100 Hours and Counting in Poker Endurance Challenge

by Taylor Kent

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100 hours and counting - Phil is still going strong.

First it was 80 hours, then 90 hours - and now our man Phil Laak has crossed the 100-hour mark in his record-shattering poker session at Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Once again a crowd was gathered for another milestone moment, and again they counted down the last 10 seconds. ESPN's cameras rolled as Phil stood up on his chair ("The only time you can stand on your chair in a casino," he told the assembled poker fans) and lifted his arms as he celebrated the first triple-digit hour of this attempt. "200 hours, Phil!" shouted one fan, and everyone in the room laughed. "Don't encourage him," Jennifer Tilly said with a smile. There was no champagne toast this time around, but it's probably better that way - the less Phil does anything to slow himself down, the further he can push this record.

Logic says that Phil will eventually have to call an end to the session and finalize his world record, but at this point there's no way of knowing how long it will be. In the meantime, we watch and wait. As usual, the best way to keep up with Phil is to check out the live stream coming from Bellagio, or to follow him on Twitter.

Four Days for Phil Laak in World Record Attempt

by Taylor Kent

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This ship isn't sinking just yet.

When Phil Laak sat down on Wednesday to begin trying to break the Guinness world record for the longest continuous session of poker, his stated goal was to play for three days and eight hours. When he hit 80 hours, he decided he was going to try to continue going until 90 hours. Now that mark has come and gone, and Phil has officially surpassed the four-day mark by playing for 96 hours straight.

What can you do in four days? Professional baseball teams can play a full series against each other in four days. Folks with day job can complete 80% of their work weeks in four days. And a driver in an automobile can go from Los Angeles to New York and back again in four days. Now imagine doing any of those thigns without sleep - and you've got an idea of where Phil is right now.

When will he stop? Honestly, your guess is as good as ours. He says he's on a sinking ship, but it looks like the bilge pumps are keeping the boat afloat for the time being.

Video: Phil Laak Breaks World Record for Longest Poker Session

by Jake

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Here's the footage of Phil Laak's ten second countdown to breaking the world record for longest poker session. You can read Phil's account of how he's feeling at hour 87, about 15 hours after this video was shot. Considering the mental strain he must be under he seems surprisingly lucid, if not a touch poetic.

You can also listen to an audio log from Phil that gives additional insight into how he's feeling and what he's thinking. Check it out here: Phil-Laak-Poker-Endurance-Audio-Log.m4a (923.26 kb)

As of this writing, Phil is still going strong at hour 96 - that's 24 hours beyond the previous Guinness World Record! You can follow him via live video stream as well as through his Twitter account.

Amazing job Phil, we're rooting for you!

Boat at Sea... Enduro Challenge

by Phil

3 Comments

Started writing this on the laptop next to my seat at table 15 seat 2 at the bellagio this week during the enduro challenge.... at hour 87!!!!

i liken the whole experience to that of the man in his sinking vessel... as he scurries about w his bilge pumps he works furiously to save his craft... he works quickly and with purpose...

the boat will sink and he knows this...  he has his life raft at the ready... he is always saved... and yet he tries to save his boat though he knows it is forever lost

so he races against time.... does everything right.... and the boat sinks..

so why did the sailor go thru the motions?? because he was honoring the moment that was upon him...

===============

that was this weekend to me... starting something that i knew had an end... but somewhere in there i saw that the end was not at a number... 80 or 90, but at the point where the boat's
time was over....

as i type these very words we are at hour 87 hrs and 45 mins... 90 for sure from here i will get..... and what the heck....100 seems pure.. but my team is becoming thinner as they must leave.. run this op solo... yes i think i can.. it is all good...
less efficient i will be.. and that is cool...the boat will be sinking--and i will be running the bilge pumps.. in the same way that i will soon meet the bed and this ride will be over.. the boat and his owner are also aware that there is no saving their boat.. it must sink

but the symphony of dance to do what we can do ... that is the ride that is the heart of it all.. and on this weekend i got a LOT of that... wow.. so exiciting..

timing meals with balet precision.. getting counsel on diet and yoga... team work at every corner... putting out fires to save the house seemed to be the order of the day..... arranging my outfits on the spare bed w postit notes for the team to keep me in clean..

soon it was most of the fresh tshirts and undergarments in a bag w me at the table... so little time.. (5 mins a break... go to the room? it was 4 mins for the walk alone!)

a well oiled machine (symphony u could say) with many moving parts.,.. all the while the sleep was catching up with me just as the sea will soon engulf the man's boat...

5 mins on the stop watch... sprinting to the bathroom out thru the poker room making good time (- must do so much upkeep in so little time.....)

hurry hurry play play.. make new numbers while passing time..... make a chart.. log ur wins.. record everything.. why not?.. maybe that is the trick in fact..the trick to beating the sleep thing... treat it like .. well make him a joker.. and then pull him from a hat..take this joker and pull him from a hat... make him ur play mate... in the game..

accept the rules.. and then have fun with it.... his job.. .well, he he tries to get u to stop and rest.. but ur job.. and this is the part u have to be strong and pull a jedi trick sort of on your own brain.... have ur brain think that it is thru activity of the brain and movement of the body that there is rest... (not to relax and easy into a chari.. but constant movement... ) make urself think that is the relax stuff.....u must dodge and weave the joker with great passion... taking the matter of cumfort.... and pushing him to the side.. that is the trick.. anytime cumfort is near... steer away... 
.
such a frenzy of things to compress into the short bill of time....

so many other topics i thought about during my stint with the sleep joker.... nothing do occupy ur mind... create something and make it impt...

so much other stuff... hopefully i will get to it later.. but this is me now... fighting the sleep and working the fun... it is wild ... and fun... next hand.. yes.. typing at the table... need constant brain use now...

it is hour 89 min 33.. and as i type.. i see a break.. i now go shower and yoga... and stretch.. and play the game w this joker some more...

thanks so much for all ur support.. currently in the wildest ride in a LONG LONG TIME>...

This is some of how i am feeling now... during the enduro challenge...

and that is why (in part) i am writing this blog .... always dodging the sleep joker...

legs fading... back hurts.. off to a shower... trick me into thinking i am fresh..

later for now...

sched is tight...

degen for life!