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Poker Record Breakers Throughout History

November 17, 2021

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We have some pretty big free poker games on Replay Poker, but nowhere near the top when looking at all poker games! Whether by prize pool or participation, let’s take a look at some of the biggest poker games in history.

The largest game of online poker based on the number of participants had 225,000 players playing for a share of a guaranteed prize pool of $300,000. With a buy-in of just $1, this game was insanely popular, attracting pros and newbies alike! The final winner ended up taking home $25,000. The runner-up scored $15,000. Not too shabby!

The biggest prize pool for an online poker game was set in 2020. A $5,000 buy-in event ended with a total prize pool of $27,559,500! The game had 5,802 participants, with the top winner netting an astonishing $3,904,685. This is still the largest individual prize ever awarded in an online poker tournament. This massive game has even been officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. It currently holds the title for the largest prize pool for an online poker tournament. The game took roughly 150 hours total to play out. This sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t hold a candle to our longest game!

The longest cash poker game in history lasted for eight years, five months, and three days! With players able to enter and leave as they pleased, the high-stakes game ran for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and was held in the basement of the Bird Cage Theater in Tombstone, AZ. It cost $1,000 to enter the game in 1881, which is roughly $25,000 today! Among the players were titans of industry George Hearst and Adolphus Busch, along with Wild West heroes like Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. It’s even said that Wyatt Earp met his fourth wife during the game, and the two remained married for 47 years. The game finally was forced to an end in 1889, when ground water from the nearby mines flooded several of Tombstone’s buildings and the town was left abandoned.

The longest poker tournament was held in 2013 and categorized as the “iron man challenge”. This tournament lasted 48 hours and 55 minutes. With over 100 players and a buy-in of $700 each, the top winner of this game walked away with $18,240 and the title of winner of the longest poker tournament on record.

Could you tough it out to compete in any of these awesome events?