To muck or not to

Showing cards is never a good idea, Im on auto muck at all time, why reveal infos to opps...its like giving yourself away for free...nahuh not for me lol

If I bluff, I would never show my cards because I know how pissed off I get when I know I have been bluffed out of a good hand. I know that showing may then promote action for the bluffer when he has a big hand because people will always have it in the back of his mind that he is bluffing.

But I think I would rather show if anything that I had the cards on a hand or two in line with promoting a tight agressive image. So , then, when the blinds are higher, I will have more latitude in bluffing or semi-bluffing especially when I need the chips.

[Yanman]

Poker is a game of incomplete information. So every time you give free information about the way you played a hand, you're giving more information and your opponents could adjust to you. So you should never show your cards if you don't have to.

BUT

Poker is a game of deception. You can try to act weak when your strong, or the orther way around. Or you can think that the other will think you act like that and go the opposite way and be very agressive with the nut to mislead them. So if you played an hand a way totally different than what you do usualy, it can be good to show it... but thhe rest of the game, you'll be betting your good hand and get action on them too.

So you should show your hands sometime...


For my part, it all depend on my opponents. If they don't know me, i might show one or two hands so i could get paid more later. It's also depend on my mood... if i feel like i want to steal a lot... i will show a very good hand play very agressively... they respect me too much after. If a just want to value bet, i'll show a bluff... than they pay me way too much... Of course, it's not that simple... you need to balance your bluffs and good hands according to the game theory because going one way or the other isn't optimal.

The conclusion is that if you what to show an hand, you MUST have a plan, a reason to do so. Showing a bluff or the quad just to brag about them isn't a good reason... My only exception to this rule is the Royal straight flush, i always show it....happen 3 time in 4 years, so not a big information for them...

TO MUCK or NOT TO MUCK is the question? It is a good strategy to do both at times. What part of the tournament you are in is what dictates my actions.

If I have a table presents established it means a can bluff and scare flops from opponents and do not need to show. But if I have to establish one I got to show the nuts hand!!! So I can bluff in the future. Most poker players have great memories, so use it against them.

To me poker is 30% luck, 30% skill and 40% bluffing.

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by cow344

To me poker is 30% luck, 30% skill and 40% bluffing.

I have to be in total disagrement with that statement. To me poker is 100% skill. By the way, to know when to bluff is skill, luck is just variance in the short term of a poker life but at the end, the best player will be the most succesfull.

And if you're bluffing 40% of the time, you just can't win unless your opponents are totally incompettent and can't see that you're betting way to often in regard of the game theory.

[channing73ny]

thats definately my down fall is not mucking but seeing as though you are seeing more hands played that is definately the thing too do its just so hard because i hate folding exp when you woulda took 3 pots down in a row but you mucked them all.

Wow, sounds like Hamlet's doubt...!
I usually don't show my cards, unless I make a VNH like straight flush or 4of a kind (doesn't happen often....); but I think sometimes it can be helpful, expecially in SnGs tourneys, to show your top pair or your AK after betting or raising so that you can be thought to be a tight player; this is gonna help you when it gets to the last stages of the game because when you bluff they'll think you got the nuts.

I never show my bluffes because I think it can seem a lack of respect towards your opponent, as if you're just boasting for beating him.

i think the same!!!!

Easiest thing to do: Never show your cards!

[bakoyCD]

auto muck, ALWAYS. There's no profit in showing everyone else your playing style, how often you bluff, etc etc. The only occasion I show is to annoy people, like when I'm BB with 24o, and everyone folds, or when I'm heads up, and have the image of stealing too many blinds, I show once in a while so that I gain the respect of the villain, and earn myself a few more blindsteals. Other than that, Muck, always!

Sometimes I bluff, sometimes I don't, like everyone else. So, it would be better to always muck cards, because the other players won't really know when you're bluffing and when you've got a killer hand. And we all know that the best thing in poker is to be unpredictable.