Viewing mucked hands

I'll be posting random thoughts on the ins and outs of B&M poker from time to time as inspired from my job as a poker dealer. Once I get enough of these, I'll put them all together in an "FTR Guide" format. I welcome any corrections, comments, examples, etc. to include with the topics.

Viewing mucked hands at showdown

We know how to view mucked hands at Party and PokerStars. You can also view mucked hands in the B&M card room, but it does come with a few caveats.

You may ask to view the hand of any player that reaches showdown. Any player can do this, whether they have cards or not. This is used as a countermeasure to collusion, to see if someone is artificially inflating the pot for their partner with a strong hand. You can also use this to gain information about about what kinds of hands people are playing preflop and how they play those hands. Many times during a night of dealing I'll have requests to "Let's see all hands."

Why not do this everytime? Many players find this offensive. As if it wasn't bad enough that they are losing the pot, now you want to expose their weaker hand to everyone. Older people especially find it insulting. If you are in a 'friendly' game and don't want to take a huge hit to your 'get along, go along, I'm just here to have fun' image, then don't ask to see someone's mucked cards. This practice can lead to a lot of embarassment for the fishy player who chased that gutshot all the way to the river and whiffed.

On the other hand, if it isn't a friendly game, asking to see mucked cards can send an over-emotional opponent to tilt-land quickly. You know what kind of situation you are in, and what kind of table image you want.

If the dealer does not kill the hand (touch it to the muck) before exposing it, then the hand is still live. If you are in the hand, make sure the dealer does this to avoid giving up your pot to a misread hand. If you are the winner of the pot, it is extremely bad form to ask to see the loser's hand - so don't do it unless absolutely necessary. You will be the table asshole from that point on.

Granted, I haven't played B&M much, but this tactic screams angle shooting. Unless you have reason to believe some morons are doing some shady shit when playing, asking to see mucked cards is uncool. IMO.