I think that most of us will admit that our mouths can get us into a lot of trouble. While a lot of people blame this on the failure of some mythical filter between their brain and their mouth that is supposed to strain out all the horrible things that we think before they make it to our tongue, the reality is that a lot of times the we are either speaking while riding the momentum of emotion, or we are simply not thinking at all.
Most of us are aware of what some of the more inappropriate conversation at the table includes. For those of you who are still in the dark, if part of your conversation involves questioning whether or not your opponent was fathered by the warthog, or any variation on the word “prat” it is probably not acceptable. What a lot of people miss is the fact that some ancillary conversation that seems natural but is actually a horrible breach of etiquette.
Let’s say you have folded your cards along with the player next to you. There are only two other players left in the hand, and the pot is growing in size. While this heads-up action has probably captured your attention, and that of other people around the table, this is not the time to start speculating about what the two left in the hand are holding. Even if you think your whispered conversation is private, the words may still be heard. If in your conversation you come up with something that one of the other players didn’t think about, and they wind up folding thanks to the discussion you were having with someone else, you have affected the outcome of the hand, and cost somebody some money. In other words, wait until a hand is done before talking about it. It is better to be a Monday morning quarterback then a play by play commentator.
