Bloggers / Matthew Pitt / 03 February 2009 / Leave a comment

Matthew Pitt looks at why mucking your hand even after pulling off an outrageous bluff might the best long term strategy.

"By showing their opponents, they hope to create an image for later in the session or possibly cause their opponent to go on tilt."

During a typical session, poker players must make numerous decisions based on incomplete information, mainly because they do not get to see each of the cards that are in play.

Online players are at a disadvantage from their live counterparts, in that they do not get to see how their opponent places their chips in the pot, the tone of their voice or simply how they are sat at the table, instead they have to rely on betting patterns as the base factor in their decision making, and future decisions are often influenced by the cards they see a player showdown at the end of a hand.

The rules of Texas Hold'em state that in order for a player to win a hand a showdown, he or she must expose their hand face-up and let the "cards speak", that is even if a player mis-states their hand, the actual hand on display is valid. The only player who has to legally show their hole cards is the last person to show any aggression in the hand, so why would a player voluntarily show their hand?

Some players like to try and create an image of a crazy, loose player in order to be paid off later in the game when they have a legitimate, strong holding. By winning a hand and then showing they won it with two rags, they are hoping everyone remembers this and labels him as a maniac. The problem with this, especially online, is that players rarely pay enough attention to the action in front of them due to other distractions and the player base is so vast that it will be a rare occurrence you come across the same players frequently enough for you to build a certain image.

The most common time someone will show their cards is to show how proud they are to have pulled off a bluff. By showing their opponents, they hope to create an image for later in the session or possibly cause their opponent to go on "tilt." What they fail to realise is that the next time they do not show their cards, their thinking opponents will assume that they had the goods this time around and gather information on how they played the hand. Showing their hand earlier in the game has actually put them at a disadvantage at a later time.

Whilst showing your cards at the right time and to the right opponents can be a very useful tool, I would suggest showing them infrequently and not giving away any extra information.

Remember, you are allowed to muck your hand for a reason.

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