Showing Your Hand

"I can't win," said the young lady after the hand was over. She had bet the entire way to the river, which she checked. "I had a small pair and got counterfeited."

Neither of her $30-$60 opponents moved. She was first to show. In disgust, she tabled pocket fours, showing that she had been telling the truth. The board read 10-8-5-8-10. The next opponent to act immediately threw his hand in the muck! The action was now on the third guy. He picked up his hand from the table, showed me and the guy to his left a missed straight draw (9-7), and threw it away. Amidst astonished silence, the dealer pushed the pot to the young lady, a grateful recipient of a $500 gift. Of course, the silence was soon broken by the guy to the left of the player with the straight draw, telling him that either one of his cards was good enough to win the pot.

Each of the players made a significant error on the river. The opponents threw away hands that could not lose (although the second player might have tied). The young lady made a concession speech rather than turn over her hand. Luckily for her, her opponents, in addition to not looking, apparently weren't listening, either. (She also failed to bluff, but that is a topic for a different column.)

This is far from an isolated instance. I recently saw an even more remarkable example of hand hiding. On the turn, an early-position player bet, and his opponent called. The river card came, and the early-position player checked. The other player checked and simultaneously threw his hand away, even though it wasn't his turn to show. He couldn't be bothered to wait to look at the winning hand; he was just anxious to get on with the next hand. The dealer awarded the pot to the first guy, who never did show his hand.

After this hand, the player on my right told me a quick story. A while back, he had been playing a 3-2 in the big blind. After an A-8-4 flop, he had checked and called twice with his gutshot-straight draw in a heads-up pot. On the river, he checked, as did his opponent. He was getting ready to toss away his silly nut-low hand when he decided to show it because it was funny. He tabled it and started to turn it back over to discard it. "Not so fast," his opponent said as he turned over a 3-2 of his own. Split pot.

These anecdotes illustrate the lengths to which people will go to avoid turning over hands, and the possible rewards for doing so. Nevertheless, people refuse to turn over their hands when it is their turn.

Let's take a quick, systematic look at why you should do it:
• You might win.
• You might have misread your hand.
• You may get to see your opponent's hand.
• It speeds up the game.
• It's OK if people see your hand.

YOU Might WIN: Clearly, the stories just discussed illustrate this. Here is another. A few years ago, I was playing a terrible hand from the button. On the turn, trying to salvage a win, I made a semibluff raise. I carefully watched my opponent, and I was certain that I detected in his call a determination to call on the river, as well. So, after the river came and he checked, I checked behind him. I decided that even though I could not win a showdown, it was futile to bluff again. I was wrong, because after I checked, the other guy tossed his hand away. I remember thinking, "Thank you, kind sir! I am sure I can find a use for that $1,000."

Opponents might misread your hand and throw away winners. We all have seen a guy turn over his hand, and his opponent mucks because he thinks a flush or whatever is there when it's not. I am not saying that you should pretend you have a good hand and turn it over with a victory flourish or misstatement. Just turn it over. Maybe you'll get lucky.

YOU MIGHT HAVE MISREAD YOUR HAND: Several years ago, I was all in during a tournament with one pair. An opponent turned over two pair and I dejectedly tossed my hand away. As soon as I did, I realized I had made a straight, but my swan dive across the table, while scoring a 6.7, did not retrieve the hand, and I was out of the event. Since then, I have always turned my hand over in all-in situations in any game. But I still dislike the Tournament Directors Association rule that states that all players in a tournament must expose their hands when there can be no further betting due to an all in. It precludes others from making the same error that I once made. I want my opponents to have every opportunity to do something wrong.

YOU MAY GET TO SEE YOUR OPPONENT'S HAND: Typically, when you muck your hand on the showdown, your opponent gets the pot and you do not get to see his hand. That information could be useful to you. In a previous column ("Barry Calls a Bluff," Card Player, Vol. 16/No. 18, available at www.CardPlayer.com), I detected a bluff and called down a hand with ace high. Since the bluffer folded without showing, he never found out that I had called with nearly nothing. If he knew that, he might have been able to examine his play and determine what was wrong with his bluff attempt. As it was, he probably just thought I had a hand too good to fold.

IT SPEEDS UP THE GAME: Nothing is more useless than a bunch of players sitting around at the showdown, holding their cards in their hands and waiting for someone to show a better hand so that they can toss theirs away unseen. Frequently, this awkward pause is followed by an even more annoying "telldown," when someone says "one pair" and then waits to see if anyone can name a bigger hand than that. Please, people. Just turn your hand over and let's get on with the next hand. You simply cannot win if you do not face your hand, so be optimistic and flip it up.

IT'S OK IF PEOPLE SEE YOUR HAND: Finally, players simply do not want to show a hand because they are not proud of their play or they don't want others to see their strategy.

Sometimes people play a hand badly, and not wanting to reveal errors relates to the fact that many players seem to crave the respect of their peers. After all, poker is a game of being clever, they reason, and if I show this hand, people will realize that I am not as clever as they thought.

The reality is that you are better off having your opponents doubt your ability, as it might lead them to misjudge your skill and play. And so what if they see that you semibluffed a flush draw? They will realize that anyway when you toss your hand away, or delay until some impatient opponent shows a pair, and you can't beat it.

Most opponents will not bother to think about your style, and others will not understand the precise circumstances that made you think your play might work. The net result is that you will get more action on your good hands, and I certainly hope you are spending most of your time playing good hands.

Remarkably, some of the people who are the most reluctant to show hands are the first ones to flip over a successful bluff if the opponent folds to their bet. After all, now they look tricky instead of stupid.

CONCLUSION: I realize that telling you to turn over your cards when you should is not the most advanced strategic play I have ever written about. But winning poker is a compendium of many tiny edges, and turning over your cards when it is your turn to do so can lead to several of them. The downsides are minimal, and the benefits potentially huge, even if rare. So, speed up the game, make poker more pleasant, and perhaps win a pot you were not expecting. And please do not make a concession speech while you are doing it.