Monthly Archives: February 2009

The Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge has garnered discussion across the internet, including a 60 page thread on TwoPlusTwo, one of the largest discussion topics on the site to date. With the latest session abruptly ending with both players leaving to compete in a $500/$1,000 game, one wonders how long the excitement will last. The February issue of Bluff Magazine features a cover of Dwan, which is sure to spark additional interest in the young gun. Theo Jorgensen defeated Gus Hansen in a highly-publicized boxing match over the weekend, with the former winning $35,000 after taking down his opponent in three rounds. Play between Dwan and Patrik Antonius actually stopped briefly to watch the short fight, which took place in Copenhagen following the European Poker Tour event.

In what will hopefully be the least thrilling session of the durrrr challenge, Dwan and Antonius put in a four hand session on Sunday the 22nd. The following chat appeared on Durrrr Challenge Table 4: durrrr: guess no game durrrr: 4 hands Patrik Antonius: 2 and 3 Patrik Antonius: sry durrrr: come ack 500-1k It seems that both durrrr and Antonius were more eager to play in a 500/1000 game than they were in continuing the challenge. However, even after the 500/1000 game broke, challenge play did not resume. We are excited and honored to be able to bring you every hand history from this session. Enjoy. Oh yea, and the session was even with each player taking the other’s big blind twice. Hand #1 Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha Hi – 2 players durrrr (BTN/SB): $40000.00 Patrik Antonius (BB): $40000.00 Pre Flop: ($600.00) durrrr calls $200, Patrik… Read More »

Tom “durrrr” Dwan lost his early lead and a bit more in play spread across two sessions on Saturday. In the first session, durrrr took a quick $36,000 from Patrik over 100 or so hands. However, in the day’s second session — which consisted of 5 hours of play and around 1300 hands, Dwan dropped back about $230,000 — or about 5.75 buyins. Netted together, durrrr is now down $56,779 after three days, two sessions and almost 3,000 hands. However, given the stakes being played and the hands remaining, a $57k deficit is virtually meaningless. In fact, even a $500k deficit would not mean much at this point. That being said, here is a graph of durrrr’s day 2 action: If play resumes on Sunday the 22nd, we’ll be back with more updates. We’re also working on getting some analysis of hands from top players.

Around 9 PM EST after a five hour third session, durrrr and Antonius called it quits for the day. Antonius had earlier claimed that he was going to sleep much earlier, but he evidently wanted to keep playing and so he stayed up even when he was quite tired. This chat occurred just after the session ended: Patrik Antonius: im done durrrr: nice win, gg durrrr: wanna try to play tomorrow? Patrik Antonius: ty gg Patrik Antonius: i’ll sleep maybe 12 hours now durrrr: im goin out tonight Patrik Antonius: y i wanna play everyday when theres nothing else going on durrrr: so probly wont wanna play until like idk noonish tomorrow durrrr: 15hrs or w/e id guess Patrik Antonius: cu tomorrow durrrr: but if i drink too much durrrr: then no game durrrr: lol Patrik Antonius: lol durrrr: we’ll c, cya durrrr: u won lik durrrr: 228ish durrrr: i… Read More »

Durrrr and Patrik began a third session at just before 4 PM EST on February 21st. At the start of the session, durrrr leads in the challenge by around $170k. It’s unknown how long this session will last for, but it’s believe that Patrik is planning on sleeping in a few hours and that this session will only last for an hour or two maximum. In the first few minutes of this third session, Patrik is up around $50k for the session which starts to cut into the $170k deficit he was facing. Here are some big hands from this session: durrrr wins $89k pot Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha Hi – 2 players durrrr (BTN/SB): $65547.00 Patrik Antonius (BB): $44447.50 Pre Flop: ($600.00) durrrr raises to $1200, Patrik Antonius calls $800 Flop: ($2400.00) 6h 4c 6d (2 players) Patrik Antonius checks, durrrr bets $1750, Patrik Antonius raises… Read More »

Currently on vacation in Thailand, Patrik Antonius is set to travel directly to Monaco, where he owns a home. Poker Royalty, which represents Antonius, told durrrrchallenge.com that he will remain there until at least early April. The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final kicks off on April 28th from the luxurious principality in the south of France. Although it’s unknown how many days the battle against Tom Dwan will last, what’s certain is that scheduling will remain an issue throughout the duration of the Challenge. Dwan is reported to be in Boston, which is 12 hours behind Bangkok’s time zone. Monaco, by comparison, is six hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone.

In case you want to check out the action, head on over to Full Tilt Poker to see some high stakes fast-paced heads up action. Patrik Antonius and durrrr are currently battling on four tables of 200/400 PLO. EDIT: 2:10 PM EST on Saturday Feb 21st, they’ve paused play again. The following chat appeared as they quit: durrrr: k gotta get rdy Patrik Antonius: k durrrr: cya in an hour or so durrrr: prolly a little more Patrik Antonius: one hour from now? Patrik Antonius: i gotta go to bed in two hours Patrik Antonius: eat fast please 😉 durrrr: ahh w/e np durrrr: haha It appears that we may see a little more action today, but probably not much. According to a post on 2p2, durrrr says that he was up another $35,000 or so: +36661.0, i think 105 hands but not sure on the hand count, ha tables… Read More »

While at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure on Paradise Island in The Bahamas, Ken “wandigo” Coppens sat down and watched Tom “durrrr” Dwan play online. He told durrrrchallenge.com that Dwan “seemed to know where he was every time he played a hand, making sick value bets with K-K on an Ace-high board on the river and getting called by worse hands.” Dwan’s experience and stellar poker skills have led him to become one of the most feared cash game players in the world. Coppens commented on what makes Dwan well-respected among his peers: “He plays so many pots very aggressively, so you never know when he actually has it. He puts so much pressure on people that they just can’t play back at him because when they finally do, he knows they’re making a play and he’ll come back over the top.” Dwan is up $134,000 heading into the second round… Read More »

Even though the durrrr challenge was expected to have its second day on play on Friday morning (EST), that plan fell through when durrrr’s new 500/1000 tables were running and Dwan chose to play on those instead. It appears that Antonius and Dwan expect to pick up the challenge in the early morning hours of Saturday February 21st. According to chat posted on twoplustwo.com, they will be starting at 5 or 6 AM. Here’s a copy of the chat: durrrr: gg i gtg durrrr: i forgot to give u warning i guess sry durrrr: but i think we were evenish neway Patrik Antonius: np i was about to quit soon as well durrrr: kk cool durrrr: if no games tomorrow, abt 5-6am my time wanna play some? durrrr: im gonna be waking up late It appears that durrrr is expecting to wake up mid-afternoon on Friday EST so he should… Read More »

You might think that the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge is taking place between two competitors near each other on the globe. However, you’d be completely off-base. In fact, Patrik Antonius, Dwan’s first opponent, is currently on vacation in Thailand, according to his management company, Poker Royalty. The two players are about 15 hours apart, which makes scheduling for the contest quite a chore. Dwan made the most of this time difference during the first round of action, posting a win of $134,000. Remember, all Dwan needs to do is win $1 after 50,000 hands and he will emerge as the winner, $500,000 richer for his efforts. There have been 1,541 hands completed, or 3%. A total of $7.5 million has been wagered by the two combatants so far and when Antonius will return from Thailand is not known. What’s certain is that we’ll bring you the latest news from… Read More »