One month ago, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Daniel “Jungleman12” Cates discussed the logistics of battling in the second installment of the Million Dollar Challenge on Full Tilt Poker. However, despite a 70+ page thread on TwoPlusTwo looking forward to the match, it has yet to take place.
Dwan told Cates in a chat on Full Tilt, “I can do two at once. Ship [Phil Ivey] $500k and we will work out details. Get my AIM from someone. I wanna crank out at least two of them before London if possible. We could obv play in like two weeks.” On August 16th, the discussion was back on, with Cates noting that he shipped $500,000 to Ivey, who will act as the escrow for the second incarnation of the Durrrr Challenge.
Dwan began trash talking in earnest, telling his purported new foe, “I can start talking &&%% since we’re booked and say that its cute you think you’ll ever have an edge.” Dwan added, “lmk if you wanna play if not we’ll start in a few days.” Now, the industry is simply taking a wait-and-see approach, as the Durrrr Challenge tables have been completely silent in recent days.
The existing Durrrr Challenge, which pits Dwan against Patrik Antonius, has stretched for a year and a half. The two last took to the felts on August 3rd following a hiatus for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) that saw 182 hands played. Dwan extended his lead by nearly $460,000 during the session and sits at more than $2 million in winnings off Antonius.
Dwan and Antonius have completed 39,436 hands out of 50,000, but the public’s patience with the series seems to have grown thin. In a poll posted on TwoPlusTwo succinctly titled, “Is the Durrrr Poker Challenge a Huge Letdown,” nearly three-quarters of the respondents answered “Snoozefest, wake me up when it’s over.” The challenge has gone several months at a time between sessions, as both players’ travel schedules have precluded them from playing.
One poster on TwoPlusTwo gave his opinion as to why the Cates/Dwan encounter has not yet happened: “I think it just got real to durrrr that not only could he lose the $500k, but a lot in the process, so after JungleMan showed up a few days ago saying ‘let’s go,’ he’s now vanished and probably is in PTR study mode along with his own histories. Hopefully this week, but it really does look like durrrr is avoiding starting it. Jm’s been sitting forever last few days.”
Dwan gave any Durrrr Challenge takers 3:1 odds on a $500,000 bet. Therefore, if Cates were up $1 after the end of 50,000 hands, Dwan would owe $1.5 million. If Dwan were up $1 at the end of 50,000 hands, Cates would owe his $500,000 buy-in. In either case, the victor keeps the spoils of the 50,000 hands played out.
Cates is an instructor at CardRunners, a popular poker training site. Dwan is a sponsored pro at Full Tilt Poker, but neither player’s employer has uttered a peep about a possible Million Dollar Challenge between the two. Meanwhile, in a chat posted on TwoPlusTwo featuring Cates, the youngster explains that Dwan is still trying to set up the new Durrrr Challenge tables at Full Tilt, which is the reason for the delay. Cates gave a timeline of a “couple days.”
The Million Dollar Challenge between Dwan and Antonius began in early 2009. Over $340 million has been wagered and Dwan has taken down 20,700 hands so far. Rest assured that when a new challenge fires up, we’ll have full coverage right here on Poker News Daily.
