Is it ever ok to show a hand when you fold? Here is a recent example that happened in a live full ring 1/2 game:

I am in UTG+1 with KK and raise to $15 with stack of ~$260.

Cutoff pops it to $40 with stack of ~$200.

I had seen cutoff make this play with JJ and QQ previously in session. My read on him preflop was that he had AA based on how comfortable he looked. I didnt think he was making this move with anything other than 10s or better.

I called the $25 and saw a flop of QJ3o.

I check and cutoff shoves for ~150.

I fold my KK face up on the table.

I didnt think twice about this fold. I knew it was the right move based on how comfortable the player was, my preflop read and what came out on the flop.

My question is was folding KK face up a good move or should i have just mucked?

This is a really easy fold. Normally people show their big folds because they are upset...sometimes they show them because they are cocky. Obv showing here is -EV because you are both teaching your opponent how to play and how you play but off the top of my head a few positives that can come from showing:

1) Villains will often show their hands back
2) It can give you confidence
3) It can tilt villain
4) It can help you present a tight image.
5) It's a lot of FUN to rub your opponents' noses in your greatness.

It's very rare I show a hand but if I do it's probably to tilt the villain (make sure you have position on villain)

Sometimes if i have 8 3 off or some total garbage in the big blind (tht i was folding anyways) and someone pops it up i will fold it face up and i would say tht about 40% they show me their cards too... This has worked online as well.

I say don't do it especially if you have to ask... and... I have folded face up on occasion... and I can say almost without exception it is due to a mild form of tilt more than any calculated strategery on my part.

OP honestly... what is the specific reason you elected to show your opponent and the rest of the table your hand?

Why did you show?

if you show your cards online at a somewhat serious level, just expect that the only thing the regs will do to adjust is typing in a quick "fish" note, whether it is true or not...

anyways, i´m surprised to see a lot of answers who are actually doing/considering it and not just the "lolhorrificnevereverdothatoryoullgetexploitedlike atightanus" comments.

from a theorethical point of view, it would probably even +EV to show your cards sometimes against weak opposition, but you really must know then how this effects your image and how to adjust to exploit the image others have from you. doing this probably needs an extremely balanced playing style, or always dancing on the edge between brilliancy and stupidity and is surely way harder to play than your standard bet/fold style...

if you keep playing the standard grinder style for this limits it´s probably pretty bad to show cards, if you are willing to create a certain image and exploit that as hard as you can it´s probably +EV. the latter style is very tough to play though, and most of us should really stick to a standard tight playing style, and therefore showing would be bad. imo.

It has its place!
Use it wisely for +ev in the future.
If this isn't possible don't show and stay alert

There are very few good arguments for ever showing and I will argue even against those most often. If you're wondering if its good to show then don't do it. In your example it was a god awful thing to do (along with how you played the hand). If there is even one competent player at your table its not worth it. People in my games show all the time and although they may not realize it, it is death when I'm sitting there because I can immediately reconstruct the hand with that knowledge and gain tons of info. Don't give anyone this advantage.

#freeinfo #misused #usuallyfoolish

This is definitely a place where you want to fold face down not face up

I think very rarely. I don't like it here though unless you think it'll induce him to show and confirm/deny your read. I said in another post that many times you can get players to show by verbal prodding like "I know I had you beat" and they show to prove you wrong which is exactly what you wanted. Usually though its bad because he knows his line didn't maximize his profit when you show him you layers down a big overpair. He will now play it differently next time and others will know how to get you to fold big hands.

Grunch

Think about it... You just advertised to the table that you will fold big hands. How does that help you in any way? The reason you showed your hand was your ego. You are essentially showing the hand to accomplish one of two things. The first one is directed at everyone except the person you are folding to saying "look at me, I got dealt a strong hand and now I have to fold. Feel my pain". The second one is directed to the Villain who shoved saying "Haha look at me fold this big hand to you because I know you have me beat, aren't I a good player?".

The only way this will ever help you is if you know who at the table will use that information to their advantage and try to bluff you in the future. There is pretty much no way to know this for sure. Let the level war begin! So yeah, I think you made a good fold, but NEVER SHOW YOUR HAND!

I have generally been in the never show camp. Why give extra info to the opps?

But Friday night, I had a terrific night winning $1100 at a 1/2 table. And I showed my cards frequently. It started out as just a courtesy to a friend at the table as I felt bad about winning several hundred off of him, but I continued it after he left. In my case, I only showed really good cards. I felt it helped enhance a tight image, which was helpful as I feel in general I like to play a little too loose at times and bluff a little too much. So the shown cards helped convince people I was playing tighter than I really was and made my bluffs more effective. Now I understand a thinking opponent would figure that out pretty quick, but there were none of those there.

Generally, I think people assume you are bluffing alot if you never show your cards, so I think a tight player benefits from not showing, accept in that rare instance when they bluff.

unless you become expert at manipulation and are always one level ahead of ur opponents, i think showing big folds is bad. i'd rather have an image where people 'think' i'm difficult to bluff. folding with beat hands become super easy then.

What was wrong with the way the hand was played (other than folding face up)? I feel like I lost the minimum for the situation, unless I folded preflop. which is something that players talk about doing all the time but never do. Most players at the 1/2 level will 4 bet in that situation and stack off preflop. Or they might check raise the flop to a bet or call the villains all in since they have an overpair to the board. I feel like just calling and than check/folding was the right play after I missed the flop.

i really don´t like how you played that hand either, but that´s not the point in this thread.

I know the point of the thread was to get feedback on the merits of folding face up. But some comments have me curious on how the hand was played. So now I'd like to move to see what was wrong with my play so I don't make the same mistake

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Grunch.

If you've seen V 3b with JJ and QQ, I'd much rather just ship it here and let him soul read you for AK than flat and try to get the money in OOP with an overpair. If your read on him was that he had AA, you should have folded, not called. Recently, everyone is concerned with 4b being too strong or "over-playing" KK and I don't get it. LLSNL villains will call it off with JJ/QQ/AK/AQ/AJ all the time.

As played, flop c/f is fine. You don't beat much anymore.

Don't show your hand.

Yup. If you want the hand analyzed ill gladly do it but you should make a separate hand history thread.

Cliffs: poorly played. Terrible show. Good result maybe? Did he show back? You didn't mention it so m guess is no which is why I argue against showing to get him to show. 1. He might not. 2. What is it really confirming? If its within the range you constructed then its nothing more than confirmation bias and results oriented thinking.

My cliffs ended up being longer than the main body.

#verbosity #stillbadtoshow #bestnottodoit

Sorry. He showed AA

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