Posted by Dr Fro 11:20 PM

It has been a good night on Party Poker. There are a lot of things I should do on a regular basis in poker, but I am too darn lazy to do most of them most of the time. Tonight I did something regularly that I rarely do. On hands that were not shown on the showdown, I checked the hand history.

If you beat a guy on the showdown, typically only you show your hand. Casino rule dictate that the loser is required to show his hand (if asked) but this never happens. Why? Well, for one, if you ask and find out that his hand beat yours, then this just cost you the pot! There is also a courtesy aspect to this. Specifically, people don't ask to see hands for fear that the opponent will reciprocate later when roles are reversed.

Online, the not-seeing-a-losing-hand-courtesy is upheld in the window that shows the poker table. However, if you look at hand history, you can see the holdings of anyone involved in the showdown. This is a fantastic way to gather very valuable information. Unlike in B&M, nobody knows that you are gathering this information!

(I am > 1 bottle of wine away from making good sense right now, so if I don't make sense, read Two Plus Two.)

Anyhew, I used this to my advantage tonight and made a great call on a bluffer. My decision was based on his holdings in an earlier hand that could only be seen in Hand History.

Lesson learned: look at hand histories to gather more info on your opponent.

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