Peeking at neighbors holecards?

[BUD]

I just ran across an archived post from Malmuth refering negatively that people will look at neighbors hole cards. Just wondering if someone next to you exposed his cards what would you do. Is there a moral judgement here?

[tripdad]

i generally out of habit look at everyone i can when they pick up their cards just to try to get a read. if i happen to see the cards, i will generally tell them i saw them.

i regularly play in a pot limit game in my hometown, and i once saw another regular's pocket 6's on the button. i was SB. the flop gave me a middle pair of tens, which i checked. it got to him, and he bet $20 with his unimproved 66, so i could have taken the pot. instead, i just folded, as did everyone else, then told him after the hand that i had seen his cards and had him by the balls. he thanked me, and said that was the most honest thing he'd ever seen in a poker game, and threw me two $5 chips after i stood up from the table.

cheers!

[CCx]

"Protect your cards"

A few weeks back, there was a guy sitting to my right in the 6 seat who would constantly pick up his cards off the table, rest them on the rail and make no effort to conceal them whatsoever. People two to the right and left could see them at all times, without even wanting to look practically. Two dealers told him to conceal his cards better, and he still didn't. He left stuck his $200 buy-in in just under 2 hours. I don't stare at peoples' holecards because it's rude, just like staring in general. However, if you're picking them up off the table and showing them for the world to see, c'est la vie.

[private joker]

It's a player's responsibility to protect his hand. If he fails to do so, I'll look so I can get more information for my decisions.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
"Protect your cards"

A few weeks back, there was a guy sitting to my right in the 6 seat who would constantly pick up his cards off the table, rest them on the rail and make no effort to conceal them whatsoever. People two to the right and left could see them at all times, without even wanting to look practically. Two dealers told him to conceal his cards better, and he still didn't. He left stuck his $200 buy-in in just under 2 hours. I don't stare at peoples' holecards because it's rude, just like staring in general. However, if you're picking them up off the table and showing them for the world to see, c'est la vie.

[/ QUOTE ]
I would've kicked this guy off the table if I were the floorman/dealer and he refused to protect his cards. I've seen it almost come to this before.

[BUD]

BTW I am a peeker. being new to b&m poker makes me feel good about using any edge that is not considered cheating, plus i cant believe how many people do not protect their cards.

thanx i did not want to feel like i was breaking some uspoken players code
bud

[jar]

I'll use the info if they make it hugely obvious, but I won't stare. If the person is generally nice, I'll warn them; if they're a prick, I won't.

My one exception is if someone sits down across from me with mirror shades, I'll stare them down trying to read the reflection of their cards.

[Prior22]

I was playing in a home game and the guy to my left whom I had met that night was exposing his cards constantly and had no clue he was doing so. I literally didn't even have to turn my head to see his cards. If it were a friend of mine I would say something and not peek but since I didn't know the guy I figured what the hell.

I wouldn't go out of my way to look but if the information is out there, I'd take advantage of it.

[Andy B]

The majority of the respondents to your survey and to this thread are just plain wrong. Looking at other people's cards is unethical, and this isn't a grey area. The problem isn't that you use this information against them. It's their own damned fault, after all. The problem is that you gain information to which you are not entitled, and you use it against the other players. That is what is unethical. I used to warn people once or twice, and thereafter they were on their own. I have seen the error of my ways, and I warn people every time. I usually play high enough that most people protect their hands pretty well anyway.

Funny thing is that the guy who caused me to change my thinking on this subject is one of the biggest scumbags I know.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]
The majority of the respondents to your survey and to this thread are just plain wrong. Looking at other people's cards is unethical, and this isn't a grey area.

[/ QUOTE ]

The very nature of the question, which you acknowledge is an ethical one, makes any answer being "just plain wrong" an impossibility. Ethics by definition are arguable, because there is no fixed inherent morality in the world (fundamentalist Christians: feel free to disagree). Because of this, ethics will constantly be debated and discussed and argued and changed, and only through the enforcement of rules can a community agree on a set of ethics/morals. The poker community has established what rules can and should be enforced -- a player stealing chips off someone else's stack when he isn't looking will be kicked out of the card room. A player peeking at someone else's hole cards will, at worst, be told not to do it while the player exposing his cards will be the one on whom the direction is focused: "protect your damn cards, dude."