Can I see your hand?

[crockett]

Wow! I came to this forum and actually got something out of it.

I would appreciate some clarification on rules.

If I understand this correctly, if a player calls a bet on the river, their opponent can ask to see their hand per the rules?

Can any player on the table (even if they were out of the hand) make this request?

What if you are the bettor (bluffing) and are called and the caller immediately flips over his/her cards. You realize your beat. Can the caller ask to see your cards?

Finally, this comes up in our home games quite often. After all the betting is done, by the rules, who has to show their hand first? We always play that the initial bettor on the river must show first. If the river is checked down then the initial bettor on the previous street must show first, etc. Is this correct.

Finally, if it is considered bad ettiquete to ask to see someones hand but legal, why isn't the rule just changed?