[AKQJ10]

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I would also like to know what possible value there was for you in seeing a hand a guy folded when you were holding AA.

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There is value to that information -- is something like TT or 99 in his folding range here (indicating he understands stack size)? What about AQ (indicating he understands domination theory)?

It's probably not valuable enough information to put the entirely table on edge. Thinking back, I think I read a Bob Ciaffone article about SOSA in my first six months of playing. That was the reason I even knew I could ask to see a hand after completion of the action in the first place. (Curse you, Bob!) I like Ciaffone's writing about the rules but I wish he had tempered it with warnings about the -EV of invoking them -- or maybe he did, and I was too naive then to understand them.

Plainly invoking SOSA like this is a habit that I will need to unlearn, not unlike cold-calling a raise with KJ. Both of those actions cost me expectation in the long run, but fortunately both habits can be broken.

I do find it interesting that enforcing the rules calls forth such an emotional reaction from people. Some responses along the lines of "It's your right, but it's -EV," are coldly analytical and I can understand them and take them into consideration. It's the more emotional reactions that just strike me as bizarre.

Suppose that some other rule (say, a flush beating a straight) were infused with such societal ill-will. So if you show down a flush and your opponent shows down a straight, the dealer will push the pot to you -- but only if you ask! And if you ask for the pot, then the rest of the table is going to brand you a nit for knowing and enforcing the rules to your advantage, and the game is going to become less profitable because no one likes a nit who tries to enforce the "flush beats a straight" rule.

But no one gets emotional about a flush beating a straight, and everyone (including me, I admit it) gets emotional about SOSA. So be it. I'm a bit bemused by the idea of putting rules on the books that are considered "dickish" or "super ultra nitty" to enforce, that's apparently through years of poker tradition that's the way it is. I'll get over it.