'durrrr Challenge' Update: Antonius Narrows Gap
After a fifteen-day hiatus, Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Patrik Antonius finally resumed their $200-$400 pot-limit Omaha challenge match on Monday evening, completing 914 hands over the course of three hours. Previously down over $140,000 to Dwan over the life of the challenge, Antonius emerged from the session as an $87,611 winner and closed that gap to $53,640. After nearly a month of on-again, off-again meetings, Dwan and Antonius have logged only 10% of the required 50,000 hands, having played 5,086 pots to date. Though Dwan has not publicly commented on the reasons behind the long delay since their last meeting, armchair quarterbacks around the poker forums have speculated that it could have a lot to do with Dwan's $3.5 million online downswing since the start of 2009, including million-plus losses to Phil Ivey in recent heads-up play at the $500-$1,000 level.
The most shocking thing about this particular session was the fact that while Antonius focused solely on his four heads-up challenge tables, Dwan was playing up to nine simultaneous tables of short-handed PLO, including a $500-$1,000 heads-up match against Gus Hansen. Over the course of the evening, Dwan sustained nearly $400,000 worth of losses across his non-challenge tables. Though Dwan's edge in the challenge is his multi-tabling experience and skill, it looks like the break did Antonius some good, as he appeared to be handling the speed of play much more deftly than he had in previous sessions.
Only three of the 900+ pots the two played crossed the six-figure mark, Antonius taking down two of them, including the session's largest. In their first major confrontation, about an hour into the session, Antonius opened for $1,200 from the button, Dwan reraised to $3,600, Antonius made it $10,800 to go and Dwan called. Dwan checked the A?6?2? flop, Antonius bet $14,400, and Dwan answered with an all-in check-raise to $51,247. Antonius made the call and showed 10?9?8?6? for a pair and a flush draw while Dwan revealed A?K?Q?J? for top pair, top kicker. The turn was the 7?, giving Antonius more outs with a straight draw, and the river fell the 6?, completing his flush and earning him the $124,094 pot.
A little over an hour later, Dwan opened for the standard $1,200, Antonius raised to $3,600 and Dwan called. Antonius led for $6,000 on the 9?3?2? flop, Dwan raised the pot to $25,200, and Antonius called. The J? appeared on the turn, prompting a $32,236 all-in from Antonius, which Dwan quickly called. It was a classic aces-vs.-kings scenario, with Dwan holding A?A?Q?2? and Antonius A?K?K?J?. The river was the 8? and Dwan took this round, collecting the $122,072 pot.
Antonius, though, would get those chips back and then some, when the session's largest pot unfolded only ten minutes later. Dwan raised to $1,200 from the button, Antonius popped it to $3,600 from the big blind and Dwan smooth-called. Antonius led at the Q?J?7? flop for $5,200 and Dwan called. The turn brought the 4? and Antonius fired a second bullet for $15,600. Dwan moved all in for $60,598 and Antonius called, having him slightly covered. Antonius revealed a set of jacks with J?J?5?5? while Dwan was well behind him with Q?J?6?6? for top two pair. The K? hit the river, no help for Dwan, and Antonius dragged the pot, worth $138,796.
Dwan and Antonius discussed the possibility of picking up the match again the next day, but thus far, they have yet to reappear at any of the eight "durrrr Challenge" tables on Full Tilt. Stay tuned to PokerNews, as we'll continue to bring you all the highlights of the challenge as it unfolds.
