The Delaware Park Iron Man Poker Challenge proved a successful event in all aspects, with 376 participants and a world record for the longest “documented” continuous poker tournament. The only other documented marathon poker event happened at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles in September 2009, lasting a mere 19 hours. Hieu Tran was the last man “standing” and took home $43,761. The Iron Man, which had a $182K prize pool, began at noon on Aug. 20 and ended the next night at 7:58. That’s 31 hours, 58 minutes.
While falling short of the Guinness benchmark of 36 hours, an overwhelming amount of positive feedback was received from players, as well as outside interest in the event.
“At one point, there were 177 people streaming the live video and 1,700 following the live updates (online), in addition to the 40-plus people in the crowd around the final table,” poker room manager Kevin Castora said. “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.”
• The Delaware State Poker Championships concluded at Dover Downs Hotel and Casino just in time to make the Ante Up press run. The main event ended in a three-way chop 12 hours after the tournament began with 96 players in the Crown Royal Poker Room. Pictured from left are John Vaccariello of Newport News, Va., Jeff Lord of Denton, Md., and Mike Zhang of Chesapeake, Va., who each took home $9,983. The final hand was played for the bracelet, which Vaccariello won.
— Michael Young is the Ante Up Ambassador for the Mid-Atlantic area. Email him at anteupmike@gmail.com.
Iron Man Challenge
1. Hieu Tran, Essex, MD, $43,761
2. John Barber, Wilmington, DE, $26,552
3. Warren Wiggens, Woodstock, MD, $17,780
4. Don Delaney, West Deptford, NJ, $12,400
5. Michael Watkins, Woodbridge, NJ, $9,300
6. In Min, Severn, MD, $7,294
7. Tom Patterson, Wilmington, DE, $6,164
8. Mustafa Ali, Salisbury, MD, $5,106
9. Ilya Nudelman, Garrison, MD, $4,377
10. Marcus Seitz, Lacey, WA, $3,465
