When I play Dramaha with a group of friends, the rule is that no one is entitled to be told how many cards anyone else drew after the drawing round is complete.
People would constantly ask during the turn and river what other people drew, so we had to establish a rule. I can't speak to the host's thought process, but I agree with the rule. Some information in poker is supposed to be available only temporarily, and drawn cards and exposed cards fall into that category. If someone asks me, I will tell him if there was some meaningful reason other than voluntary distraction that he missed it, but not otherwise. It's part of the competitive nature of the game.
It's not fair for a player to never have had an
opportunity to get information. I will concede that. In home games, sometimes people are away from the table or distracted through no fault of their own, and it makes sense to accommodate that. But that doesn't mean that a home game changes the fact that it's temporary information that no one is entitled to receive after it has been displayed. If everyone had the same opportunity, and you decided that moment was your time to …
- check up on your sports bets
- text your wife about groceries
- scroll through the /r/bigtiddygothgf subreddit
- groove to Pink Floyd with your eyes closed
- play fetch with the host's dog
- blow a fat rail of coke in the bathroom
- write a letter to your congressperson
… then you've earned your own ignorance. Everyone else made the daunting sacrifice of paying attention for 15 seconds. You chose not to, and it's no one else's job to pay attention for you. You'll live without knowing that the
was exposed that one hand, and it probably won't even change your decisions. Next time, if you want that info, watch the game you're actually playing instead of PornHub.