29 Dec 02

"Rabbit Chasing"

The term comes from the first scene in Alice in Wonderland. The heroine vainly chases an elusive rabbit, but never catches it.

At the poker table, the term, "rabbit chasing," refers to the situation where losing players ask the dealer to show them the card they might have gotten or ask the winning player, after all others have dropped out, what his hand was or if he was bluffing. In poker etiquette, rabbit chasing is an unambiguous faux pas. Repeated instances of the practice will get the offending player invited to leave the table! At the poker table, good manners and personal honor are expected of all players, and ungraciously seeking information to which one is not entitled under the rules of the game is the sure sign of a bungling amateur or a cheater. It is also foolish! The information they think they want is actually damaging to them and to their game. It will do them far more harm than good.

The prophets of Old Testament all led miserable lives, and, in the end, most were homicide victims. Although the prospect (on the surface) seems attractive, only a fool would want to know the future.

Likewise, spending time and emotional energy wondering about what might have been will drive you to inaction, and maybe crazy too! Wondering what might have been is little more than looking for an excuse to lose.

In poker, as in fighting, winners spend their time and energy looking for a way to win. Losers spend their time looking for an excuse to lose. Both are usually successful. In poker, at the end of every hand, losers want to talk endlessly about what might have been if something had been different. Winners just smile fearlessly and say, "Deal the cards!"

/John