08-10-04, LearnTexasHoldem:

Revealing Cards Before Showdown

Question: In No Limit Holdem, after one is has gone all-in, is it ever advantageous to reveal your hand?

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I was playing an online single-table tournament today and went all-in, pre-flop, with AA in early position with my relatively moderately short stack. After I got a bunch of callers and the flop came with no A, I began thinking that I should let everyone know that I have pocket aces figuring that more players are likely to fold before they can draw out trips or something.

It didn't work, I guess, because nobody believed me. I began wondering, though, whether I could turn over my cards at a real table. Would that be acceptable? Does that even make sense?

Answer: I can't think of any times when I would recommend doing that. First of all, in some tourney's that isn't legal. Secondly, what would you do if the person saw your cards then decided to go all-in. That would be a strong bluff because he is basically saying, "I know what you have and I can beat it." Occasionally you'll hear people actually announce their hand at the table to the other players but that usually means they do actually have it.

They say something like, "Don't call me, I have the nut flush... I'm telling you man, I have the nut flush! Why are you still calling?" Then at showdown they say, "See I was trying to go easy on you and you didn't listen!" That's just a ploy to put you on tilt and it works pretty well. The only time I would reveal my cards when I didn't have to is if I wanted to try to put a guy on tilt or get back at him -- that's called needling.

For example if you bluffed him off his hand you could show it. I wouldn't do that until showdown though, you would be giving away too much information.

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