From the Department of Poker Cruelty: I played in a cash game last night - lost, but played well. That happens. I sat at a new 2/5 no-limit table with a very aggressive group.

A young guy had on a white World Series of Poker baseball cap with a bunch of signatures. I asked who had signed it, and he very proudly took it off and pointed out nine or ten of the poker greats - Phil Hellmuth, Daniel, Scotty, Joe Hachem.... I complimented him and we continued to play. A few hands later, he was in a big pot with a VERY loose-aggressive Oriental guy on the other side of me. The young kid caught a real good hand, raised big in position pre- and post-flop, and bet out on the turn. On the river, the Oriental guy leads out all-in for several hundred dollars. The young kid, with a slightly smaller stack, insta-called and lost to a flush that had come runner-runner on the last two cards - a horrible bad beat.

The kid showed his two pair (aces over), silently stood up, and started to walk toward the exit. The Oriental guy called after him, "Do you want me to autograph your hat?"

This ain't just a game.