Annoyances

[KingBorgo]

If you play any sort of poker for any sort of time, you’ll hear a discussion about the showing of hands. It will range from never showing hands (you don’t want to give an opponent any information, after all) to showing bluffs (so you can make a profit when you make the nuts) to showing your strong hands (the opposite of the last, so you can bluff more frequently). You will have players who will try to pay you to show, players who will always show, and everything in between.

Dan Katz recently wrote in an article, and I quote, “One type of player that annoys me is the guy who constantly shows his cards when he is the last to fold or wins a pot without showdown. “ I understand this feeling, and have shared it many times. So what, you have 57os in the BB? I’m not raising my 39 into it. As soon as I read that, I identified with it, because, who really cares what he had to win the pot?

Then I got to thinking a bit further: but what if I know what he has before he shows it? If he anticipates me folding, and just wants to show that 57os, is he showing that physically? I obviously mean this to work in a brick and mortar situation, as it would be hard to apply such a distinction online.

How often do we, as players, fall into this trap? “That damn short stack keeps pushing allin after I raise him” or “That loose cannon always raises my BB”. We all know these plays are poor plays for those that are making them at us, yet we get so frustrated at our frequent inability to do something about it. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, and I would love to raise him when he has 57os in the BB. Sure, I want to take back my raise after that short stack pushed in over me. Of course I want to play back at that bully at the table. Yet, since I cannot at that one point, I get upset, frustrated, and tilt in a foul mood.

This is by far the wrong idea, and yet we all succumb to it. Hint of advice: when you know how to beat someone, don’t let them into your head to beat you. Sure, that moron showing hands is going to be annoying. But watch him. That smirk as the player on the dealer button folds to you, with no players having joined the pot before him, may be that signal of 57os. That short stack on your left may be playing with just a few too many of his chips as you anticipate your raise. Instead of leaving these things up to “fate”, pay attention, watch what’s happening, and make these players pay for their mistakes.

[gypsyangel]

Great points and advice. I have found myself there frequently. One of the things I have been working on is NOT showing my hands. I will occasionally now compared to when I first started playing seriously and I would show all the time...Look ya'll, Look at my awesome cards! What a noob I was! I know better now! :yes:

[pkrplr4116]

For a very long time, I never showed my hands. Living out here in Vegas has changed that for me. I have found that showing my hands works to my advantage; I am a terrible bluffer and therefore only bet when I have a fairly good edge. I show if the hand doesn't go to showdown. I get a lot of respect and my table image shows I know how to play poker well. However, IT DOES ENABLE OTHERS TO PUT ME ON A HAND. When I realize people are able to put me on a small range of hands, then I switch up, open my range and stop showing. This has been working for me...it's not 'orthodox' play, but I'm comfortable playing this way in both live and tourneys.

[pkrplr4116]

King and Gypsy, I read your posts and would like to add some thoughts of my own. I read EVERYWHERE only show your cards to advertise something. Showing a bluff will advertise you're loose. Showing the nuts will demonstrate you play good cards. But for females (I'm one of the fairer sex) there is another reason to show. Men and women look at female players are players who really don't know what the\ey're doing at the poker table. And they don't respect your raises till your TABLE IMAGE proves them wrong. The way I develop my table image is to show my hands when the hand doesn't go to showdown. I almost never limp into a pot; I raise. People get annoyed by that, when you do it everytime you enter a pot. BUT when I show my premium hands, time after time, I can actually get a lot of respect and get people to fold when I am bluffing. I do it rarely, but I do do it. In ladies tourneys, when I show good cards everytime I can, I find they women don't waste their time on draws and don't chase flushes and straights all the way to the river. They know if I'm in the hand, I'm not lying and never chasing. So, for the new ones out there, try to develop your table image. Then, if you want to stop showing you will have developed enough respect that people will only call your raises with good cards. If you don't improve you can get out of the hand. If you do, you'll most likely have a better hand than your caller. Remember the Gap Theory (yes Sklansky, again):Gap theory states that, "It takes a better hand to call a raise than to make one." So if you're faced with a raise, big deal if the raiser is bluffing? If you don't have something, fold. Your time will come when the bully raises and you call him all the way to the river, allowing himto make your bets for you. All he will have done is outsmarted himself, not outsmarted you.