Ever since poker’s hottest young talent, Tom Dwan, announced his high stakes ‘durrrr challenge’ the internet has been awash with speculation about who will take up the challenge and who will come out on top. Dwan’s dynamic proposal was to play any challenger at 4 tables heads up of Pot Limit Omaha or No Limit Texas Hold ‘em for 50,000 hands. Whoever finished the mammoth stretch ahead by at least $1 would receive a bonus payment. If Dwan’s opponent lost he would cough up $500,000, but if Dwan himself ends up behind he must pay his adversary $1.5 million.
One of the first players to accept the challenge was Patrick Antonius, and so far he has been the only player to commence play. All had been quiet since the last session on March 1st, which finished with Dwan up by $140,000. However, on Sunday night the two reconvened for another dramatic face-off.
Antonius logged in from Monaco to play a session which lasted nearly 3 hours and saw the completion of 914 hands. Once the dust had settled, Antonius had clawed back over half of Dwan’s lead, leaving him trailing by $52,567. The total number of hands played stands at 5,086, meaning that a little over 10% of the final total has been completed. The pair were playing for tables of Pot Limit Omaha, with blinds of $200/$400.
The final totals from the session obscure the fact that the lead swung back and forth throughout play. There were a number of pots that exceeded $60,000, and a few that even tipped over the $100,000 mark. In fact, the biggest pot of the challenge so far, at nearly $140,000, was featured in this most recent session.
Tom raised to $1,200 before the flop, with Patrick putting in a re-raise to $3,600. Tom called and the flop fell 7-Q-J rainbow. Patrick lead out with $5,200 and Tom made the call. The turn was a 4, leaving the board at 7-Q-J-4. Patrick made a pot-sized bet of $15,600, prompting a huge push from Dwan of $60,598.50 all-in. Patrick appeared unfazed by Dwan’s trademark aggression and pushed in his remaining $44,998.50 for the call. When the cards were flipped Dwan had J-6-Q-6 to give him a pair of Queens and a pair of Jacks. Antonius had the lead however with J-5-5-J giving him trip Jacks. The river was a meaningless King and Patrick Antonius scooped a pot worth $138,796.50.
There is no news yet on when the next session will be played, but there is still a long way to go in this intense high stakes battle.