Delaware Park Sets Record for Longest Continuous Poker Tournament

Delaware Park Casino set a new poker record this weekend, running an Iron Man Poker Challenge that lasted nearly 32 hours. The ultimate winner, Hieu Tran, took home $43,761 for outlasting – literally – his competition.

A total of 376 players took part in the event, which set the world record for the Longest Documented Continuous Poker Tournament. As far as anyone can find, the event is bar far the longest continuous poker event ever held; prior to this, the Commerce Casino held a continuous tournament in 2009 that lasted 19 hours before a winner was crowned.

The event was designed as an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. However, the tournament would have had to last 36 hours to reach Guinness’ benchmark, and fell just over four hours short at 31 hours, 58 minutes.

The tournament was organized and officiated by Tournament Director Calvin Beene, along with Poker Room Manager Kevin Castora.

“We are constantly trying to innovate the game of poker by creating new and exciting events. I want our players to always feel welcome and be a part of special events such as this,” Castora said.

Delaware Park is a gambling facility located at the site of the Delaware Park racetrack, where live Thoroughbred racing is held seasonally. Today, the venue features a 20-table poker room along with a dedicated 25-table tournament room and 2,500 slot machines. According to a press release about the event, the final table prizes were as follows:

1^st – Hieu Tran (Essex, MD) - $43,761

2^nd – John Barber (Wilmington, DE) - $26,552

3^rd – Warren Wiggens (Woodstock, MD) - $17,780

4^th – Donald Delaney (West Deptford, NJ) - $12,400

5^th – Michael Watkins (Woodbridge, NJ) - $9,300

6^th – In Min (Severn, MD) - $7,294

7^th – Thomas Patterson (Wilmington, DE) - $6,164

8^th – Mustafa Ali (Salisbury, MD) - $5,106

9^th – Ilya Nudelman (Garrison, MD) - $4,377

10^th – Marcus Seitz (Lacey, WA) - $3,465