Latest Setback For Durrrr Challenge

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 27 December 2010 / Leave a Comment

When Patrik Antonius announced he was going to be the first player to take up Tom "durrrr" Dwan's offer of three-to-one odds on being able to beat him over 50,000 hands of heads-up poker the poker community literally went mad with anticipation of seeing two of poker's Goliath's battling it out for $1,500,000.

However, the first instalment of the so-called "Durrrr Challenge" has been nothing short of disappointing, in fact calling it disappointing is an injustice, it has been terrible. The online poker community expected a grand firework display, what they have received is one of those boxes you can buy from the supermarket for less than £10. Whilst we have to accept that these players have other commitments, not playing a single hand since August 3 is unacceptable. Rumours are rife that Dwan and Antonius have done a deal behind closed doors and that seems likely with Dwan holding a seemingly unassailable lead of $2,059,719.50 over the Finn with under 11,000 hands left to play.

To boost interest, or some will say attempting to flog a dead horse, Dwan opened the challenge again and online superstar Daniel "jungleman12" Cates took him up on the offer and it looked as if the online railbirds were going to get their wish of two of poker's best heads-up players lock horns for a couple of weeks and plough through the 50,000 hands. How wrong they were. Despite firing off 10,000 hands very quickly, the pair have only logged an extra 4,000 or so hands in the next 13 sessions, the last being played on December 16.

Now it looks as if fans of both players are going to have a long wait to see their heroes back in action at the $200/$400 No Limit Hold'em tables if Cates' recent chat with Dani "Ansky" Stern is anything to go by. Stern asked Cates, "Are you and Tom playing any time soon?" To which Cates, who leads Dwan by just over $500,000, replied, "idk. Seems like there will be a big hiatus. Tom is hard to work with."

These revelations have been met with mixed feeling by the poker community, some calling it a disgrace, others being more supportive of Dwan. Some are upset that Dwan seems to have announced this challenge twice and both times failed to keep up with his end of the deal, but others realise Dwan has a hectic schedule and plays live poker more and more, something seen more recently in his trip to Macau where he won a reported $9,000,000 in high stakes cash games.

My guess would be you will not see the Dwan versus Antonius challenge resume ever but I can see Cates pushing for his version to be completed quickly into the New Year, especially as he perceives he has a decent edge over his opponent. Once the multi-millionaire twenty-somethings have partied the festive season away I am sure we will see them lock horns once again.

Sign up for a free Betfair Poker account by clicking on this link and you will be able to choose your own sign up bonus of between $50 and $2,500. Maybe you could turn it into a bankroll large enough to take on Dwan at his own game?