The Durrrr Challenge tables fired up for the first time in three months early Sunday morning, as Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius butted heads for 280 hands. In the end, Antonius cut into Dwan’s lead to the tune of $244,672. Now, the youngster from New Jersey leads his arch-nemesis by $1.6 million.
A total of 39,254 hands have been played of the 50,000 needed for completion. Fittingly, Antonius took down the four largest pots of Sunday’s session, at one point raising to $1,200 pre-flop and inducing a raise from Dwan, who made it $3,600. Antonius responded by bumping the action to $6,000, Dwan made it $18,000, and Antonius called behind to see a flop of 7-10-J rainbow.
With $36,000 already in the middle, Dwan bet the pot and Antonius came all-in over-the-top for $94,000. Dwan made the call and showed As-5s-Jc-Qc for top pair and a straight draw, while Antonius flipped up 5d-Qh-9c-8d for the nuts. The turn was an ace, improving Dwan to two pair, but a river four sent the mammoth $185,000 pot, the largest of Saturday’s session, to Antonius.
After raised action pre-flop, Antonius bet the pot on a flop of 5-3-7 with two hearts. Dwan raised to $8,500 and Antonius 3bet to $27,900. Dwan pushed the action enough to put Antonius all-in and the Finnish pro obliged, shipping his $79,000 stack into the middle. When the cards were revealed, Antonius showed Ah-4h-3c-3h for trip threes and flush and straight draws, while Dwan turned over 6h-4c-8h-Ks for the nuts.
Dwan’s lead in the hand was short-lived, however, as another five on the turn paired the board and gave Antonius a boat. The river was no help to “durrrr” and Antonius raked in a healthy $160,000 pot. The two largest pots of the session combined to boost Antonius’ bankroll by nearly $350,000.
Antonius is still well behind in the overall standings, needing to make the run of a lifetime in order to stay in the hunt for the $1.5 million top prize that awaits him if he can edge out Dwan by at least $1 over 50,000 hands. If Dwan bests Antonius by at least $1, which seems to be the likely conclusion, then the Fin will fork over $500,000. In either case, the winner keeps the spoils of the 50,000 hands played.
Instead of playing on the Durrrr Challenge tables at Full Tilt Poker, Dwan and Antonius have been busy placating cash games and tournaments at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. Dwan finished second to Simon Watt in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament and walked away with $381,000. However, he narrowly missed out on a rumored millions of dollars in bracelet bets to the delight of many of those in attendance. All told, Dwan cashed in four WSOP events and recorded one final table.
Antonius finished 601st in the 2010 Main Event for $24,000, his first cash in a WSOP tournament in two years. Antonius was one of the 500-plus players shut out of last year’s $10,000 buy-in feature tournament after Day 1D reached capacity.
CardRunners instructor “Jungleman12” may be the next opponent for Dwan in the online Durrrr Challenge. In a blog posted on CardRunners on July 31st, “Jungleman12” boasted, “Regarding the Durrrr Challenge, it’s going down.” Despite the comment, Full Tilt Poker has not released any specific information regarding the pro’s involvement. Dwan had told Bluff Magazine in April that he’d be facing off against former CardRunners instructor Brian Townsend before later recanting his comments.
Dwan has led Antonius ever since the 24,000-hand mark. In fact, the man known simply as “durrrr” has scooped seven of the 10 largest pots of the challenge. Visit DurrrrChallenge.com for more details on the epic battle.
