Lighting a $10 bill on fire...

... would have been just as economical as my play in last night Wheaties, where Mr. Rico placed a shameful 47th out of 48 eight minutes into the tournament.

Placing dead last has a certain frisson to it - you can always claim bad beats, recklessness or a devil-may-care 'tude.

Placing second to dead last is just embarasking, as Popeye would say.

Wha' happened? I think louddwnunder - who ended up finishing 4th - hypnotized me or something, as my finger refused to move the cursor from the "Raise" and "Call" buttons even though all I was holding a sooooooooooooted A9. But did I have a flush draw at the flop? No, I did not. I did now have a pair of Aces, but the emphasis should have been on the pair, rather than the A. And did loud continue to bet hard at me, and had she had already raised me pre-flop and then re-raised my raise? Yes, she did. And did I continue to ignore the information that was being telegraphed to me? Yes I did.

And when I went all-in with my raggedy-ass'd pair of Aces, did loud flip over a pair of Kings with one more already flopped on the board? Yes she did. And was I thoroughly beaten and now drawing all but dead? Yes I was.

And why did I do this? Well, you could say that I know loud is an aggressive player and thought she had made a bluff raise pre-flop to steal my blind, which was all of $20. And once that misread started me down the slippery slope I continued to compound the error rather than rethink and cut my losses. You could say that.

Or you could say that like Our Host noted about himself in this week's tournament notes, sometimes I suck at poker.

Until next week.