Tournament Ethics

[MikeyEdge]

This may not be the proper forum for this, but since it happened in a tournament, I'll throw it out there.

No-Limit Texas Hold'em tournament. 3 Players left, blinds 200-400. I was BB with A-Qo. UTG limps in, but I notice her excitement in her hand. SB folds and I let it go. Flop comes A-6-8. I check it, to see what she is going to do. She goes all-in for about 3,000. I'm chip leader with about 8,000. So this puts me in a bad spot obviously, a tough call. So I proceed to show her my hand and ask her if she is still confident with her all-in. I asked her if she still thought she would win and if she had A-K. This went on for a minute or so. Now, I'm not Mike Caro or anything, but I can read people fairly well, and once I knew she didn't have the A-K, I called and won the pot. This propelled me on to victory. But basically what I'm asking, is it generally frowned upon to blatantly prod your opponent for more information, specifically showing them your hand. Now this was a home tournament, I'm wonder how this would have went over in a casino event.

[prospector]

Tournament rules where I play do not allow you to show your hand until the betting action is completed. If you do, your hand is dead. Aside from that, I think your actions are too much, even for poker.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Yes, as Prospector said, most casino tourneys do not permit you to expose your hand until there is no more action possible. The penalty is having your hand declared dead in some casinos. More commonly your hand is not dead, but you are given a time penalty (e.g., for the next 10 minutes you post all blinds and antes, but your hand is folded at the earliest opportunity).

As to ethics, I think this type of action should be allowed, though in a practical sense I'm not sure how to do it without creating too many additional problems. I think you should be able to generate tells from your opponents, whether by showing or telling them your hand, once it is heads-up. I understand the concept that even though it is heads-up, your actions affect everybody still in the event. However, it is not as if you're doing this for any reason other than to help yourself. And that is what poker is ultimately about, helping yourself win all the chips. I think this type of activity increases the edge of a player who is skilled at doing it, and makes the game more viewer-friendly (as we consider the WPT and poker on TV in general).

But, as of now, it is against the rules everywhere I play, so I don't do it.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)