Requesting to see losing hand at Showdown.... Bad Form?

[DougI]

I have a newbie question for all.
Holdem rules state that the winner of a showdown (in fact any active player) can ask to see the losing player's hand when he folds subsequent to calling your hand.
However, I rarely see it done. Is it that I haven't played enough and it is actually done quite often at big pot showdowns? Is it an etiquette thing?
Why wouldn't everyone want to see what cards drove him/her to the showdown to fold after calling?

[Cosimo]

Casinos allow you to make this request in order to enable players to better root out collusion among their peers. Hence, asking to "see that hand" is an implicit accusation of collusion. For that reason, it is bad etiquette to make this request if you are only doing it for information.

WPT/ESPN have met great success because of the hole-card cams. The players hate them because it gives away their strategy, but love them because of what it has done to poker.

[astroglide]

yes, it's bad etiquette. my local cardroom lists it as a right in the rules, but also explicitly states that people who do it repeatedly will get thrown out.

[huxbux]

Definitely bad etiquette. Also, I find that at low limits, it can turn the table a bit, and make the less serious players turn more serious. I've seen players who consistently ask to see a losers mucked cards, not for collusion purposes, but because they want to get a better read on that player. It announces to the rest of the table, "I'm a serious player(or at least I think I am) who's going to study your every move, so I can take your money." Anything that turns makes a loose player tighen up can't be good.

[KingSix]

[ QUOTE ]
Holdem rules state that the winner of a showdown (in fact any active player) can ask to see the losing player's hand when he folds subsequent to calling your hand

[/ QUOTE ]

Be sure you know the specific rules of the specific room. There is one place here that only allows a player who called a bet on the end to ask to see the cards, not any player that was active at some point in the hand. Another thing that I have seen once was that the player who tried to muck actually had the winning hand and when the "winner" asked for the cards to be shown, the dealer caught the mistake and pushed the pot to the mucker.

Either way, the information you might gain would probably be off set by the "bad blood". IMO, one exception to this is when a player is showing their cards to other players and then tries to muck. In that case, I think that you have a reasonable "show one, show all" argument if you want to pursue it.

I also agree with hux that at low limits, this is right up there with thinking about your hand forever. It often will "wake up" your opponents and let them know that you are not with them in their ramboolin and gamboolin.

King