'durrrr Challenge' Update: Swingy Session Switches Lead to Antonius
One hour into Thursday morning's session of the 'durrrr Challenge', Tom Dwan found himself on a serious heater. After booking wins in his last two meetings with Patrik Antonius in their 50,000 hand, $200/400 pot-limit Omaha match, Dwan finally started to open up a significant lead on his opponent. Within forty minutes of sitting down, he captured four pots worth over $70,000 apiece, putting him over $250,000 ahead of Antonius for the life of the challenge. However, as is often the case in pot-limit Omaha, all of that profit… and then some… rapidly bled out of his stack just as quickly as he got it in there. Antonius went on a rush in the second half of the match, completely wiping out Dwan's gains and leaving things nearly even again. With the $92,021 he took off Dwan in this, the tenth official session in the "durrrr" Challenge, Antonius is now in the black to the tune of $23,467 after 7,093 total hands.
At last, a pattern may be emerging when it comes to the timing and frequency of the challenge sessions--this is the third time in nearly as many days that Antonius and Dwan have met up in the near-dawn hours of Eastern Daylight Time, each session lasting between 90 minutes and two hours.
Dwan felted Antonius on "durrrr Challenge "Table 2 only minutes after play began. Antonius opened for $1,200, Dwan made it $3,600 to go, and Antonius called. Dwan bet out $4,800 on the A♣K♥6♣ flop and Antonius smooth-called. The J♥ on the turn earned a check from Dwan and a $16,800 bet from Antonius. Dwan, though, came over the top for a pot-sized raise to $50,400, setting Antonius all in. The Finn called the $16,000 he had behind, holding A♥Q♥7♠3♠ for a pair of aces and a gutshot royal flush draw while Dwan revealed A♦K♦Q♣5♠ for top two pair. However, Antonius missed all of his outs on the river, the 8♠ landing to give the $82,398 pot to Dwan.
Ten minutes later, Dwan claimed two more back-to-back monsterpottens. In the first, all the money went in on a Q♥J♥10♠ flop. Antonius was unfortunate enough to have flopped the bottom end of the straight and a flush redraw with 9♣8♥7♥7♦ while Dwan flopped the nut straight and a higher flush draw with A♠K♥8♠6♥. The 6♣ on the river sealed things up for Dwan and he dragged the $79,594 pot. Shortly thereafter, on a different table, they were all in on a 10♠9♣5♥ flop, Dwan with 10♥10♣3♣3♦ for top set and Antonius with Q♣J♦9♥5♣ for middle pair and an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the 2♥, the river was the Q♠, and Dwan's hand held, good for the second-largest pot of the session at $97,591.
The see-saw started tipping the other way, however, when Antonius took down this key hand. Dwan raised to $1,200 on the button and Antonius called from the big blind. The flop came down 9♣7♣3♣, Antonius checking the action to Dwan, who bet $1,750. Antonius fired back with a raise to $7,650 only to be reraised to $16,900. Antonius re-potted to $53,100, setting Dwan all in and he called off the $33,195 he had behind. Antonius had hit top set with A♠J♦9♦9♥ but Dwan, with A♣8♣4♥3♠, had flopped an ace-high flush. Antonius needed to pair the board, and he got there when the 3♥ came on the turn. The 6♠ was the inconsequential river card and Antonius was back on track after scooping that $102,589 pot.
Soon afterward, Dwan found himself on the losing end of another costly set vs. two pair showdown, Antonius flopping a set of fives to Dwan's aces up in a $71,200 pot. After being forced to fold to pot-sized bets from Antonius on the river in two subsequent pots, Dwan decided to nip his tilt in the bud and call it a night.
durrrr: i think im done for now
durrrr: too tilted
Patrik Antonius: k
The session exemplified the swings inherent within pot-limit Omaha. These two are professionals of the highest caliber and still managed to experience a five buy-in swing in each direction within less than 90 minutes.
Stay tuned as PokerNews continues to closely follow the "durrrr" Challenge.
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