Sometimes, players offer $ for someone to show a hand - "$5 if you can show me a bluff", etc. In one hand, a dealer tabled my cards when he was not supposed to. After discussion, the house ended up comping me a $5 drink (+tax/tip). Of course, a comped drink is not the same thing as cash.

The question: how much would you need to be paid to show a hand to be +EV? On average? Min/max? How does it change with different stakes/situations? What if you are playing with regs? Mix of regs/tourists? All tourists? et al

$17.50

$19.23

Min: $1.27 Max: $88.52

The higher the stakes, the less I'd need to be paid, because higher stakes players are grinders and soul readers and they already know what I'm holding most of the time.

If I'm playing with regs, I'd probably show for free because I want the regs to like me.

If it's a mix, then it gets tricky. I don't mind if a reg was the other guy in the pot and he sees my cards, but if it's a tourist then I'd probably lose my cool and go on insta-tilt.

Don't even get me started. This would cost the dealer the maximum amount of comp or else I'd for sure report him to the supervisor, the manager, and the gaming commission.

Well for PLO I'd want more of a comp because 4 cards is more than 2 cards. And if it's limit vs no limit I'd probably accept less, because I think the house's liability is limited just like the table stakes. Also, if it's the dealer's first day I'd be more forgiving. We all get nervous on our first day at a new job. Buy by day 6 or 7, the dealer better be dialed in and I'm not going to be happy with just a comp'd drink, unless maybe if it's top shelf.

I had a good Serious question though.

Totally depends what game, what you're trying to accomplish and how good the players are...

Like, for instance, I was in some crazy aggressive 1/3 game the other night, there was about 4-5 players just raising, 3 betting almost every hand preflop, average pot preflop was probably $60-$70 preflop.. a lot of pots preflop were $100 plus, so I was just sitting back, playing pretty tight...

Hit an open ended straight flush draw on the flop, I checked, they led out, I repopped, got one caller, turn, brick, I lead out big, guy thinks for a minute and calls, river brick, I push for about $300 behind in a $300 or so pot, guy goes into the tank for 30 seconds and says "You haven't played a pot in an hour, you must be have the nuts and folds" Player says I'll give you $5.00 to see it, I said sure (was honestly planning on showing it anyways), because I wanted to lose the nitty image, and I wasn't planning on taking many more stabs in a game that loose anyways, so I took the redbird and got everyone's attention...

Few hands later, got pocket 8's and the flop came 8, A, 3 rainbow and dude snap called me down in a $450 pot with A, 6, which NEVER would have happened, even on a loose table like that, without showing that bluff a few hands before...

Moral of the story is, every table is different. If you're at a crazy loose table and you're playing nitty and you get a bluff in, you might want to just show it, or show it for cheap... If you're at an ultra soft game against a bunch of nits, and keep bluffing them, there's probably not enough money out there to make it worth your to give them a reason to stop running them over...

I've been offered $1 or $2 and held out for $5 which I didn't get. Hard to quantify the real $ loss of showing...probably less than $5 though, at least for me.

I rather I don't get anything as long as they tap out the dealer and school him on proper procedure.

How about 20% of the River bet?

Since it's commonly a folding/mucking player who asks why not set the price at a percentage of the pot/bet they were facing?

I usually show more than most players because I want to create action and get players playing a wider range than they normally do, which leads them to making mistakes. So the cost to see one of my holdings may be less than that of another player. GL

Brilliant. ROFLMAO. Exactly what I hoped for after reading the OP.


But seriously... in a card room, I'm reluctant to show, would probably hold out for a % of river bet... I almost always claim "You're too good for me to give you that info".

Since I play mostly in one room, end of session free, err discounted information may come back to haunt me.


In a home game, as I've said many times... just ask. It's a friendly, social event, and I'm happy to keep people happy.

I rarely show when I don't have to and when I do it's specifically because I'm trying to adjust my image one way or another. No trivial amount of money is going to change that equation.

Even non-trivial amounts need to be balanced in that regard. If I'm playing 1/2 and I've been winning a lot of hands w/o showdown and I'm offered $20 to show a bluff I'm not interested. Specially if it's "I'll give you $20 if you can show a bluff". That'll get a response like "Wish I could". Same spot if I have a nuttish hand I'd be willing to show for cheap or even free or perhaps ask the guy who folded last "Do you want to see it"

Been looking for an opportunity to try this when someone offers to fold to my bet if I agree to show:

I'll show, if you'll agree to show me one time when I'm faced with the same decision. It's my decision whether to collect the debt on any particular hand where I can fold to your bet. We must be heads up and the debt expires when either of us cash out.

Obviously not enforceable but with the right kind of player might be useful.

I play 1-2 or 1-3 cash. Thoughts?

That's a lot of terms to iron out in the middle of a hand for something that none of the other players are going to care about. Other than that, I wouldn't let it expire. Let your opponent think it's perpetual, not that he should stand up sooner than he would have.

If a player asks to see my cards after the hand is over I always tell them to tip the dealer a $5 and I'll show. Very rare for someone to care enough to spend the $5.

For me, showing if asked is mostly be a question of whether or not it would reinforce or weaken whatever table image I was trying to establish/maintain.
Also, depends on the situation and who's asking.
But in general, I don't show (for free or for $) if I think it might cost me a big pot later.