Sportsbook Poker Software Features: Expose 1 Card

Sportsbook Poker is one of the few online websites that gives you the opportunity to expose one of or both of your hole cards prior to mucking a hand. At a live poker room, players can choose to expose one card giving your opponents something to think about. Some poker rooms allow you to show both your hole cards, but Sportsbook poker lets you go one further and allow you to show either both your cards, or just one card.

This option is available only when appropriate, such as when a hand has been won uncontested, or when no future betting can occur after the fold. Weather your laying down your hand to a big bet, or if no one called your bet, if you really want to keep your opponents on their toes, you can use Sportsbook poker’s ‘expose one card’ feature.

Say you had top pair but a weak kicker and you couldn’t call a big bet you might show your high card to prove you weren’t on a complete bluff. Conversely you might show your low card, to appear as if you were on a complete bluff. Either way showing only 1 card generally leaves your opponent asking more questions for which you gave answers with the card that you did show.

The fact that you’ve found this article suggests to us that you’re likely not a fish, or you are at least considering taking poker seriously. We’ll advise you this: despite all the poor advice on internet forums and ezine articles on when to expose a card, the best answer to that question is absolutely never. Only the best pros with a very advanced meta game can afford to give away extra information to their opponents. If you don’t believe us, sit around and watch the greats such as Phil Ivey play for a while and see how often he is giving away information by exposing one or both of his cards when he is not required to do so. The answer is pretty much never, despite his being widely considered the best player to have ever played the game.

We’re sorry if this article has now become dull based on our advice never to expose your cards; however, to give you some value for coming here, we’ll suggest: The best online poker sites are ones that offer exactly this feature. The reasons for this are two fold: for starters, you’ll be able to get more information from opponents as they utilize this feature. The primary reason, however, is that many losing players (fish) love quirky little features such as expose one card, and therefore will stick to sites offering it. This as well as the many other features geared towards recreational players helps keep the games ultra soft at Sportsbook Poker.

Now despite our advice on never exposing cards when you don’t have to, sometimes it might be okay. An example would be if you flopped top-two pair and had a really steaming opponent expose one card showing he had top pair. In this case you might want to flash him second pair to further induce tilt. This of course is dangerous, as you’re giving away free information, and it could come back to hurt you. We still stick to our original advice to never expose your cards, but the choice remains up to you.

A true exception on when exposing one card makes total sense is when it is mandated and you’re also rather confident you’re the best player at the table. This recently occurred on High Stakes Poker Season 6, when all players made an agreement that the winner of an uncontested pot must always expose one of his cards. If you’re in a home game where friends are familiar with High Stakes Poker, a show that airs on television in the US on the Game Show Network (GSN), you might suggest adopting this rule. This is because as the best player in the game, others are less likely to use the extra information you give them against you, and, meanwhile, you can use the extra information you gain from their hands against them.

Once again, if you’re interested in playing online poker with the option to expose one card, we suggest Sportsbook Poker, but be sure to sign up for rakeback using the instructions on our Sportsbook Poker Rakeback page