question about the rules?

I just had a quick question about the rules. Last night i was playing in a tournament of NL holdem of about 20 people.At the final table i saw a play happen that i thought was very crappy. It was down to the river and there was two people left in the hand , One guy goes all in and the guy didnt call him for a second but pulled a childish move He turned over his cards and said well since you called i will show you my cards. the guy who went all in misunderstood what he said and said okay and turned all his cards over thinking he called him. the guy then folded bc he saw he was beat. Very sly move and i didnt approve at all but didnt say much. But my question is can this guy turn over his cards and almost pretend he called to lure the other in to show or get a read. Please give me feed back. ive seen this on tv but to think what havent we seen on tv.

thanks
Jpehl

[AKQJ10]

Showing one's hand heads-up, in order to get a read, is accepted I believe (though dubious in value). But it sounds like he may have done this in order to trick an inexperienced opponent into thinking he called, and that IMO is unethical angle-shooting.

[Pov]

In most tournaments I am familiar with showing your cards to anyone including your opponents immediately kills your hand. Please cite one example of where this has been allowed on television because I'm pretty sure it would not be allowed in any tournament large enough to be televised. In fact, even telling people what cards you have verbally (whether you're lying or not) can get you penalized.

At a home game, though? Ick. The guy is a jerk and an angle-shooter, but what are you going to do? Make a rule after the fact so it doesn't happen again I guess.

As a side note, I believe this is called the Ray Zee rule because he once went all-in with AA and the pot was big enough he didn't want to get called (it was a tournament) so he turned his cards over to "help" the other guy fold. Note that unlike your scenario, no trickery was involved. But the move was so powerful in helping him win it was made illegal.

[AKQJ10]

I was half-right. Apparently Bob Ciaffone's Robert's Rules (http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/poker/chapter15.php) state that the tournament must be heads-up before voluntarily showing a hand is legitimate:

[ QUOTE ]
22. Showing cards from a live hand during the action injures the rights of other players still competing in an event, who wish to see contestants eliminated. A player in a multihanded pot may not show any cards during a deal. Heads-up, a player may not show any cards unless the event has only two remaining players, or is winner-take-all. If a player deliberately shows a card, the player may be penalized (but his hand will not be ruled dead). Verbally stating one’s hand during the play may be penalized.

[/ QUOTE ]

Note the parenthetical clause: "but his hand will not be ruled dead." Presumably this envisions some sort of time penalty following the completion of the hand in question. That said, I'm not doubting what Pov said because ultimately it's up to the individual tournaments what rules they wish to use. Robert's is a good standard when you need one, but it's not universally recognized.

[Dhani]

I have no problem with this call, although you run the risk of being hated by the other players at your table. If I go to a casino and play with pros, they will eat me alive and not think twice about it. An inexperienced player needs experience.

[SheridanCat]

[ QUOTE ]
In most tournaments I am familiar with showing your cards to anyone including your opponents immediately kills your hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

If using Tournament Director Association rules, which is very common these days, your hand is not dead. In fact, it's very hard to get a hand ruled dead. What would be more common is that the person showing would receive a warning for the first offense and then penalties for future offenses.

Regards,

T