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During the
1980's, 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 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
to not allow such an action. The pertinent poker Tournament
Director's Association rule says, "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, straight-forward manner. But the truth is that
the showing of cards during play is only improper when the rights of
players not involved are jeopardized. For example, in Texas home
games, it was common 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.
Sometimes a player who was thinking would say, "show me a bad one,"
actually trying to get the 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. Unfortunately for Slim, the opponent had
a stronger hand than expected--and now could see he had the nuts!
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.
There are two situations in tournament play where showing one or
both cards during play does not affect anyone other than the parties
involved:
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When there are only two players remaining in an event.
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When the event is winner take all, as in a one-table
satellite.
The showing of
one card 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 where the rights of others are not adversely affected.
Our tournament rules should reflect this, instead of issuing a
blanket condemnation of the practice.
By Bob
Ciaffone
© 2004; All
Rights Reserved.
Click
HERE
to see WSOP results of the 1980's. Later this week more on the
80's, the 90's
& beyond.
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Final results |
$2,500
No-Limit Short Handed Hold-em |
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Number of Entries 824 |
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