Danger! Danger!

Like in any other game (and trading card games especially) players in VtES have sometimes the tendency to perform flashy actions in order to just show what your deck is capable of or how cool your deck is. For example, you might attack the cross-table red list vampire in order to show how good your combat abilities are or you might call a Diversity to gain three pool, when it gives you prey or predator even more. And the borderline between a flamboyant play and outright stupidity is very thin. Sure it's cool to equip Jake Washington with an Assault Rifle and let him shoot at other minions with Caseless Rounds, but more often than not he's easily killed as usual ..

While it is ok to play in a more flamboyant way in casual games, since we're still playing for fun (are we?), it is crucial to avoid these plays in tournaments. So when it itches you to use Graverobbing on your crosstable buddies' Brunhilde and Golconda her in the next turn, it might be wiser to use the Golconda on your prey (and oust him) and save the Graverobbing for later time. Just ask yourself. "What would Ben Peal do?" (or any other reasonably good player).

On the other hand, at times it is a good thing(tm) to do these kind of things. For example, when you have an aggressive predator with a lot of damaging votes it might be a good idea to torporize or even burn one of his vampires in the most dramatic style to impress and convince him of your combat abilities. Then you might strike a deal that you're both not overly aggressive for a couple of turns.

Reference: The Danger Of Cool Things by Chad Ellis is a longer article about the same topic with regards to Magic: The Gathering.