When a single game lasted more than 8 years: The most extreme poker session in history

If you’ve ever played poker until dawn, you’ll recognise that feeling all too well. Coffee isn’t cutting it anymore, your eyes are burning, but the adrenaline from a big pot is keeping you on your toes. When you finally get up from the table in the casino, you feel as though you’ve completed a marathon. Compared to the longest game in history, however, you’ve only completed a very short, few-hour warm-up.

Forget modern VIP lounges with air conditioning and masseuses. To understand the most extreme poker game of all time, we need to go back in time. The year is 1881, and we’re stepping into the legendary, smoke- and whisky-soaked basement of the Bird Cage Theatre in the small Arizona town of Tombstone.

Where was it played? In the roughest saloon of the Wild West

Tombstone was at the height of its fame at that time. Thanks to the silver rush, crowds of gold diggers, entrepreneurs, but also con artists and gunslingers flocked here. The Bird Cage saloon was the epicentre of all sin – it was a bar, theatre, brothel and casino all in one. The New York Times described it at the time as “the wildest and most depraved nightspot in the world”.

It was here, in a special underground room, that the first cards were dealt in 1881 in a game that would continue unabated for the next decade.

Rules of survival: $1,000 just to take a seat

This was no friendly game for small change. If you wanted to take a seat at this table, you had to pay a buy-in of $1,000 . In 1881, that was an unimaginable fortune for the average person (today it would be equivalent to roughly $30,000). The stakes were enormous, and the saloon owners took 10 per cent of every hand as a fee for keeping the table running. And they kept it running literally non-stop – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week .

Players took turns when they collapsed

The system was simple and relentless. Whoever had the money played. The game had no breaks for sleep or food. Players had food and drink brought directly to the table. When someone collapsed from exhaustion, went to sleep or (more commonly) lost their entire bankroll, their place was immediately taken by the next person waiting in line.

The elite of the era took their turns at this table. Icons of the Wild West and famous gunslingers such as Wyatt Earp , the dentist and gambler Doc Holliday , and the legendary sheriff Bat Masterson all shuffled the cards here. Imagine the pressure – bluffing against a man who has a loaded Colt on the table and a reputation as a cold-blooded killer.

The maths of madness: $10 million on the table

This single, uninterrupted poker session lasted an incredible 8 years, 5 months and 3 days . It didn’t end until 1889. Why? Not because the players had grown tired of it. The mines in Tombstone were flooded by groundwater, the town’s economy collapsed, and the people (and their money) simply left.

Historians estimate that during this single, protracted game, approximately 10 million dollars changed hands. If we were to convert this to today’s value, taking inflation into account, we’re talking about an astronomical $300 million .

Myths and realities of gambling

The world of casinos isn’t just about strict mathematics, GTO strategies and counting outs. It is a world full of myths, extraordinary human feats and stories that lend every single hand a special atmosphere.

So, when, after eight hours of play, you glance at your watch feeling that you can no longer keep your concentration, remember the lads down in the Bird Cage Theatre basement. They’d probably just have a good laugh at your ‘tiredness’, take a swig of whisky and say: “Deal the cards.”

“Fancy a session of your own? It doesn’t have to last eight years. Pop into any of our casinos or Excel Clubs [excelclub.sk] and show off your skills at the table!”