Kevin got knocked out of the poker tournament shortly after I left Friday night.

I tried again Saturday night at the 110-pound tournament, with 64 players and a top prize of 2000 pounds, but never really got the cards. I saw three showdowns in three hours; I doubled up when I hit a set with my 44, won the blinds once with a pre-flop raise, won another hand after the flop checked through with an aggressive bet on the turn after a blank hit, then bled chips when I got good starting hands that missed the flop and left me with no outs to play aggressively, forcing me to fold early: AKhearts and an all-club flop won by Q9s against a player with top pair, that sort of thing. I fold AQs on the river to a bet on a T9886 board. I went all in with ATo from the big blind against a 2xBB bet from the button and a call from the small blind, and tied with another ATo, and that split pot was my last profit of the night. I open-pot-raise with 98s two off the button, the button calls, the flop misses me, and I fold to a bet. Down to a 6xBB stack, I have K8s in the big blind, the cut-off raises to 3xBB, the small blind calls all in. The Tube will stop running soon, so I go all in—my utility is worse off getting knocked out at 12:10 then at 11:45. As it turns out, I was better off calling and betting the AK5 flop; the cut-off had QQ, calls my all-in bet, and hits his set on the turn. Even a second king on the river doesn't help me, though it would've beat the A7s small blind.