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Showing hands in poker

Players who are new to Texas Hold'em will often ask the question, should you be showing hands in poker? I think the answer to this question is a no brainer, but since new players are not as familiar with the game the answer may not be so obvious.

When it comes to showing hands in poker, I might be completely wrong, I highly doubt it though, and I think most serious players would share the same opinion.

I never show my hand unless the hand gets to showdown, and I mean never. I never see the pros showing their hands on TV, either. I assume that they at least partially know what they are doing. You would like to think so, the poker pros play poker for a living.

But, in every game I am in, there are one or two people who do not muck their hands (muck means keeping your hand secret after everyone folds to you, giving you the pot). It is great for me but not for the person showing their hands. I know if they like to bluff or if they play crap or premium hands. This has saved me a few times from losing big pots. The information they are giving away for free is priceless.

In my opinion you should never be showing any cards if you don't get to showdown EVER. Since poker is 80% about information, or another way of putting it is that its a game which is largely based on mis-information. Why would you then want to give free information away without it costing your opponents anything?

The only situation in poker where its necessary to be showing your cards, is when your bet is called and you are both all-in. Since you were the initial better and you're both all-in, you have to show your cards first to see if you have the best hand.

Other then that particular circumstance, why would you want unknown players to know how you play, like when you are at a casino. You don’t want them to know if you bluff or only bet the nuts on the river. You want to be unpredictable in your play so the uncertainty will allow your opponents to make a mistake.

By showing hands, you are making the way you play very transparent to the good players at the table, and these are the type of players you really want to avoid confrontations with.

If you never triple barrel bluff, they may now know that. Allow them to call a big bet on the river to figure it out for themselves, there is no point in showing you always have good cards when you have shown aggression, you will not get paid off by good players. Plus, when I make a bluff, it sure saves on the embarrassment level when you don't have to be showing hands in poker.

All the top online poker rooms have a feature where you can set a tick in a checkbox to “always muck cards” so the temptation is never there to show your cards. You can take advantage of this feature as it speeds up play.

If you are playing a home game and the environment is alot more relaxed, fair enough you may want to show your cards. But this is completely different to the casino enviornment or any venue where you are playing with the aim to make money, and a lot of it!