I was waiting on a Holdem game and playing $10 7 stud during the meantime. It was late and the game had a relaxed atmosphere I would call loose and friendy. 6 handed I think. Anyway this older guy on my right got to where he wanted to peek at my hole cards when he wasn't in the hand and I was in for the river. I could tell he was kind of pulling for me for some reason. He would make it a point to bend over as if expecting me to flash him my cards. He was a recreational player in a recreational game and I'm sure never realized this was not good. Finally I looked at him and said, "partner, I can't be showing you my cards, some of these players might pick up on your expressions and it makes me uncomfortable." I wanted to be nice but firm. I'm courious, although he would have seen the cards before the final action in the round, would the rule of "show one show all" have possibly come into play. I would think not, as the hand would still have been considered active. Am I right in this assumption?
OK,it was like I slapped him. He immediately apologized and said he had never thought about it but I was right. I never go deliberately out of my way to embarrass a new player {unless they are an asshole, then my style is to mix it up a little}. Perhaps something of this nature has happened to you. I would be interested in hearing how you handeled it. Comments
There is absolutely nothing wrong with what you said although I tend to handle it differently. The type of game that you are playing is 'loose and friendly' which basically means you'll be playing pretty straight-forward - nothing fancy, just show the best hand down at the river. Because of that, I tend to be willing to show my neighbor if he's the type you've described. My reasoning? He's unlikely to pay very close attention for one - he just wants to vicariously stay in action. Secondly, you're not teaching him a whole lot even if he is paying attention because you are playing straight forward - things he would even do himself. Thirdly, he owes you - in other words, you could ask to see his cards when he's in a hand and he'll no doubt show you - and you'll get a whole lot more usable information from being able to look at his cards than he'll ever be able to get while looking at yours; not to mention that he's likely to be playing a whole lot more hands than you - so even if he somehow became astute, you're gaining more information than you're giving and the game remains 'fun' for him.
Again, I understand completely why you said what you did - and it's a good policy not to show your cards without them paying for it - but this type of situation, to me, seems like one of the exceptions and I treat it like that. Players like this that I show my hand to tend to play softer against me when they have a hand - but I don't reciprocate - usually saying "I'm sorry, I've got to bet this one..."
Very good deductive reasoning and I will henceforth follow your strategy. Who says you can't teach an old dog knew tricks.
By the way, I understand you play professionally and have read some of you articles and post. I have been very impressed and think it great when a player of your talent shares his knowledge with the forum group. I have played poker for nearly 50 years and played for a living for about 9 months a couple years ago. Just couldn't quite cut the nut, stay in the game and maintain the same lifestyle. My excuse was game selection of which there is none, where I played at the Hollowood Casino in Shreveport La. The only game within hundreds of miles. Most of the time I am a humble 20-40 player, which is the max they spread outside of a group of regulars who play 25-50 pot limit a couple nights a week...which doesn't interest me.
I would love to correspond with you by email.If you have time. My address is benhart@etbu.edu
By the way, you are not located far from a great pal of mine who has been a full time player for years. His handle is Riverboy. He plays a lot of high dollar private games but casino poker also. He occassionally post here at the forum.
"Sharing my knowledge" is definately a two way street. I'm still learning and pray to the poker gods that I always do. Sharing on this forum is probably more for me than it is for anyone else - it keeps me sharp, I find the occasional question or way of looking at things which I had never heard or thought of before and I get the opportunity to constantly remind myself of things that it might otherwise be easy to forget. John Vorhaus told me, "In my experience, to teach is to learn." I couldn't agree more and thank everyone on this forum for helping me to continue my poker education.
