There has been a flurry of activity as of late in the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge. Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates have now logged more than 11,000 hands, with “Durrrr” cutting into Cates’ lead by $60,000 in recent days. Dwan’s foe now holds a $582,000 edge in the 50,000-hand challenge, which is about one-fourth of the way completed.
On December 7th, Cates and Dwan fired up the tables for 346 hands, with Cates booking a profit of $110,000 to extend his lead, which had been about $645,000. However, Dwan fought back, winning $172,000 in several sessions on Wednesday to narrow the gap. There have been a total of 11,569 hands played between Dwan and Cates, who have wagered a combined $70 million on the Full Tilt Poker felts during the challenge. $70 million!
Cates continues to hold a sizable edge in number of hands won at 6,885, or 59% of the pots played. Contrastingly, Dwan has taken down 4,611 hands, or 41%. There have been a grand total of 11 sessions between the two high-stakes combatants spanning over 19 hours of real time.
In a $169,000 pot played on Wednesday morning, Dwan raised to $1,200 pre-flop and Cates called to see a flop of K-5-8 with two spades. Cates checked and Dwan put in a continuation bet of $2,000. Cates check-raised to $7,000 and Dwan 3bet to $19,600. The betting war escalated quickly, as Cates made it $35,200 and Dwan came over-the-top all-in for $105,000. Cates called all-in for $83,00 to set up the pot of nearly $170,000.
Dwan showed K-5 for two pair, while Cates flipped up pocket eights for middle set. The turn and river were run twice. In the first, the board filled out 7-4, while the second running saw a 10 and a three hit. Cates scooped the entire pot to double up and Dwan was left with $21,000.
On Monday, Cates told his Twitter followers that he had played against Full Tilt Poker front man Patrik Antonius and soccer pro Cristiano Rinaldo: “Last night won 320 from Patrik + a lot on other sites, ran pretty hot… Didn’t do so well vs @cristiano though.”
Meanwhile, Dwan’s nemesis in the high-stakes cash game world, Isildur1, signed with PokerStars on Tuesday. The identity of Isildur1 has amazingly still not been publicly confirmed, although the consensus is that Viktor Blom is the man behind the now infamous moniker. Isildur1’s likeness appears as a silhouette on PokerStars’ website.
Isildur1 is accepting challengers as part of the SuperStar Challenge, which pits the mystery Swede against PokerStars players in 2,500 hands of at least $50/$100 stakes in a mini “Isil”Durrrr Challenge. The first installment is slated for December 19th at 6:00pm ET, although no opponent has been named.
Keep it tuned to DurrrrChallenge.com for the latest on the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge.
Biggest hand of the Session
Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em – 2 players
durrrr (BTN/SB): $106373.00
jungleman12 (BB): $84795.50
Pre Flop: ($600.00)
durrrr raises to $1200, jungleman12 calls $800
Flop: ($2400.00) 8s 5c Ks (2 players)
jungleman12 checks, durrrr bets $2000, jungleman12 raises to $7000, durrrr raises to $19600, jungleman12 requests TIME, jungleman12 raises to $35200, durrrr raises to $105173 all in, jungleman12 calls $48395.50 all in
Turn: ($169591.00) 7c (2 players – 2 are all in)
River: ($169591.00) 4h (2 players – 2 are all in)
Turn: ($169591.00) Th (2 players – 2 are all in)
River: ($169591.00) 3s (2 players – 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $169591.00
durrrr shows Kh 5h (two pair, Kings and Fives)
jungleman12 shows 8h 8c (three of a kind, Eights)
jungleman12 wins $84795.00
jungleman12 wins $84795.00
Jungleman hits one of the outs he needed with the river card
Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em – 2 players
durrrr (BB): $107785.00
jungleman12 (BTN/SB): $62389.00
Pre Flop: ($600.00)
jungleman12 raises to $800, durrrr calls $400
Flop: ($1600.00) 2h Ad 6s (2 players)
durrrr checks, jungleman12 bets $1200, durrrr raises to $4400, jungleman12 requests TIME, jungleman12 calls $3200
Turn: ($10400.00) Jh (2 players)
durrrr checks, jungleman12 bets $7400, durrrr calls $7400
River: ($25200.00) 5c (2 players)
durrrr checks, jungleman12 bets $21200, durrrr raises to $95185 all in, jungleman12 calls $28589 all in
Final Pot: $124778.00
durrrr shows Ah 5h (two pair, Aces and Fives)
jungleman12 shows 3c 4d (a straight, Six high)
jungleman12 wins $124777.50
Raising War
Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em – 2 players
durrrr (BB): $150385.50
jungleman12 (BTN/SB): $59767.00
Pre Flop: ($600.00)
jungleman12 raises to $800, durrrr calls $400
Flop: ($1600.00) 6s Qc 2s (2 players)
durrrr checks, jungleman12 bets $1200, durrrr raises to $4400, jungleman12 raises to $9200, durrrr raises to $19800, jungleman12 requests TIME, jungleman12 calls $10600
Turn: ($41200.00) 4c (2 players)
durrrr bets $129785.50 all in, jungleman12 calls $39167 all in
River: ($119534.00) Jc (2 players – 2 are all in)
River: ($119534.00) 8d (2 players – 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $119534.00
durrrr shows As 3s (Ace Queen high)
jungleman12 shows Qd 5s (a pair of Queens)
jungleman12 wins $59766.50
jungleman12 wins $59766.50
durrrr prefers to muck his cards
Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em – 2 players
durrrr (BTN/SB): $110689.00
jungleman12 (BB): $97086.00
Pre Flop: ($600.00)
durrrr raises to $1200, jungleman12 calls $800
Flop: ($2400.00) 9h 8s 3d (2 players)
jungleman12 checks, durrrr bets $2000, jungleman12 raises to $7000, durrrr calls $5000
Turn: ($16400.00) 5h (2 players)
jungleman12 bets $14000, durrrr calls $14000
River: ($44400.00) 7h (2 players)
jungleman12 requests TIME, jungleman12 bets $31200, durrrr calls $31200
Final Pot: $106800.00
jungleman12 shows 6s 7s (a straight, Nine high)
jungleman12 wins $106799.50
The highest full house wins
Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em – 2 players
durrrr (BTN/SB): $51816.50
jungleman12 (BB): $158329.50
Pre Flop: ($600.00)
durrrr raises to $1200, jungleman12 raises to $4400, durrrr calls $3200
Flop: ($8800.00) 2s 7c 7s (2 players)
jungleman12 bets $4400, durrrr raises to $11900, jungleman12 raises to $153929.50 all in, durrrr calls $35516.50 all in
Turn: ($103633.00) 3s (2 players – 2 are all in)
River: ($103633.00) 8c (2 players – 2 are all in)
Turn: ($103633.00) 7d (2 players – 2 are all in)
River: ($103633.00) Jc (2 players – 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $103633.00
durrrr shows Ts Td (a full house, Sevens full of Tens)
jungleman12 shows 9h 9s (a full house, Sevens full of Nines)
durrrr wins $51816.00
durrrr wins $51816.00
