Durrrr v Jungleman12 Saga Could Resume In 2015, Maybe!

It may be one of the longest running sagas in the whole of online poker, but the “Durrrr Challenge II” between Tom Dwan and Dan Cates may be set to resume this year, if reports from “Jungleman12” is to be believed. The marathon spanning almost half a decade first got underway back in August 2010, after Tom Dwan offered odds of 3:1 to any player who could beat him over 50,000 hands of heads-up NL. Daniel “jungleman12” Cates subsequently put up the $500,000 necessary to enter the challenge, but so far just 19,335 hands have been played, with 2,500 hands played in 2013, and none in 2014.
Furthermore, Cates managed to amass $1,251,059 during that time, and understandably is more keen to continue the challenge than his erstwhile opponent. Commenting on its resumption, the 25 year-old heads-up pro said:
“Tom and I have had some disputes, but I believe we have essentially resolved them. The challenge is agreed to be played out in the next nine months. I think Tom intends on finishing the challenge, but has been distracted by things of great importance. In addition, Black Friday greatly hindered our progress.”
More specifically, Cates accused Dwan of being “totally uncooperative” and stonewalling the challenge, but in 2013 expressed optimism “Durrrr Challenge II” would resume, and in 2014 apparently got Dwan to agree to pay a $40,000 penalty for each two month period that he didn’t take part in the challenge. Since then, Dwan has accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid penalties, and as Cates later complained:
“He failed to uphold any promises he made to me. He’s extremely frustrating. It’s outrageous.”
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether this time round Dan Cates’ optimism is well founded, but ultimately after so many years, questions remain whether completing the challenge is of any interest to anyone other than Cates, himself.