Showing Cards During a Tournament

During the 1980s, I and others lobbied hard to get tournament directors to realize that the practice of showing cards during a tournament for the purpose of discouraging a call was improper behavior, and should not be allowed. The principle behind this was that every pot played between your opponents in a tournament with multiple payouts favors you, because it gives you the possibility of winning a higher place by a player being eliminated. An action that discourages such a pot from developing is unethical. It is now a standard tournament rule not to allow such an action. The pertinent Tournament Directors Association rule states: "A player who exposes his cards during the play may incur a penalty, but will not have his hand killed."

This rule is worded in a simple, straightforward manner. But the truth is that showing cards during play is only improper when the rights of other players not involved are jeopardized.

Showing one of your cards during play can actually be an important weapon in a poker player's arsenal of tricks. One would think that if a hold'em player showed one of his holecards to an opponent during the play, the recipient of the information would be helped, or at least not hurt. However, there have been several occasions in my poker career when I saw the act of showing a card actually win the pot for the player who did it. The psychological effect of seeing an opponent's holecard can be very powerful. For example, in Texas home games, it was not that uncommon when a player moved all in when a flush was the nuts to show the "ace of trump" while his opponent was thinking about calling on the end. Of course, this was a psychological move, and did not reveal whether the player actually had the flush.

I witnessed an occasion in a Dallas home game many years ago in which James Dunn, better known as "Point," moved all in on a player when the third flush card on the board had hit on the river. The player thought and thought. Finally, there was a little flicker from which I could see the player had decided to call. Point, at this moment, pulled the flush-suit ace out of his hand and slapped it down on the table with great authority. The other player was unaware that he had telegraphed his decision to call, did not know which way Point was trying to influence his decision, and went back in the tank. Finally, he folded. I asked Point about the hand afterward, just to see if my suspicions were right.

"You were going to get called if you had not shown him that ace," I said.

I know," said Point. "I didn't have the flush."

Sometimes a player who is thinking says, "Show me a bad one," trying to get his opponent to show a card. There is an old story of Amarillo Slim showing a player a bad one after making a big bet, hoping to get called. Slim thought that if his opponent had a reasonable hand, he already would have called without a problem. Unfortunately for Slim, his opponent had a stronger hand than expected – and now could see that he had the nuts! Slim may be poker's greatest showman, but he has been known to make some questionable poker decisions in achieving that title.

Here is the most clever use of showing the opponent a card that I have ever seen in a poker game. Sometime during the '80s, I was playing in a $5-$5-$10 blinds no-limit hold'em game with Howard Andrew, who is better known in the poker world as simply "Tahoe." He was in the big blind, and the flop came A 7 6. Tahoe checked and called. A blank came on the turn, and again Tahoe checked and called. The last card was the 10, putting a three-flush on the board, and now Tahoe bet the man $300, almost the full size of the pot. His opponent went into a deep study. Finally, he asked Tahoe, "How about showing me a card?"

Tahoe said, "OK – for $25."

"I don't want to pay; I know you will show me a diamond, and I still won't know whether you have a flush."

"You can pick the card you want to see," said Tahoe.

After this offer, it looked to me that Tahoe had the flush, thought the man was going to fold, and wanted to make sure he got at least $25 out of the deal. I thought this to be not such a stellar play, since there was a decent chance the man would make a $300 call.

The player thought about Tahoe's offer and tossed him a green chip. Tahoe put both of his cards facedown on the table and said, "Point to the card you want to see." The man pointed at a card, and Tahoe flipped it up. It was the A! His opponent wilted at the sight of it, and folded. Tahoe took the pot, and put his unknown card into the muck.

After the session, my curiosity got the best of me, and I asked Tahoe, "Why did you do that? Just to lock up $25? The man might well have called your bet."

"I was bluffing," replied Tahoe.

I said, "Then you took a heck of a chance that the man would point to the other card."

Tahoe smiled, and said, "My other card was the 9. That would make it look like I had been drawing to the straight with a 9-8, and got there when the 10 hit. I knew he couldn't beat a straight."

To this day, I still admire Tahoe's ingenious ploy to win that pot.

The tournament rule makes it sound as if the rights of the other players are damaged in all tournament situations. However, this is not the case. Their rights are damaged only if their finishing place in the event could be affected by the result of the pot. There are two situations in tournament play in which showing one or both cards during play does not affect anyone other than the parties involved. These situations are when the finishing place of all the other contestants has already been determined, or the tournament pays only first place (as in a one-table satellite). So, I believe the rule on showing cards during a tournament should be written as follows:

Showing one or more cards during play is not allowed in a multihand pot. Showing one or more cards in a heads-up pot is allowed only if either of these conditions exists (so the rights of the other players in the event will not be infringed):

(A) You are the last two players left in the tournament.

(B) The tournament is winner-take-all.

Showing a holecard adds something to the spectator appeal of poker. It can also induce a play that would not otherwise be made – for better or worse. It should be legal to show a card, even both cards, in situations in which the rights of others are not adversely affected. Our tournament rules should reflect this, instead of issuing a blanket condemnation of the practice.

Editor's note: Bob Ciaffone's latest book is Middle Limit Holdem Poker (332 pages, $25 plus $9.95 shipping and handling), co-authored with Jim Brier. This work and his other poker books, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Holdem Poker, can be ordered through Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons. E-mail [email protected] or call (989) 792-0884. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can dowload Robert's Rules of Poker for free. On the Internet, he is an "expert" on RoyalVegasPoker.com and an affiliate of PartyPoker.com.