The Houdini Act That Almost Worked: A masterclass in poker resurrection and inevitable doom. Started as a short stack watching others battle it out like a popcorn vendor at a gladiator fight. Then began the great comeback tour: J9 hits a flush against AK (because sometimes miracles do happen), QQ holds against JT (shocking, I know), and TQ makes a flush against K9 like some sort of poker wizard. Hero climbed from the depths of 80 chips to a respectable 400, probably started planning the victory speech. But the poker gods were just setting up the punchline - final hand TJ vs A6, and villain rivers trip aces because apparently we were playing "hope you enjoyed the false hope" poker. Lessons learned: Comebacks are possible, flushes are beautiful, but trip aces are inevitable when you need them not to be. Final score: Hope 1, Reality 1, Trip Aces 1000.