With the World Series of Poker 2026 already roaring at full volume between the tables of the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, thousands of players are discovering that surviving a marathon poker game is just the warm-up. Because if you thought eight hours straight in front of the cards was a test of endurance, get ready: in this new edition of Freak Fridays we review some of the most absurd, exhausting, and hard-to-believe records left by poker history.
A session worthy of a Guinness
In 2010, Phil Laak 
Phil Laak Accompanied By Jennifer Tilly When He Set A Guinness Record.
They played like they were caged
If Laak’s feat seemed like an eternity, it doesn’t even compare to what happened in 1881 at the Bird Cage Theatre, a small business opened in Tombstone, Arizona
At first, it was an elegant lounge to pass the time, but soon they realized they needed some of what we now call “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” and it became a den of sinful fun.
The place had two floors, the upper one with a normal bar theme and a place to eat, but in the basement was the poker fun. That said, the game was not cheap: although there was low-stakes play, there was also high stakes with a maximum buy-in of US$1,000. In 1881, that was the price of a normal house.
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The table was active all day and every day, and continued until 1889 for a total of 8 and a half years. It is estimated that a total of US$10 million was played and that among the participants were western legends like Doc Holliday
Rake? Of course, and a very lucrative one at 10%.
A mystery in time
Although there are no official documents to support it, the case of the Dun Glen Hotel could be the longest poker game in history. The shelter was located on the banks of the Thurmond
According to some unconfirmed sources, there was a game in this place that was active for 14 years. However, there is no detailed information about the type of game or if it was an open table 24/7, like the Bird Cage.
Tournament not suitable for poker bloggers
Now we return to the present, to the era of tournaments, and in this universe we find that the longest in history was at the Asian Poker Tour in the Philippines. Back in 2013, the so-called Iron Man Challenge was played, which lasted 48 hours and 55 minutes to enter the Guinness World Records as the longest continuous tournament in history.
The Heads-Up Between Damon Schulenberger And Choi Byung Kyoo In The Longest Tournament In History.
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The champion was Damon Schulenburger
