Called hands and requesting to see a muck
A friend of mine asked if, on a called hand, a losing player must show his/her hand if requested?
Eg: $3/$6 game. Two players left in the hand.
Player A in first position bets $6.
Player B in second position calls $6.
Player A shows first, and Player B, knowing that his/her hand loses to Player A's hand, decides to muck their hand.
Can Player A request to see that hand, or any other player at the table for that matter? It came up in our discussion, that if a hand is called, someone can be granted viewing of a mucked hand.
Thanks,
djw
Eg: $3/$6 game. Two players left in the hand.
Player A in first position bets $6.
Player B in second position calls $6.
Player A shows first, and Player B, knowing that his/her hand loses to Player A's hand, decides to muck their hand.
Can Player A request to see that hand, or any other player at the table for that matter? It came up in our discussion, that if a hand is called, someone can be granted viewing of a mucked hand.
Thanks,
djw
Comments
In most B&M casinos, any player at the table may request to see any or all active (i.e. bet or called) hands at the showdown. In online casinos, you can request the hand history and see all active showdown hands, whether or not they were shown during the actual hand.
Personally, I would almost never do this. I want players who make bad calls to feel secure in the fact that they will not have to show their cards and feel bad or be embarassed afterwards.
The original motivation of this rule is to give anyone an opportunity to detect collusion (specifically 2 partners raising to the cap when one partner has a big hand). However, this rarely works since most colluders are aware of this rule and simply muck the hand before the showdown.
The best ways to combat this type of collusion are
(a) leave the game immediately
(b) report your suspicions to the floor
The reason for (b) is that a knowledgable and attentive floorperson can later catch the infinite raising play by doing something like holding the alleged partners' hands aside after they are mucked and looking at them.
And (b) is especially important if you are playing somewhere regularly. The simple fact that word gets around that a casino seeks to deter cheating will further deter cheating.
Now if only I could find a knowledgable and attentive floorperson in an Ontario casino...
ScottyZ
Rule number one: Any player in the pot at the showdown can ask to see any other hand in the pot at the showdown.
Rule two: Any player who STARTED the hand can ask to see any live hand at the showdown.
The second rule has become common in major tournament play. It is a way of protecting against collusion. You know that if your hand is called on the river... anyone could ask to see it.
Do it if you want to:
(1) Make it clear that you are suspiscious of "funny business" or
(2) You want to really get under someone's skin without doing anything that is, strictly speaking, wrong.
(a) First, it lets me see if I had the right read.
(b) Also, if it is a bluff, having it exposed too all the players might have the effect of stopping this player's bluffs, mainly due to the fact that all the other (bad) players will call this player down with garbage from then on after seeing the bluff exposed.
Again, I would still do this *very* rarely, and I don't think I can even remember the last time I asked to see anyone's cards.
ScottyZ