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We are playing a cash-game of Texas Holdem:

  • Let's say the river has just been revealed, and the final round of betting has completed.
  • On the table we have: A, K, 6, 7, 10
  • I'm the last to raise, and just about to flip over my cards (Kings) to show my trips
  • Suddenly, Sarah (who's down-wind of me) says "BOOM!" and flips her cards over out of turn revealing Aces.

Am I now obliged to show my Kings? Or can I fold and keep them hidden?

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  • Yes and no. You are free to fold and relinquish the pot. And, she is entitled to ask the floorman/dealer to reveal your hand if she wants to see it, which they should do. Though she probably won't, because your hand would be live, so she's asking at her own risk. If you happened to overlook that second pair, you'd win.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Mar 14, 2018 at 17:28
  • The ONLY time I ever show my cards is when I am in a showdown. Being chivalrious is great for a friendly home game, but if I have serious money at stake I treat it as doing business with a very shrewd negotiator. Never give up anything that might give away your play style. Make them earn it every step of the way.
    – LeightonDaniel
    Mar 16, 2018 at 7:34
  • I'm not sure that's good advice. For a serious professional player playing against other pros, giving away information unnecessarily is indeed likely to do harm. But for 95% of poker players in the world, the chance of being mistaken about your hand value is probably greater than the chance that your opponents will be able to successfully exploit the information, so I always show first at showdown. This also gives your opponents the additional opportunity to mistakenly fold.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Mar 16, 2018 at 19:16
  • @LeeDanielCrocker Comments is not the place to answer a question. We can't upvote or down vote and all the other good things when the question is answered in comments.
    – Jon ♦
    Mar 16, 2018 at 23:26

2 Answers 2

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She could ask to have your cards shown in most house rules. To me that would be rude. If she wanted to see your card she should have simply waited for you to show before showing her cards.

Since action was over I would not call turning over cards acting out of turn.

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You are not obliged to show your cards, since she has already shown hers. By not obliged I mean you do not need to turn your cards up in the normal course of things. She showed first, so you can muck your hand if it looses.

However, she can also ask to see your hand, as can any player at the table when a hand goes to showdown. The custom used to be the dealer would turn your hand up when any player at the table asked. This custom is changing and at almost all poker rooms the dealer now needs to call for a floor person to turn your hand up*. In this type of situation there is a good chance your hand will not be turned up by the floor person. Turning the hand up of the looser on request of the winner, is considered an unnecessary needle, and one of the prime reasons that dealers now need to call a floor person rather then turning the hand up.

*the exception is when a player exposes his cards to other players in the hand, then the dealer just shows the cards.

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