Poker : Should you or should you not show your cards

The question is should you or should you not show your cards when you win an uncontested pot. Many say yes, and many say no, some even say sometimes. My personal opinion is that you shouldn't but that depends on certain situations.

You shouldn’t show your cards for free because if you do so, even if you have a very good hand you might divulge information about your playing style. The temptation is high especially if you win with the help of a bluff.

In that case you would want to show off your skills, to get praised by the rest of the table and you want to get respected. You shouldn’t do it thought because you might regret it later.

You can’t be too sure that a certain player played in that way just to observe your tells. He might have not discovered them and then you show up and reveal them for free. Like I said this depends on the situation.

When you play the game with your family or with your friends, or when you play the game for fun it’s ok to show them the cards once in a while. You can also show your cards when after you have joined the table.

Make sure that you only show them the great cards because it will be in your benefit. When you show them great cards it works psychologically against them, they will think that you only receive good cards and they will play worse than usually.

This will give you an image at the table; an aggressive image that will intimidate most of the players. Another situation when you can show your hand, especially a bluff is when your opponent is angry and frustrated.

This will make him even madder when he sees that he has been beaten by a bluff and especially that the entire table is able to see this. He will start to play more and more careless and then you will be able to take his money very easy.

He will insult and taunt you but just ignore him. You are better than him because you have just taken his money. Another great strategy is to show just one of your cards. Let's take this following example: you are playing AQu UTG, and at the end you make an A high flush, with your opponent folding.

Then you only show him your Q, and most likely he will believe that you have bluffed, not knowing that the other card would have made you the winner anyway. You can’t show only one of your cards at many online casinos, but PKR.com is one of them that allows you to do so.

Remember to show your cards only when you have a purpose: re-enforcing your table image, making someone mad, and so on.