Is Doyles's expose the aces play legal?

[betgo]

In <u>Super System</u> he says that if there are trips on the board and someone goes allin and he had AA, he would turn the aces face up and try to read his opponent's reaction to determine if his opponent had quads or a lower boat.

This might be OK in a backroom in Texas, but I wonder if it is legal in a cardroom.

I would personally not try anything that could be interpretted as an angle shoot on an allin pot, but I am just curious.

[UATrewqaz]

I've been in tournaments where people have done this and it slid, also the Heads Up Poker Championship NBC put on last year (the one Hellmuth won) had this as a special rule, you can reveal your hole cards at any time to get a read.

But I believe the standard rule/practice is that if you intentionally expose your cards they are considered dead.

TDA rules say that in this situation, you could incur a penalty (time away from table), but your hand will NOT be killed.

I made a ruling on this very situation just the other day. There is one other consideration to keep in mind: are there other people in the hand, or is it heads-up? In a cash game, heads up, I would rule with perfect consistancy that exposing one or both of your hole cards to get a read is legal. However we must consider if another player is involved in the hand (either an all-in situation or still actively betting does not matter).

Exposing your cards when a player is all in and you are in side action is wrong (especially so in a tournament). You are exposing your cards either to induce a call or push a fold. If you are trying to induce a call you may be putting the all-in player's hand in peril moreso than before (that is what if they guy you are hoping calls can beat YOU - oops. That definately hurts the AI player if they can beat you but cannot beat your opponent).

The other consideration is if you have 3 active bettors. You are feeding at least one or the two players extra information giving them an unfair advantage over the 3rd player. ie: Player A bets, you (player B) expose a card and taunt. Player C now has information player A never had when making his bet. Even if you are acting last (A bets, B calls/raises then you expose a card and act) player A is at a disadvantage to B again. Other thoughts?

[Al_Capone_Junior]

[ QUOTE ]
In a cash game, heads up, I would rule with perfect consistancy that exposing one or both of your hole cards to get a read is legal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

I also agree on your thoughts about multi-way pots, or heads-up side pots with the third player all-in. No dice.

al

[Jersey Nick]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In a cash game, heads up, I would rule with perfect consistancy that exposing one or both of your hole cards to get a read is legal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

I also agree on your thoughts about multi-way pots, or heads-up side pots with the third player all-in. No dice.

al

[/ QUOTE ]

Al - why would this move be acceptable in a cash game but not a tournament situation?

Nick

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
TDA rules say that in this situation, you could incur a penalty (time away from table), but your hand will NOT be killed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because I heard tournament poker rules in this area were different I looked this up and wondered what the heck it meant. IOW, what determines incurring a penalty of time away?

Note that I haven't played tournaments for years and haven't watched much TV poker.

~ Rick

[Al_Capone_Junior]

According to my source in the TDA circle, a penalty may mean 10,20,30,40 minutes away from the table, in which case you're blinded off in the meantime, and it might mean disqualification and your chips removed from play in highly grievous and extreme cases. Simply doing the doyle trick once will result in a warning, doing it twice, a time penalty. Doing it a third time, a kick in the nuts. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

al

I remember watching some of the older WSOP broadcasts on ESPN Classic.. I swear I saw players table their hand when deciding whether or not to call an all-in when heads-up in a pot. The announcers were never shocked by it. ("Now he's exposing his hand, we see he has the top pair with a weak kicker, he's trying to figure out if it's the best hand.")

Did this practice change in the past 5-10 years?

[mrkilla]

its card room dependant..most places don't allow it though