The “durrrr” Challenge: Dwan Drops Over Half a Million in Opening Session vs. “jungleman12”
Tom “durrrr” Dwan is hardly prolific when it comes to his Twitter feed, but a message he sent out around midnight last night drove railbirds around the world to fire up Full Tilt and break out the popcorn.
“Gonna start playing @junglemandan (daniel cates) in the next few minutes. This'll be the 2nd challenge. Check my blog for specifics,” Dwan wrote.
As we reported a few weeks ago, 20-year-old University of Maryland economics major Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, officially accepted the “durrrr” Challenge, putting $500,000 in escrow and signing on as Dwan’s second opponent. The two agreed to play $200/$400 no-limit hold’em across a minimum of four tables with the option of kicking it up to six tables should they feel extra-frisky. The “run it twice” option will be used throughout the 50,000 hands and if either player’s stack fall below 75 big blinds, he must reload to a full starting stack.
With those rules in place, the cards went in the air at 12:35 a.m. EDT this morning, and nearly 12 hours later, Cates logged off with a $518,191 profit after 5,829 hands.
The first part of the session lasted about two and a half hours. They got in 1,651 hands, Dwan finishing $129,888 to the good. Remarkably enough, while playing 4 to 6 tables with Cates, Dwan was also sitting in two $200/$400 six-handed pot-limit Omaha games, playing against David Benefield, Chau “La Key U” Giang, Hac “trex313” Dang, “cadillac1944,” “DrugsOrMe,” and “gamblegambel.”
Dwan sat out, saying that he needed a one-hour break. It turned into two hours, and at 5:15 a.m. EDT, they resumed their session, playing for another seven hours. Cates was able to even things up and even pull out to a $150,000 lead by the time they crossed the 5,000-hand mark. In the final hour of their session, however, Cates truly broke out and started running over Dwan, winning another $370,000 before Dwan called it quits.
Cates laid claim to the largest pot of the match, a $192,983 monsterpotten. Dealt A♣A♥ on the button, Cates min-raised to $800, Dwan three-bet to $2,600 and Cates came back over the top for $6,400. Dwan called and they saw a J♥8♠6♥ flop. Dwan check-called a $7,600 bet from Cates. Dwan checked again when the 9♣ came on the turn, leaving Cates to bet $21,400. Again, Dwan called. The river fell the 4♠ and after Dwan checked a third time, Cates moved all-in for close to $240,000, having Dwan well-covered. After a long think, Dwan called off the $61,092 he had behind, mucking at the sight of Cates’ pocket rockets.
That pot, along with two back-to-back six-figure pots Cates won on the “durrrr Challenge 15” table, contributed the most to his late-session surge. The first of those two pots was a curious hand that started off with Dwan sitting $130,000 deep while Cates had $201,000 behind. Dwan opened for his standard $1,200, Cates three-bet to $4,800, and Dwan called. Cates led out for $5,200 on the K♠Q♥8♣ flop, Dwan raised to $16,800, Cates three-bet to $29,200, Dwan four-bet to $47,800, Cates five-bet to $66,500, and Dwan folded, conceding the $105,200 pot to Cates without a showdown.
On the next hand, Cates made it $1,200 to go from the button and then called Dwan’s $3,600 three-bet. The flop was 7♥6♥2♠. Dwan checked, Cates bet $4,200 and Dwan called. Dwan checked again when the K♣ hit the turn. Cates bet $11,400, Dwan shoved for his remaining $69,263 and Cates called, turning up K♠Q♠ for top pair. Dwan was on a flush draw with 9♥3♥. They ran the river twice, neither the 9♣ or the A♠ improving Dwan’s hand, and Cates took down the $154,126 pot.
Cates was so confident by the end of the match that he was four-bet shoving with bottom pair — and showing it. After a raise to $1,200 and a call from Cates, both players checked a 10♥3♣2♠ flop. The turn was the Q♠ and Cates checked to Dwan, who bet $2,000. Cates raised to $6,700, Dwan three-bet to $18,400 and Cates pulled the trigger, shoving for $158,339. With $38,092 behind, Dwan folded and Cates showed A♥2♦ for bottom pair.
In only a single night, Dwan and Cates put more than 11 percent of the 50,000 hands in the books. It took six sessions spread out over more than a month for Antonius and Dwan to do the same when their (still-ongoing) challenge match commenced in February 2009. This one could go fast, poker fans. Keep it here on PokerNews for continuing updates.
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