David Rush can stack poker chips faster than you can. The serial world-record breaker recently piled up 48 chips in 30 seconds to beat the previous high of 42.
Rush has broken more than 150 Guinness World Records over the years, but stacking chips was one of his most challenging. Prior to his attempt, he ranked the record’s difficulty as “medium”. However, the size of the chips and the fact he could only use one hand made it much tougher than anticipated.
Serial Record Breakers Take Aim at Poker
Italian “super record breakers” Silvio Sabba and Rocco Mercurio set the standard in 2019. Rush believed it was a record he could break and, in the process, raise awareness for STEM education.
Anyone who’s played live poker before may fancy their chances at breaking the record. However, the rules of engagement make it harder than you might think:
- Contestants must start with their hand flat on the table, away from the chips
- Each chip has to be stacked in a stable pile four inches (10 cm) from the stacking area
- Any chips that touch or cross the dividing line can’t be counted
The rules make it a much more “competitive” record than Rush expected. But, like a true champion, he got it done (see video below).
Rush may have stolen a record from Sabba, but the Italian is still among the top stackers in the world. He currently holds the record for the most poker chips stacked in one minute with a total of 75.
Sabba also joined forces with Julijana Jankovska in 2019 to set a new two-person stacking record. Between them, the serial record breakers created a tower of 118 poker chips in one minute.
Rush now holds the record for most poker chips stacked in 30 seconds, but that’s just one of his many weird and wonderful achievements. Among his list of accolades recognized by Guinness are:
- Fastest Three-Ball Juggling in Three Minutes
- Most Selfies in Three Minutes (166 selfies)
- Furthest Distance Walked Balancing a Lawnmower on Chin (200 meters/656 feet in 3:39 minutes)
Poker Records You Can Break
PokerStars has set plenty of records in the past. More recently, GGPoker has gotten in on the act.
However, if you want to earn yourself a place in the history books, there are plenty of other poker-based Guinness World Records waiting to be broken:
- Most Hands of Online Poker Played in Eight Hours = 14,548, set by Randy Lew in 2012
- Longest Marathon Playing Poker by an Individual = 115 hours, set by Phil Laak in 2010
- Longest Marathon Playing Online Poker = 24 hours, set by Tom Maaswinkel in 2019
- Most Online Poker Tables Played in One Hour = 62, set by Bertrand Grospellier in 2009
- Farthest Distance a Playing Card Has Been Thrown = 65.96 meters (216 ft 4 in), set by Rick Smith Jr. in 2020
