Showing your hand

[Eder]

At times I show my hand after a steal raise...usually when it's fairly strong...dunno why...is this bad idea...do you show your steal hand and why? I think I occasionally show QQ or AK thinking my steals will get more respect in future hands...but this might play against me as well...

[ohgeetee]

I dont think showing ever helps more than not showing. i usually only show if it is folded to me and i have aa or something, or if i hit a straight flush and theres no action.

[Dominic]

I\ll show my very strong hands (AA, KK, AK, etc.) when I pick up the blinds with it, or, if it's down to 4 players, show my AQ or PP if I pick up the blinds then, too. The only reason is so I get my opponents thinking I'm solid so I can then pick up the blinds with lesser hands later on. It's strictly only for advertising purposes.

In the same vein, I MAY show a ridiculous bluff early on if I think I can get some callers later when I have a real hand. But only rarely. The problem with showing bluffs is that the next time you raise and the guy you bluffed calls or re-raises you, you have to figure out WHY he's doing that. Is he coming after you with a lesser hand 'cause you put him on tilt? Does he have an average hand since he figuers you're raising with crap again, or does he have a monster and is dying to trap you?

Too many problems to deal with!

That's why I very rarely show my cards unless it only solidifies my rep as a rock.

[edge]

I never show my hand. I don't even have the option--I set it so that my hand automatically mucks if I win without a showdown or lose at a showdown.

[Hood]

[ QUOTE ]
I\ll show my very strong hands (AA, KK, AK, etc.) when I pick up the blinds with it, or, if it's down to 4 players, show my AQ or PP if I pick up the blinds then, too. The only reason is so I get my opponents thinking I'm solid so I can then pick up the blinds with lesser hands later on. It's strictly only for advertising purposes.

[/ QUOTE ]

But then next time you steal the blind with nothing and you don't show, they'll know you didn't have the goods. So you're giving away information.

I always check that 'don't show winning cards' box whever I play so I'm not tempted to show them.

[Dominic]

lol...I didn't say I ALWAYS show my strong hands...only occasionally....nothing wrong with making 'em wonder.

But on the whole, I'm with you...not showing is an almost always better play.

[hockey1]

[ QUOTE ]
I dont think showing ever helps more than not showing. i usually only show if it is folded to me and i have aa or something, or if i hit a straight flush and theres no action.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is just wrong. When you reach a certain skill level you need to be playing your read of your opponents' read of you, and if you can mold that read then you have a significant advantage.

[BigJer]

[ QUOTE ]
i usually only show if it is folded to me and i have aa or something

[/ QUOTE ]

Would it not be better to show only if you had a trash hand? Showing strong hands would reinforce them that they made the right call; whereas showing the weak hand that they folded to might irritate them into playing looser.

I never show as there are players out there who can read my actions better than I can read theirs. Until I develop my knowledge and skills I will continue to not show.

Indeed I tend to ignore other's showing their cards too. By doing it they are trying to represent something. If I act on it in future then they've succeeded. If I don't then I have to wonder whether I'm being set-up anyway.

I'm sure very advanced players can make the showing of cards work for them, but for most surely the best approach is to muck.

[Martin Aigner]

[ QUOTE ]
I never show as there are players out there who can read my actions better than I can read theirs. Until I develop my knowledge and skills I will continue to not show.

[/ QUOTE ]

and

[ QUOTE ]
Indeed I tend to ignore other's showing their cards too

[/ QUOTE ]

Aren´t these two quotes contradictory?

Best regards

Martin Aigner

[stupidsucker]

I dont think showing does much of anything. It has a different affect on each person. People try to analyze a show too much. If you show a strong hand then some people see it and think your tight, others think your next hand will be a bluff. So unless you know how your opponent will view your show then its better to not show at all.

I admit that I am tempted to show after I have stolen a few times in a row with good hands. People get very testy at my tables about stealing. I assume its that way at most tables.

[BrettK]

Talking about who will think what about whom when you show your cards is an exercise in futility, as it becomes a game of second-guessing. If you didn't major in Psych, I'd stay away from thinking along these lines. There's one fact that is very hard to argue against. Showing your cards gives your opponents information that they shouldn't have.

Brett

[Eder]

Ya I think you're right....never show...I gonna stop now

[BigJer]

[ QUOTE ]

Quote:
I never show as there are players out there who can read my actions better than I can read theirs. Until I develop my knowledge and skills I will continue to not show.



and

Quote:
Indeed I tend to ignore other's showing their cards too



Aren´t these two quotes contradictory?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Martin - I'm not sure that they are contradictory. Can you explain to me why you think that? I'm genuinely interested to know why that is. In fact I think they are complementary....in that until I am more developed in other areas of the game I will not be giving away information, nor acting on any given.

[Martin Aigner]

BigJer,

you wrote "Until I develop my knowledge and skills...". Part of developing the skills is getting into the minds of others. The way to get into the minds is to see what hands they are playing, how they are playing them and to try to get to know why they are playing it that way.

If someone gives you information of a hand (either foreced at the showdown or voluntarily) you should try to take profit out of it.

Then you wrote "Indeed I tend to ignore other's showing their cards too", and that was what I think to be contradictory. Of course you have to take into calculation why somebody shows you voluntarily, but nevertheless you gained information, and by ignoring that information you won´t gain any knowledge of the other players thinking.

Maybe I just got it wrong, but the way I read it I thought it to be contradictory.

Best regards

Martin Aigner

[BigJer]

I see the point being made here. Don't get me wrong, I observe the cards shown in a showdown, I like to know what I got beat by and trace back the raising/checking patterns etc. And if someone has a point to prove by showing a losing hand then so be it. But when someone wants to show a great bluff after stealing a pot, for example, then we start to get into the realms of reverse psychology: you could get burned by acting on it, or get burned by purposely ignoring it.

I think I need to check the psychology postings for this subject.

Cheers.

[slogger]

I believe that you lose little or nothing by never showing.

It's providing free info for your opponents. IMO, without a very specific purpose and a very reliable read (maybe once every 50-100 SNGs), that's always bad.

[AliasMrJones]

I agree with the many people who said never show. I have the auto-muck box checked and never show. If you show sometimes to let them know you really had a hand, the next time you don't show they're going to think you have garbage. So, great you say, now they're guessing. How is that any better than not showing in the first place? Why give the other players any information you don't have to? Besides -- Mike Sexton says to never show. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[WC64]

I would say 90% of the time I do not show.

When tourney gets down to the final 4 and I am shortstacked and I raise all in to the chip leader I will show just to let him know I am not trying to just steal his blind. Maybe this does nothing for me but I do it so hopefully it keeps the big stacks happy rather than getting irritated by me going all in.

[BigJer]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe this does nothing for me but I do it so hopefully it keeps the big stacks happy rather than getting irritated by me going all in.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would've thought you'd be looking to get them irritated so as to induce them into making a mistake by calling your strong hands in future. But surely keeping them guessing is more often than not the best ploy regardless of the circumstance.