Thank the poker Gods that the second leg of the Durrrr Challenge is underway because, let’s face it, the first one was a major disappointment. Junglean12 has a legit shot to take Tom Dwan down, evidenced by his career $661,000 earnings off Dwan at the tables before the challenge began. JungleMamn12, known in the real world as 20-year-old Daniel Cates, is a high-stakes heads-up specialist who also is an instructor at CardRunners. Let’s take a look at a few key hands and see what happened in two major pots so far at the tables.
Big Pot for Dwan
Pre-Flop
durrrr: $30,398.50
jungleman12: $48,995
BTN is durrrr
Durrrr raises to $1,200 , called by jungleman12.
Pot: $2,400
FLOP: As 4c 7h
Jungleman12 checks, durrrr checks
TURN: Qh
Jungleman12 checks, durrrr bets $2,000. Jungleman12 calls.
Pot: $6,400
RIVER: 2c
Jungleman12 checks, durrrr bets $5,200. Jungleman12 raises to $17,600.
Durrrr calls.
Jungleman12 shows Qs Ts for a Pair of Queens.
durrrr showed Qc 4c for Two Pair, Queens over Fours for the win.
Durrrr wins $41,600
Analysis
Obviously, we can’t analyze in too much detail what these two are thinking because we’re not in the room with them hearing their thought process and meta-game. This hand played out pretty much how you might think it would. Pre-flop, this is a standard call by Jungleman12, but with the ace-high flop, Dwan doesn’t continuation bet. Typically, that means an open door for an opponent to lead out on the turn, but Jungleman12 checked again when he hit a pair of queens, presumably for value. If he had led out there to represent the ace, he would fold out all the hands he beat. Played as it was, Jungleman12 hit second pair, but Dwan hit two pair and then initiated the delayed c-bet on the turn, which was called. On the blank river, Jungleman12 check-raises and durrrr played the hand well by just calling in that spot since most other two pair hands beat him, in addition to slow played sets.
Jungleman12 Stikes River and durrrr Mucks
Pre-Flop
durrrr: $71,981
jungleman12: $57,386
BTN is Jungleman12
Jungleman12 raises to $1,200, called by durrrr.
Pot: $2,400
FLOP: 9c 2c As
Durrrr checks, Jungleman12 bets $2,000. Durrrr raises to $6,600, called
by Jungleman12.
Pot: $15,600
TURN: 5c
Durrrr bets $11,200, called by Jungleman12.
Pot: $38,000
RIVER: Tc
Durrrr checks, Jungleman12 goes ALL-IN for $38,586. Durrrr calls.
Final Pot: $115,172
Jungleman12 shows Ac Kd for a Flush, Ace High for the win.
durrrr mucked.
Jungleman12 wins $115,172.
Analysis
The pre-flop action is standard here in terms of what we know Jungleman12 had, and if durrrr had 3bet here, we definitely would have seen a 4bet unless Jungleman12 had other plans. On the flop, durrrr threw in a check-raise, which might have been done with top pair, or more likely a flush draw or a set. Durrrr leads out on the turn and again Jungleman12 calls, this time not just with top pair top kicker, but also with the nut flush draw. On the river, Jungleman12 hits his apparent gin card and Dwan checked and then called the shove. It’s hard to think what Dwan would have check-called off here for a stack, but we’re guessing he had the Qc or Kc in his possession (maybe his hand was AQ?) or even the Jc. We’re guessing this was a crying call for Dwan, who probably just hit a cooler on the river. Look at the river play, Cates did a great job understanding that he could get full value from Dwan on the river via the shove after his opponent seemed to slow down and check after leading the turn.
