Has Unabomber's Guiness Book of Records entry been beaten?

06/26/2010

Message board scuttlebutt and claims on the Cake Poker blog as the week ended suggest that the two-week-old, 115 hour endurance record for playing poker set by Phil ‘Unabomber’ Laak in Las Vegas may have been eclipsed.

However, the claims are questionable, and it is unknown if very specific and demanding Guinness Book of Records requirements were met to set a new “official” world record.

In Laak’s very public and carefully pre-researched record attempt at the Bellagio, he played for real money for 115 hours to set a new endurance benchmark, on which Guinness accreditation is awaited. The attempt was widely viewed on continuous internet video streaming from Laak’s website, and was observed by many, judging by the amount of tweeting that went on at the time.

There was also extensive online media coverage throughout.

The latest attempt appears to have been rather less formal, being conducted in a private Kufstein, Austria hotel room with seven players around the table, allegedly playing for honour rather than cash.

The game was broadcast over the internet on an RFID-equipped table so that internet viewers could see the players’ hole cards, but reception was reportedly intermittent at times.

The Cake Poker blog identifies the players as German film director and actor Max Krückl, Julia Doetsch, Erich Grünwald, Thomas Wagermeier, Rudolf Teichmann, Stephan Reischl, Nuran Karasu, and Jens Tölle. It reports that ultimately only three of those involved played continuously throughout the week, with the trio eventually claiming a new 135 hour record.

The claim has only recently been made, and it will be interesting to see what sort of confirmatory detail those involved produce during the coming days.