Quick showdown question

I played a charity tounery a couple of weeks ago. When it came time to SD, one guy had a habit of only showing one card at first and only showed his 2nd if he really needed to-- ie, board was xxJJx and he held a J, he'd flip over the one J of his hole card, then flip over the other if kickers came into play.

I figure it's fine within the rules if he other guy in SD just nods his head and mucks since he's conceding the pot. But is there an actual rule on this? Just curious since I don't recall seeing pros do this on TV.

Ask to see his other card everytime. When players showdown you gain information. I would want to know if he called my raise with AJ vs 3J.

IT depends, in casinos [from what Ive read] you need to show both cards to win the pot. If you are heads up and you bet and the other play folds you can show one card because the other player folded, in this situation I think they have to show both cards, it really depends on the rules of the tournament though.

In terms of you gain information at showdown, that is generally correct, but not in all situations. If you bet, the other player calls, you show your hand first, if they muck you shouldnt ask to see their cards [like you can online] as the rule that allows you to do that is used to prevent collusion.

He needs to show down both cards if he wants to win the pot. It is very important what kind of kicker he is holding to his trips. However, if you and I are in a pot and it goes to show down and I say "Trip jacks" w/o showing you and you throw your cards into the muck, I could have AK high and still win.


Also, If you aren't involved in the hand I would keep your mouth shut as it is bad etiquette to ask to see other peoples cards if the guy who just lost doesn't.

As a funny side note, I was playing 100 nl in a casino once and a guy raised the pot to $50 preflop. It folded around to the big blind who was thinking and the original raiser thought everyone folded and threw his cards in the muck and tried to rake the pot. However, the guy who was thinking still had his cards and hadn't folded. The pot was pushed to the guy who was thinking and the raiser lost his $50 dollar raise!! The other guy didn't even have to put any chips in the pot! Sooo funny.

If you are playing in a casino, don't let go of your cards until the pot is pushed to you. If a nuclear bomb goes off, hold onto them...

Originally Posted by givememyleg

Ask to see his other card everytime. When players showdown you gain information. I would want to know if he called my raise with AJ vs 3J.

If I was in the SD with him I would definitely have asked. As somone not involved with the hand, though, I didn't know if it was bad form to ask to see both hole cards.

As far as I know casino rules require to show both cards.

In our home games this kind of thing used to happen a lot. Eventually we came up with a wierd rule that allows you to show partial hand (1 in holdem or 1-3 in omaha), but if you do that you cannot use the other card later and you are considered to have the lowest kicker possible. So if you have J5 on a JJ863 board you show the J only if somone shows J4 he wins the hand.

After a few weeks with that rule people show their complete hand always

Originally Posted by drtofu66

I figure it's fine within the rules if he other guy in SD just nods his head and mucks since he's conceding the pot. But is there an actual rule on this? Just curious since I don't recall seeing pros do this on TV.

I think going by the "typical" poker rules the player should show both cards. If you want to claim pot based on your cards (as opposed to your opponents folding) then you have to show a valid pair of hole cards.

Someone said this rules exists because if you have an invalid hand then pot is invalid (e.g. if you are holding a joker because someone forgot to remove it... or if you have a 5c and there's a 5c on the board... these things can happen).

As far as asking them to show their cards at a showdown, I say do it. Bad etiquette? Pfft. What are we talking about here? A poker game or finishing school?

I play B&M mostly, and if I'm the "Calling" player at showdown, I will patiently wait for the "Betting" player to open both cards before I move at all. If he motions to my cards like "Hey, whatcha got?", my standard response is "You BET, I called to see YOUR hand." And then I will either muck if I lose, or open both cards quickly to take the pot. It's a pet peeve of mine for other players to open one card, or flash a card at any time. There's enough drama in poker as it is, ya don't need to jazz it up to be funny or cute. We're all interested in having a fast-paced game, so just open your cards, let the dealer call your hand, and move on to your next stupid mistake.


As far as the rule goes here in Vegas, if you're called at showdown, you need to open both cards to win the pot.

-Kes

Originally Posted by Anosmic

As far as asking them to show their cards at a showdown, I say do it. Bad etiquette? Pfft. What are we talking about here? A poker game or finishing school?

We are playing a poker game where there are rules and along with those rules there is also etiquette. If you win the pot and your opponent mucks his hand it is incredibly bad etiquette to ask the dealer to reveal his mucked hand and goes against the intentions of the rule allowing this. If you show your hand and they show only one card, then yea, its fine to ask to see the other as they have to to claim the pot, but other than that you are treading thin ice.

Originally Posted by Kessler

I play B&M mostly, and if I'm the "Calling" player at showdown, I will patiently wait for the "Betting" player to open both cards before I move at all. If he motions to my cards like "Hey, whatcha got?", my standard response is "You BET, I called to see YOUR hand." And then I will either muck if I lose, or open both cards quickly to take the pot. It's a pet peeve of mine for other players to open one card, or flash a card at any time. There's enough drama in poker as it is, ya don't need to jazz it up to be funny or cute. We're all interested in having a fast-paced game, so just open your cards, let the dealer call your hand, and move on to your next stupid mistake.

Ehh, I dont like this. If you have what you believe to be the winning hand you should always show it immediately, doing otherwise is slowrolling and is sure to anger your table and is horrible etiquette. By doing this you are only adding to the drama.