Who Shows Hand First In Poker
The dealer button will rotate clockwise after each hand, just as the deal would rotate under standard poker rules. Small Blind – The first player seated to the left of the dealer. This player is required to place a bet before players have seen their cards, equivalent to half of the small bet limit at the table. If, after the river card has been dealt the person who makes the last bet or raise is the one required to show his hand first. If there is no bet on the river, the hand is over. If players pause or hesitate to show their hand, typically the dealer will get impatient and say something along the lines of “Somebody show me a winner.”. In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called hands, according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. In high games, like Texas hold 'em and seven-card stud, the highest-ranking hands win.
First, let’s talk about position and betting in the other popular variations of poker. Who Goes First in Draw Poker? 5 card draw poker is mostly played with an ante, but that ante doesn’t affect the order of betting. Everyone has to place an ante before getting a hand. In fact, in 5 card draw poker, the order of action is simple. These hand rankings aren't specifically part of Texas hold'em rules, but apply to many different poker games. Royal Flush — five cards of the same suit, ranked ace through ten; e.g., A ♥ K.
When I hear the word “showdown,” I tend to think of two bad hombres with their hands twitching just over their holstered six-shooters in the streets of Laredo.
Fortunately, that sort of thing happens very rarely in your better casino poker rooms these days. If that’s where you are when you hear “showdown,” there’s no need to take cover, as you might have done in the Old West — it’s just a reference to two or more players who are in a poker hand all the way to the end, at which time a winner must be determined.
At first it may seem ludicrous that there are rules and procedures to such a simple process. Can’t everybody just turn their cards face up and be done with it?
Well, yes, they could — but they don’t. Unfortunately, a substantial percentage of poker players possess a pathological aversion to showing their hands unnecessarily. They’d sooner reveal the nation’s nuclear launch codes than their down cards. You can only get these stubborn players to show by making bamboo shoots grow under their fingernails.
The showdown rules and procedures were developed to keep the game from grinding to a halt whenever you’ve got two such people in the same hand, since in poker we try to avoid actual physical torture. (Psychological torture is just part of the game, of course.)
Showdown Rules
There are two different procedures, depending on whether or not there was betting on the last street.
If there was no betting on the last street, the procedure is blessedly simple. The showdown goes in the same order as all other actions, starting left of the button and proceeding clockwise to the button. The first player still holding live cards turns them face up. Then each subsequent player can, in turn, put his own cards face up, or, if he sees that he is not the winner, just pass them back to the dealer face down.
However, if there was betting on the last street, this all changes. In that situation, the last player to take an aggressive action — defined as either betting or raising — is obligated to reveal his cards first. Then the showdown proceeds around the table clockwise from his position, without regard to where the button is. As in the previous paragraph, each player in turn can choose to show his cards or just muck them.
That’s the basics, right there. However, I think it’s worth knowing some additional nuances and etiquette.
The Showdown Needn’t Be a Standoff
As I said earlier, there are some players who just won’t go along with the program. They like to gain an edge by playing a waiting game. If they delay long enough, they figure, everybody else will get nervous or impatient and show first. Then they can keep their cards secret unless they see that they have the winner.
This especially happens when a player has had a bluff called. He’s embarrassed to show it, but also doesn’t want to just throw his hand away, in case it turns out that he was bluffing with the best hand. (It does happen.) So he just sits there, hoping that you or one of the other players will take the pressure off of him by showing first.
This is terribly rude, as it unnecessarily slows down the game, and makes a tactical advantage out of being willing to be a jerk. Never be one of those guys, and don’t let them intimidate you into letting them skip their proper turn to show. The dealer should enforce the standard procedure, but in reality, many dealers care more about getting the hand finished quickly than niceties of procedure. You can, and should, politely ask the dealer to require the players to either show or muck when it’s their turn. Don’t let the bullies take advantage.
There’s No Rule Against Showing Early
There is no prohibition on showing before it’s officially your turn. In fact, it’s usually best for everybody if all the players still holding live hands when it’s time for the showdown just flip them face up immediately — no fuss, no muss. The procedures described above were developed to resolve that potential standoff when nobody volunteers to show first.
Don’t Slow Roll at Showdown
If you have the stone-cold nuts, or a very strong hand, and yet you make everybody else show first just because that’s what the procedure dictates, you may well come under criticism for “slow rolling.” That is a social faux pas, even when you’re just doing what the rules require. It’s considered polite to show your cards quickly — even if it’s not yet your turn — when you’re holding a hand that you have good reason to believe will be the winner. You can hope that other players will show you the same courtesy when they have the monster.
Where There’s a Side Pot
Sometimes there will be a side pot. This happens when one player is all in, but two or more others have more chips and keep betting and raising. The all-in player is eligible to win from each other player only the amount that he put into the pot, so when others keep putting in more chips beyond that, they get kept physically separate — a “side pot,” because it’s literally off to one side of the table.
Who Shows Hand First In Poker Championship
When that has happened, the dealer will always request to first see the hands that are eligible for the side pot. The reason is to get that pot awarded to whoever has won it before turning to the main pot. If it isn’t done in that order, and the all-in player has the best hand, it’s too easy for the dealer to make a mistake and push all the chips to the all-in player, including those that aren’t rightfully his.
(Fun homework assignment: Watch the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale again and spot the moment when a poker dealer does this procedure incorrectly.)
If in Doubt, Just Show
Finally, until your derriere has logged a whole lot of hours in a poker chair, it’s probably wisest to just always show your cards. Even highly experienced players will occasionally misread the situation and muck the winning hand, and novice players make this mistake a lot. (I’ve done it at least half a dozen times, realizing soon after my cards were in the muck — and probably a few more that I never realized.)
If you always elect to turn your cards face up at showdown, even if you’re sure you hand is a loser, you may give away a little information that you didn’t have to, but you’ll never risk losing a pot because you misread either your own hand or that of an opponent. This is especially true with two-pair hands, which tend to be really tricky and throw people off.
Keep these pointers in mind, cowboy. And leave the six-shooters at home.
Robert Woolley lives in Asheville, NC. He spent several years in Las Vegas and chronicled his life in poker on the “Poker Grump” blog.
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If you’re new to Texas holdem (or any other poker game), one of the first things you need to learn and understand is who goes first in poker. In Texas holdem games, this is related to your position relative to the blinds. In other games, other criteria determine the order in which you bet.
The purpose of this post is to explain poker rules related to position and who bets first and reveals first. It can be a complicated subject if you’re new to the game, but it’s hard to overstate how important it is.
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How the Blinds Work
I’ll start this discussion of who goes first in poker with a discussion of the blinds, because how the blinds work is tied so closely to what order everyone plays in.
First, a definition:
The blinds are forced bets, similar to ante,s that stimulate the action at the poker table. Unlike an ante, you only need to post a blind twice every rotation around the table.
In home games, the dealer position rotates around the table, and the 2 players to the left of the dealer post the blinds. The size of the blinds are determined by the table stakes. There’s a small blind and a big blind. The big blind is normally the size of the small bet, while the small blind is usually half that.
For example, if you’re playing in a $4/$8 Texas holdem game, the bets during the first 2 rounds are made in $4 increments. During the second 2 rounds, the bets are made in $8 increments. The blinds for such a game are usually $2 for the small blind and $4 for the big blind.
In casino games, a professional dealer handles all the dealing, so they use a white disk labeled “dealer” to determine position. This is called “the button.” The players to the left of the button post the blinds–the small blind is immediately to the left of the button. The big blind is the player next to him.
Texas Holdem Rules Related to Position, or Who Bets First in Texas Holdem?
The rules for Texas holdem related to position are actually simple enough, especially if you just look for the button. Preflop, after you get your first 2 cards, the players bet in order starting with the player to the immediate left of the big blind. The player in the big blind is the last to act in this betting round.
In all subsequent betting rounds, the first player to bet is the player to the immediate left of the button. This means if you’re in the big blind, you get to act last preflop, but you act first on all subsequent betting rounds.
Betting always happens in turn, moving clockwise around the table.
Here’s a list of who bets and in what order in Texas holdem :
- Under the gun – The player to the left of the big blind acts first preflop.
- Early position – The next couple of players to the left of the UTG player.
- Middle position – The next 2 or 3 players after early position.
- Late position – The last 2 or 3 players to act before the blinds.
- The button – Acts before the blinds except after the flop, when the button becomes the last player to act.
- The small blind – Next to last to act preflop. First to act after the flop.
- The big blind – Last to act preflop. Acts after the small blind after the flop.
It’s rude and inappropriate to bet when it isn’t your turn. Even if you’re going to fold, wait until it’s your turn to act. It’s not fair to the players acting later to know what action you’re planning to take.
What Position Is Best in Texas Holdem Poker?
If you’re smart, you’ve probably already started to think about the strategic implications related to position. That’s good, because position is one of the most important aspects of the game.
It seems obvious to some, but not to others, that the later you get to act, the better off you are. The later you act, the more information you have about the other players and their plans.
The best position in Texas holdem is the last person to act. This means that if you’re in the big blind, you have the best possible position before the flop, but you also have the worst possible position after the flop.
How Position Affects Strategy
The strategic rule of thumb to follow is that you need a stronger hand to bet or raise if you’re acting earlier than if you’re acting late.
Here’s why:
Let’s say you’re the first person to act preflop, and you have a pair of 10s. That’s a playable hand. You raise the big blind, so you put $8 in the pot.
The player behind you raises it to $12, the player after him raises it to $16, and the player after him raises it to $20.
When it’s your turn to act again, you really don’t have much choice but to fold. The probability that at least one of those players has a higher pair in the hole than you do is just too great to continue to put money in the pot.
On the other hand, if you’re the last person to act before the blinds, and all the players before you either limped in or folded, you might well be justified making a raise here. Since none of those players showed any strength before you acted, there’s a good chance you have the best hand preflop. If one of them is sandbagging, you can still play and see what the flop looks like.
To win at poker, you need to understand positional advantages.
This position advantage–the knowledge of what the others players who’ve acted first has done–continues throughout the game until the showdown. (I’ll have more to say about the showdown soon, too.)
By the way, this is how position is handled in related games, too, like Omaha and pineapple.
First, let’s talk about position and betting in the other popular variations of poker.
Who Goes First in Draw Poker?
5 card draw poker is mostly played with an ante, but that ante doesn’t affect the order of betting. Everyone has to place an ante before getting a hand.
In fact, in 5 card draw poker, the order of action is simple.
Betting just goes in clockwise order, starting with the player to the immediate left of the dealer. This is the order of action throughout the game, which only has 2 rounds of betting anyway.
Who Shows Hand First In Poker Room
Who Goes First in Stud Poker?
Position and betting in stud poker is more complicated than in draw or stud poker. Most stud games have an ante, but during the first round of betting, the player with the lowest face up card must place a “bring-in” bet. The size of the bring-in bet is usually half the size of the lower betting amount. (In a $10/$20 stud game, the bring-in would be $5.)
The bring-in also has the option to “complete” the bet, which would mean raising the size of the bet to $10.
Betting continues around the table clockwise, with the person to the immediate left of the bring-in continuing to act.
In all the subsequent rounds, the first player to bet is the player with the best hand showing. Since there are usually fewer than 5 cards showing, the best hand is usually determined by who has the highest card, the highest pair, or even 3 of a kind.
But there aren’t usually enough cards showing for someone to have a flush or a straight and bet first. Incomplete hands like this don’t count toward who goes first.
This has the interesting effect of changing who the first player to act is every round.
The Showdown
In all poker games, if more than one player stays in the pot (doesn’t fold), the game ends with a showdown. During the showdown, the players reveal their cards. The player with the best 5-card poker hand wins the pot.
In some games, the pot gets split between the player with the best poker hand and the player with the best qualifying low hand. This doesn’t affect the order in which the players show their cards.
There are a couple of things to remember about the showdown:
Who Shows Hand First In Poker Machines
The first is that you must expose all your cards to win the pot, even if not all those cards count toward your final 5-card hand.
The second is that “the cards speak.” You get credit for the best possible 5-card hand you can make, regardless of what hand you announce.
Who Has to Reveal His Cards First in Poker?
Some players prefer not to reveal their cards at the showdown if they’ve lost. They don’t want to give any information to their opponents about how they play. This is good strategy.
But who has to reveal his cards first?
Who Shows Hand First In Poker
This is the same regardless of which variation you’re playing.
The last player to bet or raise is the player who must show his cards first. If everyone has checked or is all-in, players reveal their hands clockwise starting to the left of the dealer.
If you don’t have the winning hand, you can “muck” your cards, which means you put them in the pot without revealing them. You also give up any claim to the pot. Depending on the cardroom, you might be allowed to ask to see the mucked cards.
When Are You Allowed to Show Your Cards in a Poker Game?
Who Shows Hand First In Poker Games
You’re only allowed to show your cards at the showdown or if there’s no more action following you. To show your cards before that provides information to the other players that they don’t need to have.
Who Shows Hand First In Poker Real Money
Different casino cardrooms handle this situation differently. In some casinos, if you expose your cards early, they muck your hand. In others, play continues, but the other players will almost certainly be irritated by your behavior.
Also, it’s considered unsporting to show your cards to another player without showing them to all the other players.
If you accidentally show one card, most players don’t get too upset, especially if it’s an honest mistake. If it happens repeatedly, expect to get a warning.
Finally
Who goes first in poker is one of the most important rules you can learn, in Texas holdem or any other variation. I’ve covered the basics in this post, but you should study this until you understand position and its implications well.
If you need to, practice online in free poker games until you grok all the concepts above.