feel I have my focus back on the game. Been so long since I played live, have no opinion to offer.

That's so true! And what a great idea/method to get your focus back. I always get burnt out after a certain point and start making mistakes and marginal calls, because I think I'm just bored. So this is a great idea, thanks Kenz!

I always look when they're dealt and get thoughts on what I'll do with the hand. Watch other players look at their cards for possible tells. I think it's silly to wait till their turn and is a waste of time. Why have everybody looking at you and gauge your reaction?

You know, that's a good point. Most physical tells are so small that most of us aren't really going to pick up on them anyway.

 

[BillyR23]

Live it's clearly better to wait for your turn(pay attention to the players before you etc) but online, especially if you grind Cash games(your stats are in BBs won/ hour) time can be really important while multi-tabling, so you can make your decision out of turn(preselect to fold) on tables where you have trash hands and focus on the ones you actually have a decision to make... PS. even if you grind mtts or sngs (IMO) time is always important...

GLGL all at the tables BlessRNG

 

[Gutshot Gus]

I am seeing the comments that are leaning in the direction of showing the cards to keep the game flowing. I think that for most people they could care less about when they see the hole cards as long as the flow of the game is fast and steady with no delays.
Sometimes during a tournament, I will slow down betting or folding on my turn and it always gets a response from someone to speed it up. It's actually a good way to put someone on tilt because they tend to get really pi$$ed when you do that.

 

[ICU1234]

Faster play

They have you looking at the cards so you can make decision prior to your turn. A lot of people just hit the fold button. Just moves things along a bit faster.

 

[acemenow]

IDK I don't really care one way or the other, online is different because no one can see you. But I usually look at them as they come with a dead pan face. Was never a problem. But I don't have a different body expression for hands that I am going to fold until I do at least as far as I know.

 

[natsgrampy]

Online, I don't have a choice. The cards are dealt face up.
Live, I will look at my cards as soon as they are both dealt. I will put them down, cover with my card protector, and look again when it's on me.
I will more than likely already have a plan for my next play. This way, I can formulate the plan knowing my cards and observing everyone else.
If you wait to look until it's your move, the entire table will be looking at you and looking for tells I may give away.
I also like to count to 5 in my head so it isn't easy to tell what my cards are by how fast I act.

 

[Tammy]

Online, I don't have a choice. The cards are dealt face up.
Live, I will look at my cards as soon as they are both dealt. I will put them down, cover with my card protector, and look again when it's on me.
I will more than likely already have a plan for my next play. This way, I can formulate the plan knowing my cards and observing everyone else.
If you wait to look until it's your move, the entire table will be looking at you and looking for tells I may give away.
I also like to count to 5 in my head so it isn't easy to tell what my cards are by how fast I act.

Love this. Yes, it's important to do the same thing, every time, every hand!

 

[Skot_Gy]

Online it's good to look at them immediately, so you can think actions.
Live it is good to look at them asap, BUT not before you take a peak to your opponents as they look at their cards. Everyone looks in first few seconds, you can take those seconds to observe their reactions. Then you can look at yours if you want.

 

[afecho]

I haven't played live poker yet but after reading many responses here (and not having any sort of reliable poker face!!) I think I would look as soon as I could to try to decide what to do and not give away my hand by my face. That's what I do online so would probably do the same in person.

 

[teepack]

I disagree with those who say you should wait until it's your turn when playing live. Look at them as you get them and then watch the other players as they peek at their cards. Then when it's your turn, don't look at your cards and make your play.

 

[NightStalker]

On online poker it doesn't matter.

There's no point to wait to see your cards. You can't see the players' reactions.

 

[619Leafs]

I play all online poker so I rather see the cards immediately and then think about my strategy.

 

[Hsac]

On all of the sites it seems the norm to show the hole cards as soon as they are dealt,....
I think that I would rather wait until it is my turn and for them to pop up then. Does anyone else rather wait until their turn to see what they got?

I don't understand why you would want to wait to see your hole cards. What would be the purpose? I don't even wait in live games for my turn before looking at my cards because I want to start forming a plan immediately.

 

[Mauricio Perrotta]

On all of the sites it seems the norm to show the hole cards as soon as they are dealt,....
I think that I would rather wait until it is my turn and for them to pop up then. Does anyone else rather wait until their turn to see what they got?

Would you like it to be more like playing live? It's not a bad idea. It should give you the option to choose what you like