Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, the internet poker phenomenon, threw down the gauntlet to fellow pros when he offered 3 to 1 odds on a $500,000 proposition bet that he would beat them playing heads up over 50,000 hands, whilst playing on four tables simultaneously. Interestingly the challenge excluded Phil Galfond, probably because he is not only a very good player but a close friend of Dwan.
So far Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan have played 20,647 with Dwan up around $726,546.
This September will, however, host a special live version of the challenge at the Matchroom Sports in London. Dwan will be facing off against four opponents heads up in a $500/$1,000 blinds No-Limit Hold ‘em or Pot-Limit Omaha game, where the buy-in is $500,000 and players cannot leave until either 500 hands are played or they go bust.
The Managing Director of Matchroom Sport,Eddie Hearn said: “We have been lucky enough over the Years to promote the biggest names in many sports and Tom is without doubt the biggest draw in poker right now. He is totally fearless and ready to take on any player that is willing to face-off in the Million Dollar match up. This will be the most hotly anticipated match up in modern day poker.”
Tom Dwan is believed to have won over $10 million from his online poker exploits alone and said of the challenge: “I am looking forward to sitting down and playing some of the World’s best players live in London. There looks to be lots of interest in people wanting to play me but they never seem to appear on-line. It will be interesting to see the response Eddie gets and just who is willing to get it on.”
There is likely to be the prospect of some very exciting match ups as some of the top poker professionals will be in town attending the WSOPE and EPT. This sets up the possibility of such players as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu stopping by to try their luck.
