The €50,000 Single-Day Super High Roller during the 2016 PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monaco turned into a veritable marathon. And not a half marathon… the full, 26.2-mile one. Play started at 12:30pm from the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel at the very northern end of Monaco. Seventeen grueling hours later, while play was heads-up, the casino closed, just as it does every night at 5:30 am.

Fabian Quoss and Ole Schemion had to bag their chips and watch as vacuum cleaners and housekeepers invaded the “America’s Room,” while media and fans headed out just a few minutes short of daybreak.

Schemion was fresh off a win in the €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller just 24 hours earlier and seemed to be riding a wave of momentum. And for Quoss, a week of grinding in Monaco seemed to finally catch up to him.

“I knew what I was getting myself into beforehand,” Quoss said. “It’s a one-day tournament and it had a lot of runners last year. I was prepared, but of course at the end of the day everyone was struggling with fatigue. I was just trying to stay caffeinated and focused, I guess.”

There were 70 entries and, by the time the dinner break rolled around at 9:00 pm, 20 still remained despite the half-hour blind level turbo structure. By midnight, there were a dozen still alive.

The final table saw short stack after short stack double up. There was even a hand at 5:00 am heads-up where Schemion, with his tournament life on the line, doubled with A-6 against A-J. But, like Cinderella leaving the ball, the lights went out at 5:30am. Click. Dark.

“At the moment, we both wanted to finish it that day,” Quoss said. “It was obvious that we were close to finishing because we were both so shallow. But now that I think about it more, I think it was quite good to get some sleep and get a little bit more level-headed again. The sleep helped get our minds straight again.”

The next day, both Quoss and Schemion played on Day 2 of the EPT Grand Final Main Event. Coincidentally, both busted, solidifying a 9:00 pm showdown that took place in the elevated area of the main tournament room. With about a dozen spectators and a few media looking on, the two immediately agreed to an ICM deal, which they couldn’t come to terms on the night before. Perhaps a night’s rest helped sort out the math. It took all of five hands to determine a winner from there. It was anti-climatic in a sense.

You could tell Quoss’ body was still catching up with him after his 17-hour live run. And the end of a major live tournament series in Monaco doesn’t mean he can just take a break. Instead, it means the beginning of a massive online series on PokerStars. Granted he can grind in his pajamas.

“I didn’t get into the $300K at Aria, so I’m going to go a little bit later to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, which will be good for my life balance, I suppose,” Quoss said. “I think I’m getting in just before the $5K Six Max. Between now and then, I’ll be playing SCOOP and getting rest. Those are the two main objectives.”

“This event is very exhausting,” Quoss said. “Everyone who comes here does nothing else but grinding and sleeping. I know the routine now and I always know how I will feel at the end of Monte Carlo before I get here, but it’s pretty exhausting.”

Players like Quoss are spread throughout the two-square-mile Monaco and surrounding hills of France. However, getting anywhere requires a vertical climb or a pricey taxi. The most affordable means of traversing the majestic cliffs and public beaches: the rather posh city bus.

“Other than poker, I’ve had some meals,” Quoss said of his schedule. “I slept a lot. I got a massage. I went grocery shopping. I haven’t been able to do much else.”

Quoss and Schemion are both Germans. So is Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz, who finished fifth in the €50K Super High Roller. They represented one-third of the players who made the money.

“There are so many Germans now in poker and there are so many other people I’m close friends with,” Quoss said. “It’s such a big community. It’s fun that three Germans were in the top five of that event, but I didn’t think about it at the time.”