Whats The Significance of Double Checking Cards??

[Zetack]

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I always see pros double check their whole cards on tv, and I was wondering why? I never look back at my cards. I was wondering if they do this to give off a false tell of weakness, or do they really not remember what they have.

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Even the best players in the world sometimes mis-read or misremember their hands.

Here's a quote from Michael Craig's blog about Howard Lederer.

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It’s a few minutes after 6 PM and there was just a big pot so I want to get this posted, but I have a note that while they were chatting between hands, several players got into a discussion about misreading or forgetting their hole cards. Lederer mentioned there was one time when he thought he had Q-Q when his actual cards were 8-4.



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Url for the quote, all the way at the bottom of the entry, but note that there is no more detail about the hand

Personally, albeit, I'm not one of the best players in the world, I recheck a very large percentage of my hands, which is a habit I got into a long while ago after I lost a big pot in which I mistakenly though I had two pair, but was off a pip on my kicker. Occaisionally, the extra second or two helps me to see that I actually have a double gutter or something, when I'd thought all I had was a gut-shot.

The classic example for many players, is when the flop is mono-toned, say clubs, and their sitting there remebering their high card is black, but not necessarily whether its a club, so they look back to check...or to give the false tell that that's what they are checking for.

[JoeyClutch]

I thinks he means when they look back at their cards after the hand is over with, not during the hand.

[Taso]

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I always see pros double check their whole cards on tv, and I was wondering why? I never look back at my cards. I was wondering if they do this to give off a false tell of weakness, or do they really not remember what they have.

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Seems kind of weird to give a "false tell of weakness" "after" the hand is over. Good first post though, you will fit right in sir.

[TexRef]

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It's a bad habit they picked up years before when they were low limit players. When another player reluctantly folds a hand instead of making a big call the winning player sometimes will look crushed, as if that just cost him a bunch of money, peek at his cards and sadly hand them back to the dealer.

This is the kind of stuff you online players are missing. LOL [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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LOL ... too true!

Done "properly" the player has to check his cards... then look at the board... look back at his cards... shake his head a bit... look at the board... then back at his hand one last time... then... finally... begrudgingly... muck his hand.

[ronitonline]

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I think this is mostly for television, to make sure the camera knows the cards.

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[Vetgirig]

Some tv-shows tell the players to always check their cards before they act on each round and show them to the camera. Think it has to do with the tv-crew has several peeks at the cards in case the hole cards somehow was not shown correctly the first time.

At least that was the deal when poker players I know was playing on TV.

[TC Franks]

One assumption that has helped me, granted not against top players, is that when there are three cards of one suit out there and a player checks his cards, that player has not yet made the flush.
I think this is because if a player plays 10-J suited, say of clubs, and three clubs are flopped, he is well aware that he had suited connectors of clubs. The player who moves into a pot suited, usually is able to remember the suit.
The drawing player with the ace of clubs is less likely to remember the exact suit of his ace, and will take a second look.
Of course that said, it's a great chance to bluff as if you're on the draw and have the nuts! lol

[bogey1]

In regards to players checking hole cards before they fold, I think it's just a gut level behavior of "Damn, I wish these had turned into something, oh well."

If it's during the hand, it's probably a tell or fake tell of some sort. The reliable ones have been mentioned in previous posts (e.g. monotone flops).

[KiwiMark]

I have come into a hand with suited cards, checked the cards after the flop, mentally noted I had missed and the flop was rainbow. I checked as did my opponent, turn card, check, check, river card, I checked and my opponent bet. I was going to muck but I checked my cards first to ensure I hadn't overlooked something - I saw that the turn and river had given me the flush that I had dismissed on the flop (I felt a little foolish about that), so I raised instead of folding and my actions throughout the hand confused my opponent. He called and I showed the flush - I thought it was pretty funny.

I now regularly check my cards before I act (check/call/fold/raise/whatever) to make sure I am not thinking of the previous hand or something equally dumb.

[Zorlac]

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I thinks he means when they look back at their cards after the hand is over with, not during the hand.

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Agree. I think he's referring to them looking back at their cards when the other person has folded. You often see Ivey, Lindgren et al do this, along with a bit of a smirk or surprised look.

It's obviously just a bit of needling and implying the folder mucked the best hand.


.Z