FullTilt’s newest sponsored professional, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, took time off from playing in the world’s biggest online games to challenge three high-stakes poker players in London over the past three days. For those unfamiliar with the “Durrrr Challenge”, it was originally an online offer issued to the entire poker world (sans Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond) to play Durrrr heads-up for 50,000 hands. The stipulations were players must put up $500,000 (to Durrrr’s $1,500,000) and play four tables of either $200/$400 NL or PLO over the 50,000 hands. The first to accept the online challenge was Patrik Antonius, who Durrrr currently leads by $779,248 after 27,185 hands. However, Antonius has not been Dwan’s most recent foe, as he has been locked in an epic battle against “Isildur1”, a European professional who has taken more than $3,000,000 off of Durrrr the past few weeks. The two have been six-tabling both NL and PL for nearly 38,000 hands.
Dwan lined up three opponents to play over the past 72 hours: Marcello “luckexpress10” Marigliano, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, and Sammy George. Sahamies and Marigliano both play a lot with Dwan in FullTilt’s biggest games, while George is not a professional, but an extremely wealthy business man who enjoys playing poker on the side. The first day saw Dwan and Marigliano play to a virtual stalemate. Unlike the online challenge, there was no apparent side bet for the live challenge, and only a 500 hand stipulation. In the end luckexpress won just over $22,000 before the two called it a night.
Day 2 saw a much more exciting match take place between Sahamies and Dwan, pitting two of the more aggressive young professionals in the world against each other. These two have played some crazy battles online, including a few sessions of $3,000/$9,000 PLO where each player HAD to raise and re-raise the pot before the flop. This match ended up being a bit more tame than their online wars, with Durrrr finishing up just shy of $70,000.
The final day saw Sammy George get his crack versus Dwan. George and Dwan both bought in for $250,000 and agreed to play until the early hours. The first big pot of the day went to Dwan when he and George got all the money in PF for a $500,000 pot. Dwan held Pocket Aces while Sammy had AK off-suit. The board bricked out and Sammy had to reach into his very deep pockets for another $250,000 buy-in. The rest of the match saw Dwan chip away at George’s stack, who had to buy-in for another $250,000 twice before the night was out. The final hand saw Dwan flop top pair and George bottom pair. The two would get all the money in on the flop with Durrrr’s hand holding, giving him a $1,000,000 stack and sending George to the rail.
Be sure to check back here for more updates if the players decide to continue their battle Friday.