When do you show?

[Matt Flynn]

You have just made a big follow-through bet on the turn with nothing. Your opponent hems and haws and mucks. Should you ever show? If so, under what circumstances? If you show, should you then adjust your play, and if so how?

[Chris Daddy Cool]

general rule for me is to never show. but i guess showing can be benificial if you have a certain image working against you, i.e. you're way too tight and not getting paid off on real hands. or against a guy who can tilt easily and make bad reads/judgement against you in the future based on whatever you show.

but regardless i like to keep the cards hidden to proect future bluffs and hope that the paying off my real hands part just comes naturally from my aggression.

[thabadguy]

[ QUOTE ]
general rule for me is to never show. but i guess showing can be benificial if you have a certain image working against you, i.e. you're way too tight and not getting paid off on real hands. or against a guy who can tilt easily and make bad reads/judgement against you in the future based on whatever you show.

but regardless i like to keep the cards hidden to proect future bluffs and hope that the paying off my real hands part just comes naturally from my aggression.

[/ QUOTE ]
I wish i could resist showing a bluff, it jsut feels so damn good.

[KaneKungFu123]

ill do it against bad players who give me action in the future, and maybe put them on tilt.

i do it short handed often just to generate more action.

after i do it, i wont bluff again in the same situation.

although, i have before showed a bluff to a very tight thinking player. then ran the same bluff again, he folds, thinking im trying to set him up and now i got it.

if im playing with a table of tighties who arent gonna bluff me back or resteal, ill sometimes show a bluff just in hopes of getting more action.

[coltrane]

I think in general showing my hand in this situation is a bad idea because it is essentially taking away a profitable move from my arsenal.....I realize the reasoning behind doing it is to create a more profitable future situation (i.e. - getting paid off on my big hand the next time), however, I think there are ways in most cases to achieve both - get paid on my monsters through some other means (table image, etc.) AND not have to show my bluffs and essentially take that move away from myself.....

whether to show a bluff often has so much to do with the dynamic of a particular moment.....trying to manipulate our table image by understanding the context of what others are perceiving of us at that time.....often this has to do with exactly who are opponents happen to be at the moment, and often it just has to do with circumstance....what I mean by that is simply how the session has played itself out for us up until this point - what hand situations have we happened to come across thus far and what moves have we made......many times it's just a function of how we're running (i.e. - I've been in practically every hand in the last hour because I'm just catching cards, so it must look to the table like I'm speeding around).......riding and manipulating the wave of our luck......

[tradingman123]

I think that showing down a bluff does well in a game full of tight players. In this situation, showing down several bluffs will increase your chance that they call one of your dramatic overbets when you have the nuts...

[fisherman112]

i only show a bluff if ive been playing very tightly and people have been consistently folding to my bets.

[Shaun]

I show bluffs if I don't feel I'm getting enough action, or if I feel like a specific player will start overplaying weak hands against me. I probably show less than 1/4 of my big bluffs, and never show bluffs that occur in small pots.

[PoBoy321]

In this particular situation, I would not show simply because it's a common play that I'll make and which I want to continue to work. However, I will often show down bluffs when I feel that my image is too tight and I want more action, but I will do it with more dangerous bluffs. For example, I posted a hand in SSNL a little while ago where I had a strong read that my opponent had KK or QQ and I planned on outplaying him post-flop with KQ /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. The flop came A66, he made a strong continuation bet, I raised and he folded. I showed the bluff and people began calling me down with ace high.