We’re going head to head, just the two of us, down from a pool of 43. We’re the survivors, lasting the longest in this heated battle of wit, skill, psychological breakdowns and, of course, luck. Hour No. 6 is upon us, and I am a mess of adrenaline, exhaustion and concern about that bad D.P. Dough I had earlier. I have confidence in what I hold in my hand. I go all in. I survive the flop and the turn. Then the river comes …    

To be perfectly honest, I don’t even like playing poker, and aside from a few small buy-in tournaments with my friends back in high school, I’ve never really played all that much. But when a friend told me about Ithaca’s chapter of the American Marketing Association putting on a $10 buy-in with a $200 gift card to Best Buy on the line, I was all in. It would definitely be 10 bucks worth of entertainment and maybe I’d get a nice boost toward getting that new iPod I’ve had my eye on.

All 43 of us convened in the Klingenstein Lounge for this epic showdown. I took a quick glance around the room to survey the competition. Mostly, it was just a bunch of dudes like me looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon during this confusing time between football and baseball. There were also the “serious card sharks” with sunglasses, sport coats and tons of stories about how much they’d won online or at a night out at Turning Stone in Verona, N.Y.

Once we were settled in, I started to feel pretty lucky. I hit a two pair, a straight and a flush in the first few hands and gained a good amount of chips early. I was hitting a groove, and then out of nowhere, I got beat on triple sevens that I didn’t even see on the board.

“OK,” I thought. “Time to back up, reassess my situation and get a little more conservative if I want any shot at that iPod.”

The hours started to tick off the clock, and tables began consolidating. We got down to six — I’m still standing. Down to three — I’ve won a few more hands, and I have thoughts that I actually have a shot at this thing. Two now — my palms are sweating. Final table.

I looked down and didn’t have much to work with. I looked at my opponent and could barely see him behind his wall of chips. It took just a few hands to knock me out.

The war was over — I finished in second place. Though I’m still stuck with an iPod that freezes every few minutes, I did win a consolation prize of two free movie tickets. And six hours of poker does teach a valuable life lesson: Sometimes, you’re up; sometimes you’re down; sometimes you just have to scrape by. But, if you keep fighting to stay alive, you’ll get dealt a few good hands, and it will all turn out all right in the end.