New record in the cards?

SOUTH JORDAN — The Texas Hold 'Em version of poker is a straightforward game.

You get your two cards, you call (or raise, or fold), you see what the flop looks like, you analyze your opponents' expressions, you bet through the four rounds (if your cards are decent, or if you're a good bluffer), you lay down.

Simple.

But as you read these words, several local experienced poker players going for a record-breaking marathon session are having a difficult time with even the basic concepts of the game, including such obviousness as the minimum bet.

"It's $200," dealer Esther Warren reminded a player at a table in the Country Inn & Suites conference room Saturday night.

The droopy-eyed player (in the position of the "first blind"), seemingly alert a moment before, had zoned out and was momentarily in mental la-la land.

Others weren't doing much better. One player was leaning rather alarmingly far back in his chair, resting his back. One had his chin in his hands, staring vacantly into the middle distance. One was attentive only because his young daughter was pulling at his ear.

"People are getting pretty dingy here," said player Vel Carter (dingy with a hard "g," as in wacky).

The dinginess is understandable. The players had been at the tables since noon Friday, with the objective of staying there until midnight Monday — 84 hours total — to break the Guinness world record of continuous poker playing (the current record is 72 hours, set last month by an Englishman).

With something less than half of that time gone by Saturday night, and with several of the 12 players in the room already struggling, is this goal actually feasible?

"Oh, we'll do it," said an unshaven Randy Warren, Esther's husband and president of the Utah Amateur Poker League. "People go 48 hours all the time in Vegas."

The hopefully record-breaking session was the brainchild of Randy Warren and Kelly Edwards, a trustee of Fight Diabetes, a 2-month-old Utah nonprofit organization. Edwards, himself a poker devotee, thought the event might raise awareness of and money for the struggle against diabetes. Every player pays $10 to play — which goes to Fight Diabetes — for which they get $10,000 in chips that they can play with until they run out.

No gambling with real money, which is illegal in Utah.

Some players obtained sponsors, which are paying the charity 50 cents to a dollar every hour the players play.