Monthly Archives: October 2009
See Pocket Aces, Push All-In
It’s a simple credo to remember in No Limit Texas Hold’em and, during the recent marathon running of the Durrrr Challenge, it became a code to live by in Pot Limit Omaha. Holding 2-A-A-9 double-suited, Patrik Antonius raised to $1,200 pre-flop and Tom Dwan, armed with 10-7-A-A, pushed the action to $3,600. A series of raises and re-raises led Dwan to be all-in with a $180,000 pot up for grabs. The board ran out 9-5-9-6-8, giving Dwan a ten-high straight for the win despite both players holding aces pre-flop. DurrrrChallenge.com sat down with PokerXFactor instructor Chris “Fox” Wallace to learn more. DurrrrChallenge.com: If you have pocket aces in Omaha, is it to your advantage to push all-in similar to what happened here? Wallace: The reason people talk about them not being good is that because there’s always a flop and, once there’s a flop, pocket aces are typically losers. If… Read More »
Two Critical Antonius Hands
We have seen through this now dragged-out first phase of the Durrrr Challenge long dormant breaks are followed by massive sessions. On October 28th, there was a lengthy session that lasted (with small breaks) for over eight hours, accounting for 2,000 hands of Pot Limit Omaha. Tom “durrrr” Dwan increased his lead in the challenge, which could have been more if not for a couple of hands where Patrik Antonius was somewhat fortunate in the outcome. Let’s take a look at two of these hands to see what happened. Patrik Hits Two Pair Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha Hi – 2 players durrrr (BB): $90188.50 Patrik Antonius (BTN/SB): $134592.00 Pre Flop: ($600.00) Patrik Antonius raises to $1200, durrrr raises to $3600, Patrik Antonius raises to $6000, durrrr calls $2400 Flop: ($12000.00) 4d Ah 6h (2 players) durrrr checks, Patrik Antonius bets $9200, durrrr raises to $39600, Patrik Antonius… Read More »
Durrrr Increases Lead After Marathon Session
After a series of short, one to two hour sessions, Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius finally gave their fans something lengthy to talk about yesterday as they played multiple times over an eight hour period. All told, the two men played more than 2000 hands and for the third session in a row, durrrr was able to add to his lead on Patrik. The day began with a bang as Tom and Patrik played the biggest pot of the sitting within half an hour. After three-betting from the big blind, durrrr flatted Antonius’ $10,800 four-bet and took a flop of 6s 7s 5c . After leading for $13,200 and getting bumped to $43,600 by Patrik, Dwan decided to push the rest of his chips in the middle and Patrik immediately called. Antonius tabled a flopped straight, but durrrr had plenty of outs with his two-pair and flush draw, and when… Read More »
Live Durrrr Challenge May Be Moved to Las Vegas
According to Eddie Hearn, promoter of the live version of the Tom “durrrr” Dwan Million Dollar Challenge, the festivities may be moved from London to Las Vegas. The action was scheduled to take place in September in Jolly Old England between Dwan and high-stakes cash game specialist Sammy George, but that has apparently fallen by the wayside. A total of four competitors were originally sought. Hearn told DurrrrChallenge.com about the future of the live encounter: “It’s still very much on, but things have been crazy in London and now Tom has made through to the semi-finals of Poker Million, [so] it now looks like it will be held in Vegas in early December.” Hearn also revealed that four players have confirmed interest in battling Dwan heads-up in a live arena, but would not specify who besides George had signed on. Speculation held that Luke “Full_Flush” Schwartz, Dwan’s emerging archrival, may… Read More »
Tom Dwan Starts Strong… and Ends Strong
In the October 7th session of the Tom “durrrr” Dwan Million Dollar Challenge, Dwan set the tone by winning two sizable pots before cruising to a $418,000 bankroll boost at the expense of rival Patrik Antonius. Let’s check out these two momentum-setters utilizing the insight of our resident Omaha expert, PokerXFactor.com instructor Chris “Fox” Wallace. In the first hand, Antonius raised the action to $1,200 pre-flop and Dwan made it $3,600. The raising continued, as Antonius pushed it to $6,000, with Dwan coming over the top for $18,000. Antonius made the call to see the flop fall 5-K-8 with two diamonds. Dwan put in a pot-sized bet of $36,000 and Antonius called to bring the seven of diamonds on the turn. Dwan bet enough to put his opponent all-in and, sure enough, Antonius called, creating a $194,000 pot. The river was the four of clubs and Dwan showed K-K-J-Q for… Read More »
Mid-way Point Session Analysis
We’ve finally reached the halfway point of the Durrrr Challenge and Tom Dwan is in the lead by about $700,000 after 25,000+ hands played of Pot Limit Omaha against Patrik Antonius. We’ve seen some wild swings for both players, who have each enjoyed leads of a half-million dollars or more. The most recent session on Full Tilt Poker lasted three hours and saw Dwan win a number of sizable pots. Antonius did fight back to redeem himself in two hands that we’ll take a look at now. Patrik Fights Back Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha Hi durrrr (BB): $80165.00 Patrik Antonius (BTN/SB): $117601.50 Pre Flop: ($600.00) Patrik Antonius raises to $1200, durrrr raises to $3600, Patrik Antonius calls $2400 Flop: ($7200.00) 3d Js 6d (2 players) durrrr checks, Patrik Antonius bets $6000, durrrr calls $6000 Turn: ($19200.00) Jc (2 players) durrrr checks, Patrik Antonius bets $11600, durrrr raises… Read More »
Battle Reaches Midway Point
With their three hour 1063-hand session early this morning, Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius have finally reached the halfway mark of the durrrr Challenge’s 50K required hands. It’s been a see-saw battle thus far, but for the second session in a row durrrr took it to Patrik and has once again built a formidable lead. Dwan got off to a hot start when he won a $194K pot that ended up being the biggest of the sesh. In the hand, Patrik 4-bet min-raised Tom’s 3-bet from the button, only to see durrrr put in a 5-bet to $18K, which he called. When the flop came down 5-K-8, Tom lead out for $36K and Patrik tank-called. When the turn brought the 7d (putting three diamonds on the board), durrrr put all of his chips in the middle and Patrik quickly called, only to see his two-pair crushed by Dwan’s top set.… Read More »
$140,000 Hand Sets Tone for October 1st Durrrr Challenge Session
In the October 1st running of the Durrrr Challenge, Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius got their chips in the middle on a board of 10-8-4, all hearts, in an early hand. Antonius checked, Dwan bet $2,000, Antonius raised to $7,200, Dwan made it $16,500, Antonius pushed the action to $51,900, Dwan shoved for $67,896, and Antonius called. The turn was the deuce of clubs and the river was the jack of diamonds. Dwan turned over 10d-Ah-Js-Qh for the nut flush, while Antonius held 6c-Qs-10c-10s for a set of 10s. DurrrrChallenge.com sought the help of PokerXFactor.com instructor and Omaha expert Chris “Fox” Wallace to break down the hand. DurrrrChallenge.com: This hand seems like it pretty much played itself, with Dwan flopping the nuts and Antonius flopping top set. Is there any way for all of the money not to end up in the middle? Wallace: It’s all about ranges and what… Read More »
Analysis For 2 Hands from 10/1
The Durrrr Challenge tables have only seen tumbleweeds over the last few weeks, as Patrik Antonius and Tom “durrrr” Dwan have dragged this competition out further than anyone thought possible. On October 1st, there was finally a session with the Challenge all but tied after almost half of the hands were played. After a solid session, Durrrr was back in the lead with $235,000 after 23,500 hands played. Let’s take a look at two key hands from the session. durrrr Wins a Massive Pot Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha Hi – 2 players durrrr (BB): $119996.50 Patrik Antonius (BTN/SB): $119985.50 Pre Flop: ($600.00) Patrik Antonius raises to $1200, durrrr raises to $3600, Patrik Antonius calls $2400 Flop: ($7200.00) 7h Ah 9c (2 players) durrrr checks, Patrik Antonius bets $6000, durrrr raises to $22600, Patrik Antonius raises to $75000, durrrr raises to $116396.50 all in, Patrik Antonius calls $41385.50… Read More »
Dwan Retakes Lead After Rare Session
Lately, action has been extremely scarce at the durrrr Challenge tables on Full Tilt Poker, but that changed on Thursday morning when Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius decided to play for the first time in nearly a month. After their last session, Patrik retained his lead, albeit by the smallest of margins – a mere $34K. There was no maintaining anything for Antonius on this day though, as durrrr grabbed the lead back after a monster sesh. About 20 minutes into the clash, durrrr and Antonius simultaneously traded blows in two huge pots. The end result was a wash, but less than 5 minutes later durrrr dragged a big one and didn’t look back. After opening the button, Patrik flatted Dwan’s 3-bet and they took a 6-K-6 flop. Tom bet and Antonius called, and when a 7 turned, Antonius decided to jam over top of durrrr’s lead and the two… Read More »
