Quote:
Originally Posted by JayKon
I've been playing a long time and have gotten sick of people saying something like "you're good" and getting you to show out of turn, then tabling the winner. So, several years ago, I started getting rather picky about showing my hand in-turn.
However, because of Mason's comments about forcing losers to show their hand, I'm beginning to question if this is right 100% of the time.
In a 2/5 NL hand I played recently, I called a guy down with AK (catching a K on the river) because I was convinced he was semi-bluffing from the flop. After I called, he said he missed and didn't want to show. However, I just sat there waiting.
Finally, he showed and I tabled immediately. He then left the game (and as a result, the game got tougher).
So, I am seriously considering showing out-of-turn sometimes (like when it's a bad player I want to keep in the game). However, I would like some input before I do.
Hi JayKon:
One of reasons I put the word "Real" in the title of my book is that I wanted to cover some standard events that occur at the poker table and what you need to do to maximize your expectation relative to these events. Who should turn over their hand first is one example.
For others who have not bought the book, here is what it says starting on page 50:
Quote:
One form of needling, which is very popular among struggling professional players, is to ask to see their opponent’s cards when the hand is over. Perhaps our struggling pro will learn how his opponent plays. But in reality, all he may do is embarrass the live one into playing much better. I have seen many good games ruined when some “expert” forces all the live ones to play better simply because he shows the world how terrible they play and makes sure that they quit gambling. In reality, what happens is that the live one now feels that action is not the most important thing anymore, instead, he becomes more interested in winning and thus changes his play.
Notice that the above is mostly concerned with the quality of the losing player's game. Many of them are well aware how to play better but then it means they'll need to play tighter which is something they don't like. However, in extreme cases, as you found out, they'll sometimes quit the game which is often the best thing for them to do from an expectation perspective.
The downside is that you'll occasionally turn over the losing hand and then your opponent will table his. And while annoying, it's much better than to have this player start to play better, or even leave.
So my advice is to let him show first, but if he seems very hesitant to do so, and/or states that he has nothing, and he's a bad player, go ahead and turn your hand over. You should be the winner the large majority of the time.
Best wishes,
Mason