The maniac shrugs and says,  "Ahh,  so this time you got lucky."  He turns over A-J and you nonchalantly start clearing room to stack his chips.

Until a trey comes on the turn,  and an unbelievable four on the river,  and just like that the dealer is pushing your chips  (already you were thinking of them as YOUR chips)  toward the showboating maniac.  What keeps you from visiting Tilt City is the knowledge that,  given a bit of time and an even break in the cards,  you'll win those chips back.  The night is young,  the preening maniac seems blissfully unaware that Lady Luck is a cruel mistress,  and if you keep your head on straight those chips may yet be yours.

Until you see the maniac racking up those chips and handing them to a runner,  who brings back a wad of cash which the maniac stuffs in his pocket.  And you think,  "That's MY money!  Or it will be in a few hours.  And I don't want to go digging in his pants for it!"

The situation described above is called "ratholing,"  when a player takes money off the table during the game.  And as with most words with the prefix "rat,"  the practice does not have a positive connotation.  In fact,  most B&M casinos will not allow a player to take money off the table during the game unless the player relinquishes his seat.  Especially in no-limit games,  the money in front of you has to stay there in your stack,  where it could be put at risk during any hand.  Other players eye the chips you've taken from them and plot to win them back.  The only way to permanently deny them that opportunity is to stand up from the table,  which in a busy card room might mean you're out of the action for hours,  if not the rest of the night.

The situation is considerably different for online poker games,  of course.  If you find yourself up a large amount,  it's not at all difficult to get up,  find another NL table,  and sit down with the minimum buy-in.  Or even return to the same table if your seat  (or another seat)  is open.  There are so many games available that players who want to rathole some of their winnings don't have to worry about missing out on the action.

Some online card rooms have taken steps to combat ratholing,  by requiring players who leave a NL game to buy-in at their next table for the same amount they just took away.  They set a time limit that a player has to wait before he can buy-in for the minimum  (usually about an hour)  but with so many online poker rooms available it isn't difficult for a player just to jump to another site for a spell before returning. And so most online poker sites don't put much of a priority on preventing players from ratholing.

But should they even try?  Is ratholing something that card rooms,  or even other players,  should be that concerned about?  Your opinion may depend on your attitude toward the game itself.  No-limit games are played for "table stakes,"  meaning you can only bet  (or lose)  the amount of money you have sitting in front of you.  If you have only $50,  another player can't push in $500 and  "buy"  the pot simply because you can't match his bet.  You can call the bet with the money you have in front of you,  but you can win only that amount back.

But just as you can't reach into your pocket during a hand and add to your stack, &nbps;you shouldn't be able to subtract from the money in play.  Those chips,  so neatly arranged in multicolored stacks before you, are not YOUR chips until you stand up and cash out.  Until you do that,  those chips belong to the game,  in which you have agreed to participate by taking a seat.  For the time that those chips are under your control,  you can use them to bet,  call and raise,  but as poker players know so well,  chips don't tend to stay in one place for very long.

But they will if they're taken off the table. Removing chips changes the dynamic of the game,  as the total amount of money in play remains relatively static,  even as players bust out and re-buy.  Less money in the game means there's less possibility for profit and less action,  neither of which makes for compelling poker.