Without ample rest and no sleep, Damon Shulenberger from the United States played poker for over two straight days. In the end, it was all worth it. The American not only won the poker tournament, but he’ll also go down in history as the champion of the Guinness World Records “Longest Continuous Poker Tournament.”

Shulenberger won the APT-RWM Iron Man Poker Challenge in a tournament held in the Philippines after playing continuously for 48 hours, 55 minutes and 58.5 seconds, smashing the old mark set in the Delaware Park's Ironman Poker Challenge in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

The previous record was 36 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds. Peter Konas from the Czech Republic won that event.

Shulenberger won $18,240 for his efforts in beating a field of 115 who signed up for the tournament. He admitted that it was a tough event to crack.

“I have never experienced anything like it in my life. Not only going without sleep for two nights straight but I started at Level 1 at 8PM and never left the table for five minutes, until almost 50 hours later, with winning the championship,” said Shulenberger to the official Asian Poker Tour Web site.

“I don’t think I’ll play poker again for at least a month,” added Shulenberger, who beat Choi Byung Kyoo from South Korea in the four-hour heads-up round.

Kyoo settled for $10,670 for his runner-up finish. Sandro Simon (Germany), Lim Dae Hoon (South Korea), Florencio Campomanes (Philippines), Howard Ang Lee (Philippines), Gerry Flores (Philippines), Kim Jinwi (South Korea), Norbert Koh (Singapore) and Martin Corpuz (Philippines) completed the top ten and lead the 18 players who finished in the money in the tournament.