Written by Thomas | Monday, June 7th, 2010

Phil Laak, holder of a World Poker Tour title, is now known for something else besides his WPT feat. Laak, the 37-year old born in Dublin, Ireland, broke the world record for most hours playing poker in a row. Laak, who now resides in Los Angeles, California, graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in mechanical engineering played poker for an UNREAL 115 amazing hours!

Laak, who has wanted to be in the Guinness book of World Records since he was a kid, now has that distinction. Laak started playing poker at the $10/$20 No-Limit Hold’em room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on a Wednesday, just after noon. When Saturday night came around, Laak was still playing at 8:41pm local time. The previous record (which was unofficial) was 78:45.41 set by British poker player Paul Zimbler.

Laak says he had always considered playing for 66 hours as a huge feat, so he did not know if he could make it the record setting amount of time.  As he approached the record, the Bellagio poker room became crowded with on-lookers and fans. The media began coming in and helping the cause. Laak’s girlfriend and actress, along with former World Series of Poker ladies’ event champion, Jennifer Tilly was in attendance – along with lifetime friend Antonio Esfandiari.

For the record to be legitimate, Laak was only allowed five minutes per hour for a break time. Most of the time, Laak did not use the break time and continued pushing through. Most of his energy was on momentum – which kept him going. The final record for Laak was halted after 115 hours.

During the near 4-day stretch, Laak won over $6,000. He donated half of the earnings to Camp Sunshine, a charity that helps sick children enjoy a summer camp. Laak is known as the unabomber, due to his trademark hooded sweatshirt and sun glasses he wears while playing.

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