Online Showdowns

I was checking out Empire Poker and watching some of the high dollar games and I notice when a hand goes far enough that there is a showdown more times than not all that was shown was the winning hand.

Is that just that way to us outside observers or is that way when you are playing.

I'm always used to a showdown being a showdown. I think I only counted about 3 hands that went to the end without everyone else folding and both wining and losing hands were shown.

I'm used to in our home games even if the loser tries to muck his hand real fast after winner shows if anyone mentions it the cards are flipped up (way to tell if he was bluffing, bad beat etc). The cards were "paid for" after all.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the last person to bet out or raise must show their hand first, and the subsequent players may choose to muck their hands. If there were no betters throughout the entire hand, it goes in order starting left of the button.

figured out it shows it in hand history

Phlegm had it. Online the player that is the last to bet is the 1st to flip his cards. That means that on the river when 1 person bets and the other calls, the better has to show first and the caller, of he lost, can show or much. But often online, people have the 'auto-muck' button clicked, so if they lose, they are automatically mucked.

Because, especially at the higher stakes, the stronger hand bets and the weaker hand calls, the better hand is the only hand to be shown.

One of the only times you would see a losing hand is on a bluff that was called.