Well, it does have something to do with collusion - otherwise you could show your friend your cards during a live hand and then fold. Now he has some knowledge that other players at the table don’t have, and might be able to use it to his advantage.
Ex- Las Vegas poker dealer checking in…
Here’re the rules I was expected to enforce when I dealt in Las Vegas casinos back in the '80s.
First, if a player shows a down card to one player, either in the midst of a hand or after a showdown, he must show it to all players so that all have the same information on which to base their decisions for that hand or future hands. That is an absolute: Show one player, show all players.
Second, you can NOT win a hand after a showdown unless you show ALL (2 in Hold-Em, 3 in 7-Card Stud) your downcards…unless everyone else in at the showdown has folded before seeing them…which is unlikely since they paid to see them.
If a player turned up one card, making a hand, it was my duty to then say, “You must show all your hole cards to claim the pot, sir.” If a novice player turned up one card making a hand while throwing his other hole card(s) into the muck, his hand is then dead and cannot win as long as one other player is still holding all his cards.
A corollary rule: Any player that was in the hand for at least the ante or blind can ask to see any one or all of the hands that played all the way to a showdown. If a player in at the showdown sees that someone else has a winning hand and folds his own cards and tosses them toward the muck, any other player may request that the dealer turn them face up for display to everyone.
What the dealer does in that situation depends on which player requested to see them.
If the putative winner requests to see the folded hand, the dealer turns it face up immediately, without letting it touch the muck. The folded hand is live and could still win the pot if the dealer finds something that the hand’s holder didn’t.
If any player other than the putative winner requests to see the hand, the dealer picks up the folded cards, face down, taps them on the muck thus making the hand dead, and then turns them up for display. The head is dead and cannot win even if the holder overlooked a straight flush.
Dealers in Las Vegas are taught a bunch or obscure rules and procedures like this that the average player never, ever notices. It’s part of the general environment guaranteeing a fair game when you sit down with a bunch of strangers.
The show one show all rule goes into effect only after the round is over. You can’t show everyone your cards while the hand is in play.
Yes, you can. If you want to, you can play all your hands face up. I saw someone once on a drunk lucky streak do that for a several hands in a row.
Generally, it’s frowned upon and you would have to be an idiot to do that…but you’d be amazed at the things you see if you spend enough time at the Las Vegas poker tables.
The rule is that if one or more down cards is exposed to one player, accidentally or on purpose or for whatever reason, other players have a right to see the cards also.
Satyagrahi, if you don’t mind me asking, how often did you see players not involved in the showdown (e.g., someone who folded on the flop) ask to see the mucked cards from a folded hand? I’m just curious because I played about 16 hours of poker in Vegas a couple weeks ago and I don’t think I saw someone do this once. I assume that only fairly sophisticated players would make this kind of request.
It mostly depended on what level of money the table was playing.
Low limit games ($1 - 3, 3 - 6)were almost entirely tourists (plus local semi-pros trying to look like tourists) who were there to have fun and not paying much attention to the finer points of the game. You almost never saw such a request in these games.
In the middle limit games (10 - 20, 20 - 40), you found a lot of semi-pros trying to become pros and not hiding the fact. Requests to see folded holds happened occasionnally here…perhaps once an hour?
In the higher games (100 - 200 limit, pot limit, no limit), you found the pros who, as part of their playing strategy, tried to appear omnipotent. Usually, they wouldn’t admit to not knowing what the other player had, even if they were completely in the dark. Requests to see folded hands happened here only rarely…maybe once in 8 or 12 hours, if ever.
Of course, my experience in Vegas was 20 years ago; perhaps the playing demographics have changed a bit.
This may be allowed in heads up play, but I saw it tried in a multihanded pot at Binion’s and the player was warned to never do it again. I don’t remember whether or not they folded his hand.
The above is supposed to say: Originally posted by Satyagrahi