Turning cards over to get a read - Allowed, thoughts, etc.?

1. Room dependent.
2. Also room dependent, but in most rooms, this is not allowed.
3. Keep your mouth shut and don't give V a read on your thoughts. At best, V will get a warning. At worst, you'll help V make the right decision. Even in rooms where V's actions aren't allowed, expect nothing more than a warning. They aren't going to kil his hand.

In some rooms the hand WILL BE KILLED.

Many rooms you can reveal your cards only when heads up -- just like talking about the hand. Since one player is all-in, it might be fine at this casino.

Personally, I love to see my opponent's hand -- way more info than I could ever hope for!

If a room uses TDA rules for cash games then this is not allowed, but the hand will not be killed.

Rule 68: Exposing cards with action pending, including the current player when last to act, may result in a penalty but not a dead hand.

Killing hands, even in tournaments, is 20+ yr old penalty. Very uncommon today.

I wasn't inclined to believe you but you emphasized your case with capital letters so I can tell you're serious.

Dealers are never wrong about the rules.

OK...sorry that I didn't challenge the person actually dealing.

mod: quit it with the personal attacks folks.

I deleted a few posts above. To preserve the context of some of the replies I left in, AF named a room he thought would kill a hand, someone called the room and was allegedly told they would not in general kill the hand, the AF said the dealer was the one who told them it would be killed, and people also said that dealers sometimes are wrong about the rules too.

As embarrassing as this will be, I will say what happened.

I was in a 20/40 LHE hand with QQ and we got to the river. It was HU and at Foxwoods many years ago and my understanding was that you could turn over your hand in a cash game if you wanted to when HU. I had never done it and the guy in the hand who had led out the river for $40 was on my right. I showed him my QQ as I was about to fold, not to get a read, but to show him that I had raised with a monster and had got sucked out on. And then it hit me that I should call. I guess it was a subconscious read or maybe I just changed my mind. I don't really remember and at the time I don't think I really knew. It could have been as simple as it was a $40 bet into a $300 or so pot where he could be bluffing 15% of the time and it would be worth it to call. But I called and won the hand. He was pissed off. The dealer said nothing and nobody else said anything. So my take was that it was totally legal.

I would never do it intentionally. In part because I don't want the whole table to see my hand and my decision making process. In part because I don't like pretty much letting the other person know I am looking for a tell and then trying to gauge their reaction which would be different than before in all likelihood. It also would change how they play with me from then on as it would for most of the other people at the table who would then think i look for tells.

The other thing that is related is that turning your hand over can be an angle when facing a bet on the river. I have seen this happen where a player turned over their hand and said OK. The other player took it as a call and mucked their hand which was beaten. My guess is that if the player who had bet had turned over the winning hand the other player would have said that they never called. If the Floor was called over the word "OK" would not have been taken as a call. In a tournament this would get a penalty but I think the fold would count. The only way to deal with it is to ask if it is a call (and not fold or turn your hand over for the win). In my day dreams I ask the floor if the hand that was turned over is dead (to make it look like I am beaten if I have the winning hand) but if i was actually bluffing I would likely say nothing but it might work to say I thought he was calling when he said "OK".

As to this thread i think i have a problem with allowing the hand to be turned over when there are three people in the hand even though one is already all in. It could affect the result for the player who is all in if he would lose the main pot to the player who turned his hand over but would have beaten the player who is all in, and the player who turns his hand over calls because of a read. So I would have no problem with the hand that was turned over being declared dead. How Hero should handle it is tricky. If you are behind then you want him to fold but it would be bad if you get him to fold and the all in player would have won more if he was ahead. *** Edit: It is also bad for the all-in player if he is ahead of you but behind the turned over hand so it is unclear if it would make sense to have the hand declared dead if it is against the rules and should be a dead hand. It is even more difficult because it is likely an unknown rule that the floor will have to decide on *** If you are ahead then it benefits both you and the all in player to get him to call. So I wouldn't have a problem with figuring out a way to look like your were behind and wanted his hand to be dead. But remember that you could succeed in getting his hand to be dead because that could easily be the ruling. It might work to look like you are about to muck your hand while you ask if that was a call...

At lower levels/weaker players I think it just polarizes other players when they see your hand. What I mean by that is it will either make them sit quiet like a rock staring into space or make them talk more (i.e. talk you into calling or folding). How to use this information depends upon how much you know of their play.

To your point though, I agree that the longer you think after showing, the less the correct decision is made.

I think the most productive reason to show is to get an instant read. Meaning I will make my decision of what I am going to do (call or fold) and then show and only changing my mind if I get a significant reason to change my mind from their instant reaction (or their second reaction if the try and overcompensate). Thinking long after showing usually means outlevelling yourself.