I have searched the threads diligently on this issue and, although I have found some loosely analogous situations, I still would like the many bright minds that post in B&M regularly to give me their perspectives.
I am going to Atlantic City sometime in the next month or so to play in cash games and maybe a daily tournament. Because my budget isn't all that big and I'm not a great player, I'll be sticking to 1/2 NLHE and 2/4 or 3/6 LHE. I have played all these games before live in Atlantic City.
The point of this post is that time and time again, a huge pet peeve of mine rears its ugly head on a regular basis at these games, more at LHE than at NLHE. That pet peeve arises in the situation where villain bets the river and I call. Then, villain decides he is going to take his sweet-a$$ time showing me his hand or, worse yet, is going to wait for me to show first so he knows that his bluff or questionable hand is no good before mucking.
My approach in the past generally has been to show my hand and not put up too much of a fuss. However, I have become increasingly annoyed with this particular flavor of angle shooting so much that I now want to hear your advice on what might be the best way to stop it.
I have considered the following options:
(1) The first time it happens, tell the other player he must show or muck immediately upon being called. If he continues to delay that first time, call the floor.
(2) The first time it happens, show my hand without delay and tell him that the next time he delays when I call, I will call the floor. Second time, call the floor.
(3) Every time it happens, including the first time, ask the dealer to show villain's cards and tell villain why I am asking to see his cards.
Obviously I'm probably making a bigger deal out of this than it is, but I find it simply unacceptable because:
- it slows down the game,
- annoys the dealers,
- annoys the other players,
- and I end up looking like a bad guy for wanting the game to be played properly when the two of us are just sitting there at the showdown without showing.
All thoughts on which of the above approaches or other approaches you might use would be much appreciated.