Losing for winning

A friend invited me to join a poker game that started just before midnight.  The other players were from The Gazette and they couldn't come out to play until tomorrow's issue was put to bed.  

Or something like that.

Anyhow, I had good cards and won the first tournament.  By then it was past 2AM and I really, really wanted to go to bed.  

There's a courtesy rule in poker:  If you win you have to stick around to give the guys a chance to win their money back.  Early in the next game I went all-in against the host.  I hoped to give him my chips.  Sadly, my lousy cards were just a little better than his and I took him out.  

I didn't win anything in the second tourney but didn't get out until 4.  If playing poker were a job I made less than $10/hour tonight.  If I had only managed to come in second in the first tournament I could have been to bed hours earlier.