Mucking vs Showing Hands

I always muck. If you want to see my hand, you have to pay for it.

It’s better not to show your cards if it can give information to your opponent about how you played in a certain situation. I prefer never to show my cards, especially after a successful bluff. Alternatively, you can show cards on preflop, if your hand is very weak and you definitely mucks such a hand, telling your opponent that you do not play with such cards.

I would say it is beneficial if you are not somebody who bluffs very often in big pots to show some of your bluffs and make them pay to see your good ones.

showing a few hands to the right opponents will convince them into a bad decision later on just pray your best hand holds up when you stick it in.

Playing great poker does not always end well.

Joco413 said:

When is it benefical to show your hands to your opponents? What are the cons and pros?

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Has anyone ever strategically shown his or her cards to a player prone to going on tilt to purposely infuriate the player and make the player play worse?

I show sometimes, cause I'm a dick.

That depend about the situation , if I play against someone who is a good opponent, I gonna show my card, he had probably a game, it's a form of respect. I don't worry if he know my game, each hand is different, include the "lucky"factor .
If he is a Bad opponent, no respect, I don't show nothing.

HAVE A GOOD GAME
:driver:

The less information you know better.

I very seldom show my cards.. But there are a couple times I consider or do. Very situational.. If I am seldom running bluffs I've shown a bluff.. then caught some good pots afterwards with good hands. Things of that nature. But for the vast majority of the time I do not show. Everything I've ever read on it pretty much says.. MUCK 'EM.

Much v Show

I almost always much but there are times when showing can be beneficial. At the start of a tourney or when you get moved to a new table you can use show to either steam opponents by showing some bluffs or make them think you are super tight by only showing monsters, then you change your strategy because you have helped put an image in the other players minds and people don't change their minds very often (because they don't pay attention to anything but their hand)...I will do this off and on throughout a tournament but very rarely in a ring game and it seems to be a useful strategy.

today i showed an ace after a totally normal raise pre and then taking it down with a small raise with a flopped ace. times like that i like to show how completely reg and normal i play. helps in later semi bluff spots

Muck je the Best way

I think like many others here that we must not give useless information

Poker hands

It is not good to give information about their cards without pay you .However, I am inclined to show people left several bluff to think that I am a serious player.

I almost always muck. There may be a few occasions where you can gain an advantage by showing and putting an opponent on tilt

when i was new to poker i would show nice hands when they folded to my opens in hopes they would respect my bets more and i would be able to get away with a bit. I think it did work to some extent deep in micro tourneys. I don't even consider showing anymore.. it's a game of information and you want to leak as little as possible.

I advise you to always muck so that your opponent has no information about your range

For me it's a big MUCK always muck my hand I always let my opponents with the doubt hehehe

Always muck , Like ive said before. You can bluff and show to put someone on tilt but if you're in a tourney you're giving everybody at the table information on your play so you've tilted one to in the end burn yourself later on in the tourney

I'll agree with most of the comments and say it's better not to show, but if you do, I'd recommend showing them they made a bad decision and never when they made a good decision. There's an off chance they'll question their game, tilt, change the way they play against you (which is fine as long as you don't get fancy with them later), bluff at you with cheese, call you lighter, or float against you in the future.


Most of the time that doesn't happen though. You usually don't gain an advantage from them, they pick up information about you.

flattershay said:

I always mock it. Don't see any point to give information about my plays but there's a chance that if you show yours, villian might show his hand. But you can show yours if you don't care about those things and play just for fun.

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I muck, rarely show only to show I am straight shooter.

As with all things in poker, there needs to be a reason.

When we open, there's a reason.
When we 3-bet, there's a reason.
When we decide to check-raise the turn, there's a reason.

So, if we decide to show our cards, there needs to be a reason. We don't just show cards for the sake of showing cards.

In general you shouldn't be showing your cards. But an experienced player knows when he can and there's really only two reasons why:

1. To represent a playing style that's the opposite of how you're actually playing
2. To represent a playing style that's the opposite of how you will be playing future hands.

Let's say you're playing with a loose, wide range of cards. You've been in several pots and won a few of them without having to show down any of your hands.

From your opponents perspective, you're a loose player. You're in a lot of pots and winning them. It looks like your stealing and bullying the table around.

But then you pick up KK. After you win the pot, you show your KK to make people think that you're actually only playing with good cards. A couple hands later, you show AQ.

So now, everyone's perspective of how you play has changed. They thought you were loose, but now you've shown tight cards. In future hands, they will tend to think you're only playing with strong hands.

This is actually a very old technique that goes back to the earliest days of poker. You play weak hands, but only show down the strong ones. It reduces your image as a loose player and allows you to win pots by representing a strong hand when you don't actually have one. People will remember the big cards you showed.

Now let's say you've been playing loose for an hour of so and won a few pots. You've decided it's time to tighten things up a bit because the blinds have gone up a few levels and you're getting near the bubble.

You just won a pot with a huge bluff. So, you can show the table the lousy cards you won with and then immediately switch your style to conservative play. People will have the impression you're a loose, aggressive players, but you're no longer playing that way.

This makes it easier for you to induce action when you have strong cards. You're raises won't be taken seriously. You'll get the calls and 3-bets you're looking for when the equity of your hand is strong. Your table image of being loose is still in their minds, but this assumption works against them because they play into your hand just the way you want them to.

Joco413 said:

When is it benefical to show your hands to your opponents? What are the cons and pros?

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Muck your hands. Make it as difficult as possible for other opponents to get a read on you. You show your hands at show down when you have to show your cards to win the pot. So if you want your cards to be revealed this would be the only time. :bandit:

Online Video Advice

Joco413 said:

When is it beneficial to show your hands to your opponents? What are the cons and pros?

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I have showed my hand before and usually do it if I make a big lay down against a player who has shown me his cards before.

On an online video, the pro players advise never show your hand. It is to your advantage if the players at the table keep guessing what you have all the time. They say that if there is a pro at the table, they will find a way to use any information that they get at the table against you.

I used to think that if you show a successful bluff that you will catch a player who doubts that you have a winning hand later in the game or if you show a monster lay down others will be less likely to re-raise you and allow you to see more cards. However, that is just in my head.

Pro players say NEVER show your hand.

There is no reason to show hands. Giving away info will always cost you in the end.

BnaD said:

Mucking 99% of the time. Occasionally a situation occurs where showing my 3 bet or 4 bet AA or KK cements my image in the eyes of the other players and I show because my bluffs will get more credit. I guess it it works the same way with bluffs. I might show a bluff if I think that it will make me money in future hands.

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really depends on the table. if you have just been punishing them its good to keep that table image when you knock someone over the head...on the other hand..pay to see em