Did I cheat?
 

So what do you do when playing in a casino and you see your opponents hole cards? Personally, I think is is your own responsibility to keep your cards concealed, but that people should not be actively trying to sneak a peak. Anyone else have thoughts on the matter, especially cause I see a lot of players pick up their cards way to high or otherwise make little attempt to conceal them.

The specific situation that leads me to ask...
Playing 1-2 NL at the Taj in AC. Unbelievably large stack to my left (maybe $2500) is playing LAG and a bit of a table coach. He raises UTG (could literally be any two), I call with QJ offsuit strictly for implied odds, everyone else folds. Flop comes Queen high, two clubs. I look over to see what my opponent will do and he looks at his cards, and I get a look too! He flopped an open end straight draw, which he eventually missed. I smooth call a flop bet, make a small turn bet after his check which he calls, and then raise him off a bluff on the river when he tries to represent the flush. So I had the best hand the whole time and the guy was kind of a jerk, but I basically get an easy $200 because I knew he had jack high. To top it off, I show my cards after he announced he thought I had the flush, and if anyone had stopped to think they would have realized my river raise was totally absurd. Thoughts?

Re: Did I cheat?
 

why bother raising if you know he has nothing. As long as you aren't actively trying to see his cards, then I don't think you did anything wrong...it's his own fault. If you could see his cards earlier in the night you should have told him that you could....after a warning it's all fair. If this was the first time, and you both happen to be in the hand, I don't think you can really do anything differently.

Re: Did I cheat?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So what do you do when playing in a casino and you see your opponents hole cards? Personally, I think is is your own responsibility to keep your cards concealed, but that people should not be actively trying to sneak a peak.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the mantra here is 'tell them once', and then if they keep doing it, by all means use the knowledge to your advantage.

It is the players responsibility to protect their own hand.

Re: Did I cheat?
 

I had a very similar situation playing in a live game at a casino near hear. My thought was that it is your responsibility to protect your cards if u dont tough luck. NOT cheating IMO.

btw... i saw a hand that he open-pushed preflop UTG and it was 22 it folded to my BB and there it is i have 55 [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] i didnt consider it cheating. oh well

[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Kasey [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: Did I cheat?
 

They say poker is a game of partial information. The more information you can get, the better you will do.

What you did wasn't cheating, it was taking advantage of someone, which is the name of the game.

Re: Did I cheat?
 

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why bother raising if you know he has nothing.

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I raised on the end for two reasons.

1. I always raise there when I KNOW Ihave the best hand, though admittedly this may have been one time not to.

2. I still had a good amount behind and my opponent was aggressive, so I figured I would give him a chance to reraise. Not very likely, but nothing to lose.

As for giving one warning, I always used to turn my head and do just that. Until, one time in a tourney at Borgata I had the chance to see a guys cards, did not look and warned him, and then paid him on the turn after he made his hand (I was ahead on the flop). After that, just gotta look out for #1.

Re: Did I cheat?
 

[ QUOTE ]
....after a warning it's all fair. If this was the first time, and you both happen to be in the hand, I don't think you can really do anything differently.

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to warn people that I could see their hole cards, until one jerk turned to me after the warning and said "What are you doing trying to look at my cards, a$$hole". He looked like he was ready to punch me out then and there. I'd seen his cards totally be accident, too...he was really sloppy about looking at them. Rather than realizing that I was being honest, he acted like I'd just admitted to cheating.

After that incident, I've stopped warning people. I don't actively try to see my opponents' hole cards, but when I do, I no longer warn them. If they can't protect their hole cards, screw'em.

Re: Did I cheat?
 

No. You will have many other opportunities to look at peoples cards. Don't let them pass. When somebody is particularly reckless with their cards, you need to make an effort to not look at your cards until he looks at his, so you get the best opportunity to see. But I'm a dick...

-Jihad

Re: Did I cheat?
 

Anyone who auto-cheats here is an A-hole. I will tell anyone ONCE they are exposing their hand as long as they are reasonably pleasant to be around. I will tell extremely new players, or nice old ladies more than once, and explain how to protect their hand. I do this very QUIETLY so as not to embarrass them.

If they're a jerk, screw 'em. I put on my glasses so they don't notice that I'm seeing their cards.

al

Re: Did I cheat?
 

The funny part is even with all that information, you still misplayed the hand.