By Kelli Mix | Published on June 25, 2009

Ruling Please! #4 – Showing for a Reaction

The Scenario

A player is all-in and everyone folds except one player who considers calling. He verbally declares that he has a pair of 10’s. The all-in player remains silent, and the opponent turns his pair of 10’s face-up to try and gauge a reaction from the all-in player. He decides to call the all-in player and wins (10’s vs. AK). The loser asks for a ruling – was he allowed to show his hand?

Kelli’s Ruling

In a live-action game, yes, a player heads-up may expose his cards to gauge a reaction from his opponent. In a tournament using TDA or World Series of Poker rules, no, players are not allowed to expose their cards. The losing player however would still not be rewarded the pot if this were the case. Instead, the player who exposed his cards would keep the pot, but be subject to a penalty of sitting out one hand for each player at the table.

Kelli Mix is a poker player and author of the ‘Game Day Poker Almanac – Official Rules of Poker’. Kelli is from Georgia, and is the state director for the Poker Players Alliance.