Show vs Muck

I have only played live poker twice in my life. One in Vegas and one here in Mexico city.

Both times I was lucky enough to get AA and both times I show them even that my opponents folded.

Two of the best sensations of my life.

Ifyour a good player, it can be beneficial to show your hand, to hopefully gain in future situations, where your opponent may now play differently against you. But if more of a beginner, you're probably better off mucking. But either way, sometimes showing a monster like a straight flush, is just fun for everyone to see.

depends on how many beers i had...lol

I always figure the person had an alternative motive in showing

In general, I think there should be a clear purpose to showing your cards, otherwise muck. All information you release at the table and online does matter and informs how your opponents will react to future hands played. As such, I try not to give too much information by showing cards because then they can reverse engineer how I play my hands.

I will show my cards to reinforce my table image at times. For instance, I will show my cards if I bet for value with the nuts so that my opponents think that I'm a nit and super tight. This is so that when I do the same thing with complete air and bluff on the river, I am more likely to get away with it.

Nooo

I dislike to show the lost hands.
Therefore, I muck them if I´m sure to be lost.

However everyone can see the mucked hands after show down online poker.
It´s a big disadvantage.

When To Muck Or Not

ChipWinged said:

Do you show your cards in live poker if you've lost (or if others fold)? I understand muck is best variant cause opponents won't know your bluff but if you have flexible style - is it important? You can show bluff and next same situation you can have slow play. Also I know fun siuations when you show cards because it's epic hand What do you think?

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When I have a good hand and I'm up against someone that is not doing too good, I usually go easy and let them bet; when they finally fold on my small bet I show a respectful small monster hand. Normally, I get a "TY for not Slamming Me!", other times I'm called everything but, "Late For Supper!" When I'm up against two or three that Bulldog the table with big starting bets (exceeding the present blind bet by three), which Eat up other's chips. Many times these same players, that raise constantly, get you in trouble with other hands and They Fold. These Strategies, I consider PETTY; a petty style type of choice for strategy. So, when I do allow two or three of these types that raise, to raise I slam an All-In ( say an unsuited 3-2 for example) and when they fold, I SHOW! Yes, it's intentional; but, it blunts their edge on the table and they become leery. Other than that I do not like to show. GOD bless you all.

The Lefty Or Righty, Muck/Bluff

maezma said:

I think sometimes it's good to show a bluff that works well for you if you do not have a tendency to do it. It's a good way to confuse opponents about the style of play you have. Varying the way you play different hands is also another good option to make reading your strategy difficult.

Regards.

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I like the lefty righty approach. I keep various strategies at each tourney. Some strategies work great on this tourney but on another, it's horrible. Staying on your toes with flexible styles is a good way to go. And, YES, in Any situation, I will always Show Quads; especially a Strait Flush. (Hit a small strait flush on the flop; excited to the point of grinning like a lurking wolf when three were all-inners/lol). GOD bless you all.

I usually don't show cards. When I do....it is usually for a reason. Conservative tables with little wild action...I will show after a few all-ins. I do that to show I am not a Bluffer. Regular tables or fast action tables...never show! Keep everyone thinking I bluff way more than I do. I still prefer the slow play over the bluff.

That depends

Ussually i don t show, but sometime i show only the Nuts, just to put my competitors thinking next time when i want to bluff:star:

I also think it is better not to show the bluff. However, in some situations I find it interesting to show the cards, especially if it is against a tilt player.

If they have the personality of tony g hen I would be mucking. I would show someone like the great Phil Ivey the bluff ..

I almost always muck. If there are two or three bad players, a table may be profitable even if there are a couple of people smarter than me who may learn stuff about me even I don’t know.

muck imo always muck theirs no need to show off

Cautious Bluffer When Needed

Alberto Martinez said:

When I have a good hand and I'm up against someone that is not doing too good, I usually go easy and let them bet; when they finally fold on my small bet I show a respectful small monster hand. Normally, I get a "TY for not Slamming Me!", other times I'm called everything but, "Late For Supper!" When I'm up against two or three that Bulldog the table with big starting bets (exceeding the present blind bet by three), which Eat up other's chips. Many times these same players, that raise constantly, get you in trouble with other hands and They Fold. These Strategies, I consider PETTY; a petty style type of choice for strategy. So, when I do allow two or three of these types that raise, to raise I slam an All-In ( say an unsuited 3-2 for example) and when they fold, I SHOW! Yes, it's intentional; but, it blunts their edge on the table and they become leery. Other than that I do not like to show. GOD bless you all.

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Alberto Martinez said:

I like the lefty righty approach. I keep various strategies at each tourney. Some strategies work great on this tourney but on another, it's horrible. Staying on your toes with flexible styles is a good way to go. And, YES, in Any situation, I will always Show Quads; especially a Strait Flush. (Hit a small strait flush on the flop; excited to the point of grinning like a lurking wolf when three were all-inners/lol). GOD bless you all.

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fruittree said:

I usually don't show cards. When I do....it is usually for a reason. Conservative tables with little wild action...I will show after a few all-ins. I do that to show I am not a Bluffer. Regular tables or fast action tables...never show! Keep everyone thinking I bluff way more than I do. I still prefer the slow play over the bluff.

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When pinned to the wall, I will slam an all-inner with an off-beat hand to simply try and get a toe-hold on some chips and I'll show. Not trying to bulldog, simply trying to climb with chips before the Blinds climb well over my chips; at which time you are forced to play a hand that is not of your choice and there goes the tourney for ya! GOD bless you all.

Michel_11 said:

I only show my cards when I am in the BB and clearly they are stealing my blinds but I have a very bad hand, so I show it to give the impression that the next bluff will not pass, that it only passed because I had nothing

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This might not be as good an idea as you think. In most of the games where I have been the button and had the BB show me the hands they were folding to my steal, it has only encouraged me to steal more often. I can think of very few hands that were shown that would ever make me less likely to steal. If you show me 83o, well that doesn't mean anything. I expect you to fold 83o. If you show me J8s (which has happened in a short-handed home game), you're in for a hell of a night. If I know you're folding hands like J8s, you're over-folding to my steals. I might not raise 100% of the times it folds to me on the button, but it will be very close. And, the only reason it won't be 100% is because the SB could have a hand and I don't want you catch on to how much I am stealing from you.

It is very easy to over-fold the BB to a late position raise. In many games, it's probably not a bad thing. You will be out of position and many players aren't aware of how much position can be abused. That means you'll be playing against a strong range out of position too much, and it's just hard to make money that way. But, if I know you're folding 75%-80% of the hands, I can raise any two cards profitably. My ideal table is when the two players to my immediate right have fold to steal stats near or above 80%. In a live game, it is hard to really get a handle on the percentage you're folding, until you show me a hand that makes it clear you're only playing 20% of the hands from the BB.

So what do you gain by showing? You show your opponent something they already knew, like you won't play a hand from the bottom 10%. That doesn't gain you any credibility. Or you accidentally show them a hand that probably could have been defended either with a 3-bet or a call. In that second case, you've accomplished the opposite of what you wanted. Now the table is able to narrow your BB range down and can play more hands against it profitably.

Muck always. If you want to see my cards, pay.

99% of the time I play poker, I will muck my hand and only seldom I show my hand. It just gives too much information to opponents on your style of play.

Once I started playing I thought muck was the only option.
Now I'm finding out that sometimes show your cards to play some mental games are a very good option as well.

Always MUCK! I never show my hand

I wont show ever unless its something special. Last hand the hit what I needed to show was the royal flush. Other that that and something a nice straight flush i never show may cards.

I do have a great I bluffed and showed the table story. Playing live about 2 years ago on the river a player shove all in as a bluff and not or the 1st time. He had shown a few bluffs already. After he shoved the dealer asked to see his cards and he asked why as the other player has not called called yet. No sir he went all in and your all in is a call so can we see your cards sir. The player just got up and walked away from the table mucking his cards. The dealer did show the table. Yes you 5 high non bluff has lost. LOL

Make him pay to get to see the cards.

sometimes i show my hand.
offten only one card but in
online poker I think it's ok.
When I play with friend it's
the same but I show less...