Was My Play Here Unethical?

[HubDub04 0]

And plus, who's to say that I didn't have a monster hand in that spot. He doesn't know my motives. If he shoves his AK, I could have KK or AA for all he knows. You guys are forgetting that he knows none of this story. He doesn't know that I saw his cards, my skill level, how strong my hand its etc. I knew he was going to fold based on all of these factors.

[CiberX 0]

I woulda folded anyways never know what the other guy has, i hate looking at others ppl cards when they are careless even though i cant help it, the other day i had A9 guy next to me is flashing his cards all night long he has 92o on the BB flop comes 942 he checks of course i check even though im soupose to bet here, another player bets and he of course check raises so i fold, 3rd player calls and an A comes on the turn, i would have taken all the guys money if i hadnt seen his cards it sucked..AND just today player in early position raises x4 the bb 2 ppl call i have 4d5d im comtemplating a call when a player next to me folds and shows me a 6d2d so i fold of course! flop comes 7-3-6, original raiser bets x12 BB another calls and the 3rd goes all in, i would have had position on them too i was so pissed... they had 1010, QQ and JJ!

[Mr. Sparco 2]

I agree with everyone above: if he doesn't protect his cards, and you see them without actually trying too, feel free to use the information.A related question, though: it is a player's job to protect his cards, but how do you guys do this? The particular situation I have in mind is when I am on the straight end of the table (say in the 4 or 5 seat) and the player to my left is always leaning back in his chair until it is his time to act. When I look at my cards, I have no idea what he is looking at, and I find it very hard to look at my cards in such a way that I'm 100% sure he does not see anything.I guess it's also the dealer's job to make sure the guy does not go out of his way to see my cards, but still, I'm always a bit paranoid. Any tips?

[Pot Odds RAC 23]

I agree with everyone above: if he doesn't protect his cards, and you see them without actually trying too, feel free to use the information.A related question, though: it is a player's job to protect his cards, but how do you guys do this? The particular situation I have in mind is when I am on the straight end of the table (say in the 4 or 5 seat) and the player to my left is always leaning back in his chair until it is his time to act. When I look at my cards, I have no idea what he is looking at, and I find it very hard to look at my cards in such a way that I'm 100% sure he does not see anything.I guess it's also the dealer's job to make sure the guy does not go out of his way to see my cards, but still, I'm always a bit paranoid. Any tips?

A few things:Card Corner Bend.Stack your chips as a wall between you and the other player. Then peek at your cards behind that barrier. Of course you need chips to accomplish this engineering feat.When he leans back. Grab your cards (don't look yet), make eye contact with the dude for abou 3 seconds until he looks away, then very carefully and look at your own cards. He'll get the hint.If all else fails, just say "Do you mind not doing that crap?"

[gfdsa146 0]

This hand happened last night at Potowatomi here in Milwaukee. I was playing my regular $3/5 NL game and had been playing for about an hour. Bought in for $600, was up to about $1k when this hand happened. I was in the BB with 73 os (my hand quality doesn't matter here) and I had a very LAG player to my right in the SB. The guy in seat 3 makes it $35 straight, as the action folds around to the small blind he picks up his hole cards really really high, high enough were I can see he had the 7 cc (couldn't see his other card but I already had a big piece of free information by seeing just 1 card). He decides to make it $135 to go. At this point I was just going to fold and protect my stack, but I thought, why not re-raise and scoop the already decent sized pot pre-flop? So I did. I raised it to $350 and the original raiser puts on a song and dance and folds and the SB says " I know you saw my cards, I lifted them way too high" and folds. I told him that I didn't see his cards and said that I had KK to protect my image.My question is this, I obviously wasn't trying to look at his cards, but at the time I looked over to see what his action was going to be, I caught a glimpse of his rag 7 cc. Is it unethical on my part to use this and take down a pot? Everyone I talk to says it's his responsibility to protect his whole cards and any info like that I come across I should be able to use to make my decision. But I had one guy tell me that it was unethical because I used the information that nobody else had to win a pot, and that it was an unfair advantage.I personally think that if you sit down at a $3/5 NL game and don't know how to protect your cards from the other players, then you shouldn't be playing that high.What do you guys think?

Tell this guy to stop playing poker. So whenever I pick up a pattern that no one else has noticed yet on another player, that means that by me attempting to use my reading skills, I've gained an unfair advantage. Thats so dumb.I'm sure that there are a lot of really good live players out there that pick up on physical tells before anyone else at the table does. But that doesnt make it unfair for them to use those tells to win a pot. They're just playing the game.

[dscoot 0]

The only part that may be construed as unethical is telling him KK.In regular hands telling them kk is no biggie, but this one is different.If u wanted to be truely ethical here, u can still make the raise, but then show what you did and tell him what he did after the hand is over. YOu help him from possibly doing this in the future. YOu might even help yourself by putting either of the two players on tilt towards you

[Suited_Up 2]

This hand happened last night at Potowatomi here in Milwaukee. I was playing my regular $3/5 NL game and had been playing for about an hour. Bought in for $600, was up to about $1k when this hand happened. I was in the BB with 73 os (my hand quality doesn't matter here) and I had a very LAG player to my right in the SB. The guy in seat 3 makes it $35 straight, as the action folds around to the small blind he picks up his hole cards really really high, high enough were I can see he had the 7 cc (couldn't see his other card but I already had a big piece of free information by seeing just 1 card). He decides to make it $135 to go. At this point I was just going to fold and protect my stack, but I thought, why not re-raise and scoop the already decent sized pot pre-flop? So I did. I raised it to $350 and the original raiser puts on a song and dance and folds and the SB says " I know you saw my cards, I lifted them way too high" and folds. I told him that I didn't see his cards and said that I had KK to protect my image.My question is this, I obviously wasn't trying to look at his cards, but at the time I looked over to see what his action was going to be, I caught a glimpse of his rag 7 cc. Is it unethical on my part to use this and take down a pot? Everyone I talk to says it's his responsibility to protect his whole cards and any info like that I come across I should be able to use to make my decision. But I had one guy tell me that it was unethical because I used the information that nobody else had to win a pot, and that it was an unfair advantage.I personally think that if you sit down at a $3/5 NL game and don't know how to protect your cards from the other players, then you shouldn't be playing that high.What do you guys think?

Mainly did it because you called someone out for saying YOUR in another thread.I mean seriously though... I can't stand this!

[Pot Odds RAC 23]

Protect your cards.End of story.Most times I will tell a player ONCE if s/he is flashing cards. For example I told a guy at the other end of the table from me that he was showing me his cards everytime he tossed them into the muck. But I only do this as a courtesy, and only warn once. I do it partly because I may not be the only one getting the information and if I miss it, I don't want the guy sitting next to me to get it. If they continue, I'll take the free information. I'll call a card or hand dead if the Dealer flashes ANY card. Oh and they're "hole" cards, not "whole" cards - unless you're referring to complete cards.

Mainly did it because you called someone out for saying YOUR in another thread.I mean seriously though... I can't stand this!

I agree.

[HubDub04 0]

LOL, oops. Notice how I used the correct version of "hole" earlier in my OP. Brainfart obv.

[defy 0]

na..not unethical IMO...good play!