Showdowns are where you learn the most about each poker player. If you watched, and can remember, the action of the hand from start to finish, you can replay the hand in your mind and learn a lot about how a player thinks.
You see the exact hand they called with preflop, the strength of hand they check-called with on the flop, the hand they check-raised 3x with on the turn and the hand they shoved with on the river.
What a wealth of information for those paying attention!
Here are the four insights I always try to gain from every showdown I see.
1. Showdowns Indicate a Poker Player’s Logic
Replaying the action of the hand, while knowing what a player held at the time, illuminates the exact logic behind their decisions. This insight is extremely valuable as it will help you make exploitative plays later.
The other day, my student played a hand against a very passive opponent. In the hand, his opponent check-called the flop and turn with a nut flush draw. My student bet 2/3 pot on the flop then 3/4 pot on the turn. When the flush hit the river, his opponent donk bet 3/4 pot and my student called. My student lost with a 2 pair hand, but by paying attention to showdown, he saw that his opponent plays the nut flush draw passively from OOP and is willing to call large bets.
My student made a player note from this hand that read, “OOP calls w/nfd vs big bets (VALUE BET BIG ON WET AND INCOMPLETE BOARDS, BEWARE OF THE DONK BET WHEN DRAW COMPLETES)”.
These insights only came because my student replayed the hand in his mind upon seeing showdown.
2. Showdowns Help You Spot Bet Size Patterns
You can learn so much from bet sizes after a showdown.
Some players naturally bet bigger for value and smaller for bluffs. Other players make min-blocking bets with every draw to set their own price to see the next street.
Here are some bet size patterns you could spot after seeing four showdowns against a particular player:
- 1st Hand: Villain made a ½ pot bluff cbet on the flop with AK.
- 2nd Hand: Villain made a ½ pot bluff bet on the turn with a gutshot straight draw.
- 3rd Hand: Villain made a ¾ pot value bet on the flop with a set.
- 4th Hand: Villain made a ¾ pot value bet when the 3rd spade hit the turn, giving him a flush.
Your note for this player might read: “1/2 pot = bluff, 3/4 pot = value; BEWARE HIS LARGER BETS”.
This note will help you get away from marginal hands when he makes bigger bets in the future, and you can attempt bluff raising or bluff catching with a call when he bets 1/2 pot.
3. Showdowns Help You Categorize Players
Let’s imagine you’re at a full ring table with eight opponents: 2 loose-aggressive, 1 tight-aggressive, 4 fish and 1 unknown. We can call the unknown player “Mysterious Mandy”.
So, how do you play against her?
At the beginning, treat her like the average player. Maybe the average player folds King-high hands, underpairs and weak draws like low-end gutshot draws versus flop cbets. When “Mysterious Mandy” calls your 2/3 pot cbet from out of position in the first hand you play against her, you can remove this group of weaker hands from her flop continuation range.
The hand progresses through the streets and gets to showdown. You learn that when she called your 2/3 pot cbet from out of position on the flop, she held a King-high backdoor flush draw. That’s it!
After just this one showdown hand, you can now tag “Mysterious Mandy” as a Fish and from this point forward, play against her accordingly. Now she’s “Mackerel Mandy” to you and this insight came from your very first hand with her because you saw what she held at showdown.
4. Showdowns Confirm a Player’s Use of Exploitative Plays
For online players who use a HUD, you’ll often notice a statistical frequency that looks like an exploit this player enjoys making.
For example, you notice a player with a high Turn Float statistic of 72% (betting on the turn when in position and the flop cbettor checks the turn from out of position). This means they like to steal pots on the turn when the cbettor shows weakness by failing to double-barrel cbet.
When a showdown reveals they held an Ace-high hand while floating the turn, that confirms they use the turn float to exploit weakness. Great!
So, what can you do with this information? You can use their exploit against them in the future by check-raise bluffing or checking to induce a bluff from them.
The more showdowns you pay attention to, the more plays like this you’ll catch.
Take Action: Become a Showdown Inspector
Ensure you’re not distracted by ESPN or X or TikTok as you play (put phone on airplane mode, switch seats so the television isn’t in your eyesight, etc.).
Preflop, even when you exit the hand, focus on the players involved and their actions. When the flop hits, recite in your head who can cbet and who will be facing the cbet. Notice the actions and try to remember the bet sizes used. Do the same for the turn and river.
While you’re paying attention, also make reads on the hand strengths you think the players likely have.
If you’re lucky enough to see showdown, keep their hand in mind and replay the action of the hand. Make reads on why they made the plays they did through the streets, given their hand strength at each decision point.
This practice will help you learn from every showdown, and it will help improve your reads on your opponents when you’re involved in hands.
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