When I was a child, playing nickel poker on the kitchen table with my father and the family, one of the things I was taught as being very important was to "never ever show unless you are called".

And today, I rarely do. And I *never* show bluffs.

Of course, we all see the donks that make some silly ass bluff, and show ... and some other players that make a value bet and show a real hand.

QUESTION:

How do you feel about showing?

How does it work into your game plan, and your metagame?

If there a particular kind of hand that you LIKE to show? A type that you never ever show?

How about in a live game at showdown? When I'm in position and I'm pretty sure I have the best hand, I generally show to keep the game moving - mistake? Should I wait to see the other hands? (Of course this assumes I called, not bet).

Do you feel that showing a certain kind of hand will help your table image in a certain way?


The funny thing is I rarely see anything written about showing a hand when you don't need to - implications, repercussions, etc.


A story from long ago:

As an example, a long long time ago, (when I really sucked) I was playing some 3/6 limit game, and playing my (at the time) usual collection of crap garbage hands - in this case K4. There was a pair of 6s on the board, and a K, and I was in position, and a 4 fell on the river - well, back then I was not always making the sharpest assessments (LOL) and was in position, when another guy bet into me, and I (thinking I had 2 pair on the river, LOLz) raised. He tanked forever, and then folded. I showed, saying I had 2 pair, (not at first realizing that my 4 was counterfeit) and he got very upset and left the table - and I then realized that in fact I had only 1 pair and he had by far the better kicker, and folded the better king.

As I thought about it later, how much showing my worse hand caused another player to go on tilt, it occurred to me that showing the right hand at the right time could have definite psychological implications relating to image and the metagame aspects.

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How do you think hand showing works with your game today? Do you use it? Thoughts?

Whatever keeps the game moving.

Re story:
King sounds like a pretty easy call for villain in LHE, but you didn't give much information.

meh, if your versing good skilled opponents i dont think showing the the most +ev play.. but if im in a game with a bunch of fish having some fun i dont think showing a bluff or a made hand is that bad because they dont really piece information together that well hence why they are fish. but yeh in my homegame with guys im always showing hands and vise versa makes things fun and keeps things at a non-serious level

I didn't want to get into strat or a full description of the hand - just that he made a very bad fold (showed be a batter king), and when I showed, he became very upset and left the table.

I realized that I inadvertently "showed a bluff" and it really tilted this guy.

I generally think that tilting my opponents is overall - EV, because it will tend to either cause them to overplay (making decisions harder on me) or start playing better/tighter and attacking me more.


Like the saying goes "If you're going to kick a tiger in the ass, you better have a plan for his mouth".

...Not to show.

You were taught well.

Always keep em guessing.

This.

Just yesterday, the 2/5 game I usually play broke so I sat down at 1/2 (horribad players here). Then this hand happened:

I overlimped button with 45o. Flop comes Js3c6h. Guy leads $10, gets a caller, and I raise to $30 (table was terribly passive and I wasn't expecting to get 3bet very often, and figured they'd check through all turns). They both call. Turn Ts. They check, I check behind. River Qs. They check. I bet $100 knowing very well that my line looks completely FOS, but still figuring villains were too scared to bluff catch. Both folded. I showed my 5-high.

Later, there was a hand where I overlimp A7o otb. Flop was AJ4 two-tone. Checks to me, I bet $10 and get two callers. Turn 9, I bet $20 and both call again. River 4. Checks to me. I figure I'm probably chopping with someone so I bet $100 trying to get a chop to fold. Villain from hand where I showed the 5 high bluff calls me. I say, "I hope we're chopping" and show my hand. He says, "no you're good", mucks his jack and is super tilted after this.

So, in this case showing a bluff earned me $100+.

I think showing bluffs can be good sometimes to get people on tilt... I never do it though, I only play online and always have auto-muck on... In friendly home games it's just fun to do, or just nice if someone made a crying fold to show them the best hand, but that's just being friendly and having fun, if the money is serious you might not want to show ever, or only show bluffs if you know that it will tilt opponents.

This is a little off topic, but op mentioned it. I have stopped showing 1st when in position after picking off a bluff. It has become common place in my casino for the bettor to just sit there quietly and wait for the caller to show. I used to show first if the bettor said "good call", "you got it", etc. But they abuse that courtesy now, so I just sit there also.

It's situational for me. I hardly every show, but you can still keep people guessing by showing bluffs and strong hands. But I will say one thing I always do is always show preflop and never post flop. I don't want people to know I outplayed them and just want them to think I always have it. I 3bet light a lot so I will occasionally show KK and AA to let people know that I can keep good hands too, but I always show 72o every time I win preflop with it just to mess with people. Last time I raised huge preflop an older man at my home game was the last one to fold and said "What are you going to do? Show 72 again?" He folded and I showed my hand and asked him why he folded if he knew what I had? My 3bet don't get much respect at my home games, but I get paid off when I have it.

i'd show things like straight flushes if the other guy showed he folded a full house or something like that (like if i had it in that "russian folds quads in one drop" situation), otherwise never

Way back when I first started playing I would grind 2/4 LHE in my local cardroom. I always took the book advice of never showing my hand unless I had to. One day I was playing and had been absolutely card dead for about 3 hours. There was the usual table talk about how it was impossible to bluff at a low limit game. I guess I went on boredom tilt and raised some trash hand, bet the flop, bet the turn and got everyone to fold. I then said out loud "I guess you can bluff at 2/4" and turned over my hand.

I got more action for the rest of that session that I could've imagined. I'm not the type of guy who really buys into the value of "advertising" plays, because I think most rec players can be confused about what you are willing to play simply by loosening up in position, but on this one occasion it worked like gangbusters.

There's a couple of advantages to showing, aside from putting certain people on tilt. One is that the fact you're doing it can give you a fishy image. The other is that it tends to make the atmosphere a little more friendly, which will not only encourage fish to show as well but also loosen up a little, and stay at the game longer.

Obv it's up to you to decide whether those things worth more than the information you're giving away. I think it can definitely be worth in a lot of 1/2 and 2/5 games (and low stakes home games) where most players don't adjust to information very well anyway.

Advocates of showing are seeming to forget that the entire table gets free information. The payoff of tilting one player is not worth the cost of having eight other players see how you played.

-EV

Here's a little psychological trick I've done a few times that actually seemed to work. Maybe I'm just imagining this had the intended effect, but might be worth a try anyway.

The idea here is to get caught bluffing without actually bluffing or risking anything.

Suppose you're on a draw, say with a hand like 78s. You call flop, you call turn, and the river bricks. Villain bets again on the river. Now you know that this guy has a really big hand, a monster; more than that, he's a calling station, and you would never actually try to bluff raise here. It's important that everyone at the table is paying close attention to this hand.

What I've done is to go through a little routine -- e.g., look at villain for 3 seconds, look at my cards (making myself fully aware that I have 8-high), grab a stack of chips and shuffle them, look at villain for another 5 seconds, look at my cards again, grab more chips, begin to move them towards the pot... Then at the last moment, say "Man! I really want to shove here, I think I can get you to fold", and muck your cards face up (so everyone knows you were never thinking about calling with 8-high, only raising). Hopefully everyone at the table will ridicule you and tell you he had a monster and he was never going to fold. Just say, "No, I think he would've folded. I just couldn't pull the trigger."

Now when a situation comes up later in the session where you actually have the nuts, repeat that same exact routine, and when you look at your cards, imagine yourself seeing 8-high. I think each part of the routine will subconsciously trigger a "he's FOS" reaction in the mind of the villains. By the time you announce raise, the only thing going through their mind is "I call".