Showing hands..

There's a big difference of opinion between two people when it comes to showing hands, and for good reason. One argument against showing your hands is that players can go back and see how you reacted in different situations, and they will see that you're capable of bluffing, slowplaying, etc.

The other side of the argument, the one I believe in, is that the best way to establish an image is to show down certain hands. If you want to be seen as a player who bets with the goods, you show down your hand when everybody folds. People start to believe that when you bet you've got a hand. On the contrary, showing your bluffs will increase your opponent's likelihood of calling you down with a marginal hand, and you might get paid off where you wouldn't have unless you showed down the bluff from earlier. I think it's an interesting topic, I would like to hear everybody's thoughts and opinions on this.

Simply put, showing hands gives away information. If that information helps you (image, advertisting, etc.) more than it benefits your opponents then fine. If that information won't benefit you or will be of greater benefit to your oppoenets then why do it?

Originally Posted by DaNutsInYoEye

Simply put, showing hands gives away information. If that information helps you (image, advertisting, etc.) more than it benefits your opponents then fine.

show the exact opposite of what you're likely to do in the near future.

whenever i play in casinos, i make it a point of doing something idiotic like re-raising hard into a significant reraise w/ 27 & showing it, regardless of whether i win the hand or not. people tend to take one a look at me, take me for a young ass who's full of shit & start making stupidly marginal calls against me.

Originally Posted by DaNutsInYoEye

Simply put, showing hands gives away information. If that information helps you (image, advertisting, etc.) more than it benefits your opponents then fine. If that information won't benefit you or will be of greater benefit to your oppoenets then why do it?

A player who doesn't think at all won't care if you show or not. They're playing their own cards and mostly for fun.

A thinking player will see that you're showing something and try to counteract you. But if it's a thinking player what's not to say he'll figure it out and won't go for it?

You're targetting people who:
1. Are thinking players
2. Don't think far enough to realize you're showing them only certain hands

That's a small range... most of the time it won't matter though because you'll be up against non-thinking players.

But I wouldn't advise it, because even though you might show down a bluff to increase your calls, someone else at the table will note the fact that you raised the flop with a flush draw and bluffed after it was busted and will be more aware of how you play with a drawing hand.

Say it nets you 1 BB in a future river call, but loses you implied odds on your draws because people start to realize that a bet from you doesn't mean a made hand and they might stop paying off as well as they should when they misread your hand.

So while it may improve your win rate or not affect it against some people on the table, it might decrease it for others.

Remember, when you show down a hand you're showing everyone your decisions on EVERY round. Unless you're going to play a hand like 72o just for advertising value, I wouldn't recommend showing a hand you played normally except for the last street.