The Shuffle

History Playbook

On This Day In Sports History

The longest poker game in history was played continuously, 24 hours a day, from 1881 to 1889 in the basement of The Birdcage Theater in Tombstone, Arizona. The stakes were legendary; with a minimum buy-in of $1,000—an absolute fortune at the time—the marathon cash game drew elite tycoons and famous Wild West figures alike, including George Hearst, Diamond Jim Brady, and Bat Masterson.

On This Day In Sports History

On June 22, 1937, 23-year-old Joe Louis captured the heavyweight championship by knocking out James J. Braddock in the eighth round at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Despite being knocked down in the first round, Louis dominated the rest of the fight against the 31-year-old champion. Louis held the title for nearly 12 years until retiring on March 1, 1949, successfully defending it 25 times—including seven defenses in 1941 alone—despite a wartime hiatus from March 1942 to June 1946.