Looking at my cards immediately means I lose all interest in the hand the second I know I’m going to fold anyway. I’m trying to pay enough attention to know when to look up from my phone (or whatever I’m doing) to toss my cards in turn, but that’s it.

In other words, I look at my cards immediately when I play in a game that I don’t really care about it.

It's more fun to wait for your turn and baccarat squeeze the cards. Not everyone who plays live makes decisions based on EV. Some people fly from across the world to play poker, you think they give a **** what a bunch of stupid nerds on the internet think about when they look at cards or how long they take to act?

If you think for about 2 seconds you'd realise that if the whole table adds 2 sec/hand, that means every hand takes 10% longer if every hand takes 3 minutes (which is pretty damn slow). On top of that it probably takes longer and in practice slows down the whole dynamic. Could easily end up being the difference between 30 and 20 hands/hr in a lot of cases.

I would love to see casino's institute fast tables(cash games)(and fast 6 max) where you can be voted off the table for acting too slow too much, provided it's approved by the dealer, or something like that. In regions where dealers don't keep their own tips, fast dealers would be assigned to these tables.

Let the "info nits" battle each other at the molasses table.

If you wait to look until it is your turn and you're making the decision like immediately then fine. What is worse is that there are some actual pieces of trash that don't even collect their cards until it is their turn. They literally just sit back and wait, then take 5 seconds to grab their cards, squeeze them one by one and then start tanking. Makes me want to make murder legal.

I like waiting to look on the button or in the blinds to take out the short stacks. The sweat is fun for me and terrorizes the all in player. Like, oh , “the first card is really good”

If you wait until it's your turn, villians will all be staring at you when you look at your cards for the first time. For this reason I try to be ready to act when it's my turn, false tells and all.

Murder is premeditated homicide with malice. I don't think you want that to be legal. I think you mean you want homicide under the circumstance of an idiot taking unnecessary time during your favorite activity to be considered a defensible act.

I hardly ever play live but am in full agreement of this. Also people “squeezing” their river cards in stud/draw games. Not only does it slow the game down but it can damage the cards. Tilts the **** out of me just watching on tv.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...-cards-640800/

From 10 year old thread, this is my thinking:

Post #33
"Waiting until your turn to look is essential, not because of tells or anything ridiculous like that, its pretty unlikely anyone is good enough at the table to accurately deduce anything from you.

It is because when you're playing for like 10hours+ the time goes infinitely more quickly when you wait because you are only usually waiting for around 20 seconds as opposed to say 1 minute/hand continuously for your next mental stimulus. i.e. if you look the moment it is dealt, and obv the majoirty of the time you will get cards you don't want to play, you are then in a state of boredom for at least 1 minute until the next round starts.

If you wait to look, you are waiting avg. 20 secs to look at cards and then approx 30 seconds for your next stimulus. It keeps your mind from melting and makes you much fresher and more concentrated.

Obviously this mainly applies to a slow structure and at a volatile cash game or HU etc doesnt matter but it will make the long gruelling hours of live tourneys much more bearable."

Also, post #29:

"There are two reasons I never look at my hand until it gets to me. First, I like to focus on the action before me, mentally setting my range of hands to play and how to play them. And second, if I look right away and have an insta-muck, I find it annoying to wait until the action gets around to me to fold. With an insta-muck hand, I of course have no interst in the play before me, and therefore don't pay attention, and that is -EV."

If you have no interest in the play during hands you fold pre, you might not be a good player.

It is fine in baccarat because you will lose less money if you play less number of hands. They do, it mostly annoys fun players when a pro squeezes his cards one by one, then counting the chips instead of having a prepared decision. You want to make the game fun for rec players.

We could all fold out of turn, it would make the game quicker thus higher EV for the pros!

Murder with Sudden Passion would STILL be murder (in my State), but it carries a sentence capped at 20 years (provided there are no other felony convictions that can be used for enhancement purposes).

And no, sudden passion does not require any manner of romantic overtones have existed.

Poker is a game of information. Of course you should watch while other players look at their cards and see how they react. This means waiting a bit to look at your own hand of course. But, that does not mean you have to play slow. YOu can look at your hand when it is your turn to act and (1) still do so quickly, (2) while getting any and all info from the others at the table that you watched.

It really isn't all that complicated.

People that want to maximally gather information are missing that time is also money. If you can play a few hands extra per hour, that usually means more than the very slight information gains you can get delaying the game. Think about it this way, you're guaranteed to get more information, no matter how slight, if you stare down your opponent for 2 minutes before every decision you make. This is obviously -EV for time reasons. Also, when you play faster, others play faster as well. It's very common for tables I'm at to speed up over time, because I make every decision near instantly. Many people generally don't want to slow the pace of the game down, so if everyone is playing fast, they will play faster as well. But if a bunch of people are constantly tanking, others feel the need to tank as well. Sort of like "what are these guys thinking about, maybe crazy bluffs, I must think about this deeply as well" vs "everyone's just playing their cards fast, I'll also just play my cards fast".

If everyone waits to watch someone look at their cards , they also should say they are giving out info when people stare and look at them.

If you are on the button and look at your cards, now no one saw you right?

Just such a stupid line to take with the waiting. I can’t stand it either. Takes 1/2 a second to see your hand.

Live poker is being ruined by tankers / scarves and idiots from Northern Europe.

I don't play tourneys enough to know what it's like there, but in live games it's usually the recs that take a ton of time to look at their cards.

I don't like it when people look at their cards early then give information about what they're going to do (holding their cards out like they're going to fold, holding chips in hand, holding raising chips). Especially when I'm in the BB and the Button, CO, and Hijack are all telegraphing folds, which causes someone in MP to raise.

I have no problem with people playing fast but if you look at your cards out of turn, protect the action of the people behind you.

I look at my cards immediately when I get them, and oddly, it was because of that oft-heard, boom-era advice from Howard Lederer.

As a relative noob to the live game, I knew right away that I was far more likely to give away something than I was apt to pick up anything from another player. Furthermore, it was clear that there were more eyes on me if I waited until it was my turn to act. Thus, I started looking at the time the card was slid my way – i.e. before anyone could see my reaction to them.

Now, I'm pretty certain that I don't do anything differently when looking at my cards, but it has just become a habit from there. And yeah, it does save time, as I can start formulating (and re-formulating) a decision earlier in the process.

You seem pretty triggered, but lumping me in with tankers / scarf wearers just because I'm an idiot from Northern Europe is just not fair ;-) For example, John Hesp is also an idiot from Northern Europe (he's from the same town as me)

Triggered is probably the most beta thing to say post 2010

That being said ...

It’s just bad for business all around. No one wants to watch slow moving robots playing poker. Tanking every hand to balance ranges. Not necessary.
Wish more players were like rob salaburu (sp?)

Fast pace. If I have a real decision, I think. I don’t tank 20 seconds to fold 10/2 off. Waste of time and bad for the game.

OK, but my point is that someone who waits to look at their cards is not necessarily a tanking, robotic scarf wearer and it's unfair to tar all with the same brush.

I wait to look at my cards, because that's what works for me, but I'm a fun guy at the tables, talkative, like a drink and generally act pretty quickly unless I've a genuine tough decision.

That I respect.

But it’s fair to say watching poker on TV now vs 10 years ago is drastically different , and people mimic what they see.

Jesus, it's preflop......not rocket science.

If I look at my hand immediately then I'll have plenty of time to think about my options while other people act. If I look at my hand only when it is my turn, then I will either have to act instantly without any time to think, making an inferior decision, or waste everyone's time while I consider my options. Needless to say, I look at my hand immediately.

Im happy people check their cards beforehand. Then sometimes I have additional info, he checked the card then startad looking for the waitress or asked a question to the neighboor totally unrelevant and so on. Sometimes I can be the button where in reality sitting Middle2. And people rarely balance this out, and when they try to trap with such antics that will be nuts most of the time.

Especially people tend to do this when have extremly crappy hand preflop and the action beforehand is a raise and a 3bet. I can just see how semi pros/ fish sometimes make me know whether one or more person behind me will fold, and thats a big deal I know almost for sure not having top 5%. Thats huge read- I dont have to fear cold4b or more overcalls, and I can play accordingly. I never found any reasonable reason why they want to fold these hands so fast in such situations- as if other player know what you fold? I play 2/5 so not talking about higher stakes where players are better.


So yes guys please keep checking cards beforehand . It gives me just a little bit more info. You wont see it if you are pestering your phone or talking to others /listening to music