- Texas Holdem Strategy
- Beginner's Intro
- Calculating Odds & Outs
- Preflop Strategy
- When to Bet
- Cheating
- Position
- Bluffing
- Poker Help
- Poker Forum
- Poker Blogs
- Poker Etiquette
- Player Interviews
- Texas Holdem Rules
- How To Host A Game
- Poker Tools
- Poker Database
- Poker Calculators
- Holdem Odds Chart
- Poker Articles
- Glossary
- Links
Cards Speak
In holdem there is the idea that "Cards Speak", which means that no matter what you say when you flip over your hand, you actually have the best possible combination of five cards. For example, a common miscall would be if you pocket cards and the board looked like...
Your Hand
The five community cards are:
...and you flipped your cards and said "I've got a pair of aces", you wouldn't be held to it. You actually would have two pair, aces and sixes. That would be your hand, despite your blunder.
The "Cards Speak" rule is used universally in almost all common casino poker games. The exception would be in certain games of Lowball. There also may be some crazy variant that may not use the rule but in any authentic casino poker game, your screw-ups are covered.
It's the responsibility of the dealer (if there is a dealer) to point out that a hand is miscalled. However, any player at the table (in or out of the hand) can identify a miscall. It should actually be each players' duty to point of if a another has miscalled a hand. It is important to note that the Cards Speak rule does not carve out exceptions for cheating. Namely we're talking about deliberately miscalling a hand to induce another player to expose their pocket cards. It is mentioned often in many poker rules that a player who intentionally miscalls a hand will automatically forfeit the pot and be given a warning. If it is done again, that player could incur a time penalty (if in a tournament) or even be removed from the game.
Printable Version
