To Show or Not to Show?

mercyscercy

mercyscercy

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Now me personally, 95% of the time I never show my cards. That's why we bet.. if you want to see the cards you pay to see them. On certain situations I will show someone out of respect if they made a really good fold. But once in a blue moon I will also show if they made a really bad fold/if I bluff. Just to let them know.. so maybe next time I have a premium hand they'll think I'm bluffing. But that's rare. Normally I never show at all. I'd say 1 in 6 tournaments I show my cards. Thought's\opinion's ?
 
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barags

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I never show basically. I feel its always better for your game to keep your opponent guessing if its possible :D
 
Lena M

Lena M

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Hello.
I never show my cards. I just do not see the point in that.
 
M

Mahdi

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I never show either, too lazy to press extra buttons
 
tauri103

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I don't like to show my hands too. because it gives too much information to my opponents on my style of play. It has of course exeptions. I sometimes show my hands when I can use it to have a good image at the table. or out of respect for a player I like and want to reassure him by showing him that I'm not bluffing.
 
Igor Popadyk

Igor Popadyk

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I also do not show my cards so that there is less information about my game, but there are exceptions - when the top combination comes in or I want to support my opponent that he made the right decision
 
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1nsomn1a

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I don't show cards to strong opponents, any open cards, even showdown, give too much information. I myself always watch the hands that open opponents and remember their actions before that. In poker, there is no extra information, you need to use everything to your advantage.:)
 
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valen_niyee

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I usually not showing my card. But few days ago when i am in bubble. Villain plays too tight and starts bluffing by 2 bet or 3 bet. When they fold i show a really bad hand. After few times mixing with good hand. I succesfully win 1 place at multitable sng.
 
Ram41k

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You cards

I believe that showing or not showing your cards - it all depends on the situation and on the players with whom you play at the table. There will be no definite answer here.
 
K

KPC16

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I never show my cards regardless of the situation.
 
BigCountryAA

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I don't like giving free information.
 
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Dhendrixon

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I never show my cards, as I see that is giving free information. Have to pay to see.
 
Phoenix Wright

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Like many posting here: I prefer not to give away "free information." If they wanted to see my potential bluff, then they need to pay off the bet to see. To this, I'd say that 95% of the time, I am not showing (and I can fully understand the decision some have of never showing). However, there are a few times where I think showing may be to your benefit:

- Playing "meta-game" rather than the hand. If (and this is a big "if" here) you have observing and adapting opponents, then sometimes showing your cards may set them up to fail on a future hand. Something like showing an uncharacteristically complete air-bluff upon forcing all others to fold may give you more credence to getting paid off when you bet "bluffy-looking" but with the goods at a future time. However, this deception is tricky to pull off and assumes that your opponents are observant and adapting. In most cases (at least at lower levels), your opponents are not to this description. Many fish are just playing their own two cards and not thinking in terms of ranges or table image; this play will do nothing here.

- Another situation where I think showing could be helpful to you is in casual homegames where the emphasis is on fun and social atmosphere rather than it is the game itself. This is especially true is you are hosting the "poker night." So you may potentially let your opponent know you played Ax in that specific way for this hand: so what? It keeps them happy and they will probably learn your play-style if you play regularly anyway (which many homegames do). Keeping a friendly atmosphere that seems more casual will keep them coming back. Even if you are playing for decent money, that is all the more reason you want to fish to keep coming back to you. :)

- Finally, another time I think showing might help you is if you think your opponent is likely to reciprocate AND you feel that you can utilize that information better than they can. Some players I play are super oblivious to ranges and how I reason about the hand: I can show more hands to them and they won't know what to do with that information. They just take away "oh, you bluffed me" and don't catch other factors like semi-bluffing or floating. Maybe I wasn't even bluffing. Sometimes the untrained eye just thinks that after seeing all I had was Ace High, but unrealizing that I had a missed straight draw etc. When they happily reciprocate in showing me their hand, I am much more capable of reconstructing how they played the hand and what ranges they are playing etc. In this scenario, I am showing my hand often against them; especially if heads-up and no one else "gains" from this "free information."

With all this said though, most of the time (maybe 95% or so) I am not showing and this is exponentially true if I think some player(s) at the table are better players than I am and/or able to reconstruct how I play and adapt to it in an exploitative manner.
 
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HungryLyan

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I never show my hands and anyway I dont have time to show my hand as my settings is set on auto muck.
 
GeckoAA

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For the most part I do not show or even think to show my cards, but there have been a few rare occasions, where it just felt like the right thing to do in that situation.
 
perrypip

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I've never shown in online, and live only rarely in friendly games. If you want to show a straight flush or royal flush when villain folds I guess that would be OK because villain probably thinks you have at least a straight anyways, and you'd be doing it very rarely.
 
tonzinho7620

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I never show my cards, maybe in front of me my next blef may not work
 
PokStorm

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I have a tendency not to show my cards, well, if they want to know they are paying ... But i have sometimes shown them just to demonstrate that i wasn't bluffing, but that's uncommon. :flute:
 
Zorba

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Now me personally, 95% of the time I never show my cards. That's why we bet.. if you want to see the cards you pay to see them. On certain situations I will show someone out of respect if they made a really good fold. But once in a blue moon I will also show if they made a really bad fold/if I bluff. Just to let them know.. so maybe next time I have a premium hand they'll think I'm bluffing. But that's rare. Normally I never show at all. I'd say 1 in 6 tournaments I show my cards. Thought's\opinion's ?
I do similar to you, I don't show all the time, I show big PP's like AA KK QQ and that gives me a little bit of respect so I can make the same moves with air sometimes.

:top:
 
Roller

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Never give away information concerning your style of play or betting habits when your at the tables. Less is more and the less you give the more you possibly make.
 
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619Leafs

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I am a player does not show cards. I feel if I show, it will backfire.
 
Newzooozooo

Newzooozooo

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Hi.
I believe that giving any information to opponents at the table is a mistake, because each of your opponents can interpret this information differently, from their own point of view. Personally, I almost never show my cards.
Good luck.
 
Entrik

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I, too, do not show it when, because let the enemy himself think what was in your hands :)
 
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