Jun
5
by Taylor Kent
Phil Laak, the new poker endurance world record holder
After keeping up with Phil’s exploits last night via the live stream, I dropped by Bellagio again this morning and didn’t know what to expect as I walked into the room. There’s no doubt that 72 hours is a long time to stay awake, much less to do something that requires the kind of concentration that playing poker does. Would I find Phil slumping and struggling to make it? Or would he be the same Phil Laak I talked to yesterday, pushing the limits of the human body while maintaining a mental orbit just slightly outside the zone the rest of us occupy?
Turns out it was the latter. Phil was very animated, standing up often and chatting with the table during the hands he was playing even more than he usually does. Part of that was because standing up makes it easier for him to fight off fatigue, as he explained to me yesterday, but part of it was surely because of the crowd gathered around the table in anticipation. Like many top poker pros, Phil draws energy from having an audience around him - and at this point energy was in short enough supply that having 20 or 30 people gathered in the small high-limit area of the Bellagio’s poker room was like having a critical recharge for a drained battery.
As the record time grew closer the sense of anticipation in the room was palpable. And when there were ten seconds remaining, the entire room began counting down. Phil’s sense of accomplishment was evident - he raised his arms in the air, fists clenched in a champion’s pose, and he had a huge grin plastered to his face. “There’s a new sicko in town!” he exclaimed as the official Guinness world record mark came and went, and the room broke into applause. The crowd that had gathered began snapping pictures, and the other players at the table pulled out their cell phones and began doing the same.
The record breaks - and the room celebrates
So, the record of 72 hours and 2 minutes has fallen. As for what the number attached to the new record will be, that’s still up in the air - Phil is still going strong with his 80-hour goal firmly in his sights.