Mark Duper can go long when it comes to poker, too.

Duper, the former Dolphins star wide receiver (top picture), was among the four players who split first prize in the Dan Le Batard Celebrity Poker Tournament at Dania Jai-Alai Wednesday night.

Ryan Fears, Rommel Brioso, Dustin Sher, and Duper agreed to “chop” the prize money, each taking home $1,485. Brioso, the chip leader, was declared the official winner and took home the tournament trophy.

"We love having this tournament at Dania Jai-Alai,” said Marc Hochman, of 790 The Ticket, who regularly reads this blog, so I throw his name in gratuitously.

Myself, it was a disastrous night (and I left long before I could get a quote from Duper). I got ace-queen about 30 minutes in in the small blind and called (mistake No. 1?). The big blind bet 300 and two or three of us called. Flop came K-10 and a low card. For some reason, I thought the big blind was on a middle pair, so I fired 300 out to knock him off. He called.

I bet another 300 after the turn (a blank) and got called, then 1,000 on the river (another blank) to knock him off. He came over the top of me, and I had to lay down that monstrous Ace-high hand I had. Let us count the ways that this is stupid poker.

Meanwhile, I still fail to learn the lesson that ace-queen is a great, great trouble hand, and, as I did, is just way too often over played. If ace-king is really a drawing hand, then so is ace-queen.

I also drew the seat next to Le Batard and enjoyed the visit, although we both got knocked out before the first break. He played the "good sport" role and had a $100 Brazilian steakhouse bounty on him (I forget the name of the restaurant), while my celebrity "bounty" status The Ticket awarded me in earlier tournament has disappeared (that's not a whine, just an observation). But the good news is my lousy play gave me something to write about, and design-wise I now have room for a picture taken by Dania's Marty Fleischman of Sabrina, who worked the beer tub at Dania. I'm still behind The Ticket in photos of this ilk, way behind.

Meanwhile, the fronton is wrapping up its "Play Your Way to Borgata" promotion. The cardroom, at 301 E. Dania Beach Blvd., is open Sundays through Thursdays from noon to midnight, Friday and Saturdays from noon to 2 am.