Inadvertently seeing another's poker hand. . . What would you do?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Well, bear with me here. . .

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine on the East Coast, and was telling him that a lot of places in Montana (Great Falls, at least) have live Texas Hold 'Em. Yes, I said “Live” and we do play for cash ($1 chips). And that reminded me of a situation I wanted to throw out to the Teeming Millions:

[True story]Two weeks ago, we were in a friendly game where a stranger next to me accidentally flashed his cards after all the betting was done on the ‘river’. Being that the betting was done there was no advantage to me at the moment, I politely mentioned that I saw his “royalty”. Last weekend, I did notice a player who was carelessly handling his cards seated directly to my right. He kept yammering (and I mean yammering) to his buddies away from the table how good he was doing, but every time he leaned to his right to talk to them, he would basically expose his two hole cards to me and the guy to my left, in plain view–basically being caught with his pants down in such plain view, that one couldn’t simply notice it. [/True Story]

My question to you would be this: If you had knowledge of another player’s poker hand, would you act on it? Furthermore, would you consider it ‘cheating’?

The qualifier: I’m not asking about the onesies-twosies slip of the hand, but the repeated mishandling of cards that either player next to the jackass would have routine clear view. Said jackass would be sober or drunk, it doesn’t matter. It’s poker, and it’s poker for money. . .

My story: In that particular instant, I acted on it. Because he only showed them several times, I don’t think I cheated, I just took advantage of his stupidity. He didn’t show any more that night, but the next time I see him at the ‘casino’ (as if Great Falls had real casinos), I won’t mind exploiting his lack of situational awareness.

So, I throw it to you guys. What would you do, and what would you think?

Tripler
FWIW: I won that particular hand on a flush.

2

I should clarify, he showed his cards three or four times before he wised up to things. He didn’t show any more after that.

3
  1. F*ck yea.
  2. nope.
4

I’d exploit it. It’s cheating if you do something out of the ordinary to see his hand. Like say you lean behind him or something. Of course in a real casino poker players don’t “hold their hands” up, they will bend their hole cards up when they are dealt then leave them face down on the table. With people walking all over the place you just don’t risk that someone could be lame enough to have a mark walking around looking over people’s backs.

It’s your responsibility to keep your hand hidden, and if you hold your hand weakly you are getting what’s coming to you if someone sees it and exploits it.

If you use a mirror to see behind a guy or you stand up to go to the “bathroom” and look at his cards from an advantageous angle that’s dirty imo.

5

Well, he deserves to lose the hand, that’s for sure, but generally, the rest of the table should have the same knowledge that you do, so it’s unfair to the rest of the players that you have knowledge they don’t.

I don’t know what the typical custom or rule on this is, but my guess would be that the rest of the table should be entitled to the knowledge you have.

6

If it’s you and him, he flashes his cards, and you have a better hand, you go all in. He’s being careless, and carelessness cost lives (or chips, in this case).

7

I’d exploit it. It’s just like any other tell except that it is foolproof. Mind you I’d love to then see him showdown a different hand. What d’ya say then?

8

nitpick: obviously that decision is still dependent on what you think about whether if someone ELSE at the table is bidding up a better hand. Just because you can beat one bozo who’s showing you his cards doesn’t mean you should get overconfident or anything. :smiley:

9

Well, sure, that’s why I said to take full advantage if it was just the two of them.

If it’s a friendly Friday night game, though, take his keys and make him chug a beer for being stupid. Do this every time he tips his hand.

10

My standard policy is to let the player know once that s/he needs to do a better job concealing his/her cards. If after that the player continues to show them off, I have no problem taking advantage of the information.

11

I’d use it for that hand and let him know once he’s lost a bit of money. The loss should help the lesson sink in.

12

That’s fine in a heads-up. But isn’t it unfair to the other players if more than you and him are in the hand?

13

I don’t really like playing when I know what the other players’ cards are (mind you, I haven’t ever played for money), so: the first time I’ll politely mention it, the second time I’ll be more insistent, and if they still don’t get the message I’ll start physically pushing their cards into a position in which I can’t see them so that hopefully that gets through.

Playing for money, I’d probably mention it the first time and then figure that sucked for him/her afterwards. If I forgot to be nice, anyway…

14

Thats precisely what I thought.

Who holds their hands up throughout the game? :smack:
Thats just asking to be taken advantage of.

15

I play regularly and I think the etiquette here is pretty well agreed upon by most poker players I know. First there is a difference between playing in a casino among strangers and playing with friends. In a casino with strangers I would not take pains to see someone else’s hand, but I would never alert them to their mistake. You need all the information you can get, and an opponent’s inadvertent show is no different from their tendency to call raises with 7,4 offsuit.

The second situation is among friends. With friends I will alert them once, and once ever as long as we play together. After that their mistake is fair game. I play with my father in a local tournament. He is an excellent player, but he flashes his bottom card accidentally at times. I have no problem using that informaiton to beat him.

Poker is a nasty competition, and isn’t meant to be favor the careless or the inattentive. I am not good enough yet to give away any advantage I can glean.

16

Friendly game: First a warning. Then a couple of good-natured jabs about it. Then just stop bothering.

Low-stakes casino-type game: one simple, direct warning. (“Hey, man–you’re flashing. Watch out.”) After that, he’s on his own.

High-stakes casino-type game: These people should know better. Screw 'em.

17

What am I supposed to do, announce his hand to the table? That’d get me sat out of any game on the planet. Anyway, it’s no more unfair than if I pick up on a betting pattern or other tell of his when others don’t. Poker is a game of information and if he’s giving away information after I’ve explicitly told him that he’s doing it, too bad for him and good for me.

This exact situation happened to me in a tourney this past Sunday. The player on my right was flashing his cards. I told him once, he kept doing it and I took advantage of it. Ironically later in the game I flashed my cards a couple of times to the player on my left. He did exactly what I do, told me once that I was doing it and I got more careful about checking my cards.

18

Well, I’m not sure how relevant this is, but here’s one person’s take:

Most of the article is about purposeful exposing of cards to a fellow player. However the paragraph above seems to confirm my idea that seeing another person’s cards, no matter whether accidental or not, is an unfair advantage for you if other people are in the hand other than you and the opponent you’re playing against.

19

“Hey you, don’t help me cheat.” Usually works.

20

I like clayton_e’s response. I’d probably tell him once he needs to protect his hand better. After that, he’s on his own. It’s poker. Not charity.