Advertising the spaz?

I overly commend him, and overly deprecate myself, trying to get to the exact level where he's not sure if Im mocking or genuine.

Hitchens post is hard to top. Haha.

A lot of "real pros" probably just muck without saying anything, or just say, "nice hand." You're not giving anything away that way.

On the other hand showing the hand and demonstrating that you're capable of a wild bluff can be good for your image and get you paid off in future hands when you have the goods.

I definitely wouldn't acknowledge that you misplayed the hand in any way though, as that gives him a psychological edge over you by making him feel like he outplayed you.

If anything just say, "bad time to bluff, " or something. For all he knows you could have had a very well thought out reason to bluff. Even if you didn't just showing you're capable of randomly putting tons of money in the pot can be good for your image.

Saw Mike Starr and was like WTF...

Can't sleep. Gonna chime in.

Rather than view these things in a vacuum, I think you should understand what your general image is, and try to promote the fishy version of that image. I guess this is assuming you are actually a winning player.

If you look like an OMC, show your big folds. Don't show your bluffs. Then limp rr as a bluff.

Six years later, I hope the advice isn't too late for OP to make use of it.

My decision flow for showing is:

If yes, then SHOW! It's as simple as that.

The #1 reason for this is because it's good for the game to have a quick showdown, and I hate the whole 4th street of poker which is people getting into a staring contest at showdown. I don't personally muck until I'm shown better cards, but if you want to muck that's fine too. Just please for the love of god do one or the other when it's your turn at showdown.

The other reason I insta show is because there's so much information loss at live tables, and quick showing (and even reaching over and retroactively mucking your tabled cards once they show they have the best hand) is a great way to not get noticed by the 5+ opponents out of 7 who aren't paying attention. I feel like people put so much effort into not showing that they draw attention from the whole table and end up having their cards seen by 3 times as many people just to get out of showing their hand 1/3rd of the time or something.

Honestly, my problem is that I show *so* confidently that it slows showdown as my opponent squints to try to figure out why I'm so confident before finally showing that they have 7-high beat. I haven't figured out a way let my opponent know they're almost certainly good and to get the dealer to deal the next hand without drawing too much attention to others at showdown.

I would be very skeptical of any impulse to show/not show because they're usually driven by embarrassment/ego than actual EV.

If it's NOT my turn to show, I will still insta-show when I'm confident I have the best hand.

Otherwise, I just wait for my opponent to muck or show. I don't quibble or engage with them as they do their pump fake "you're good" nonsense. Sometimes I'll say "muck or show."

There are some people who treat not showing your bottom pair out of turn when they say "you're good" or "ace high" or whatever as tantamount to slowrolling, but fuck them. If you want to forfeit the hand, then muck. If you don't, then show. Stop acting entitled to see your opponent's hole cards while trying to weasel out of showing your own when it's your actual turn to show lmao. It's basically angle-shooting.

I know OP is probably dead and gone by now, but I'll never pass an opportunity to shame you showdown tankers (and I know you're reading this.)

As for the EV part of the decision, the answer's the same as it ever is: if you're a blue-liner, show the spaz; if you're a red-liner, well, insta-mucking communicates that you bluffed as much as showing your bluff does, so you might prefer to muck just so they don't see the exact combo you did it with, but otherwise, whatever.

+1. I hate people who play games at showdown. Hands over, let's move on.

Personally, I flip over everything at showdown. I'll admit it, I mucked winning hands in huge pots twice that I'm aware of. Once a flush that I missed, and once a 7 high I was bluffing with, and a whale called me down with 5 high "just wanted to see what you had" as he was raking in the pot...

I don't think there are a ton of players who are divining some great insight into which combos you are putting into your bluffing range. At least not in Texas.