Tom “Durrrr” Dwan finished the first live Full Tilt Poker Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge on a high, taking $750,000 off Sammy “any two” George in the final match of the three game series in London.

Sammy was the first to sign up to the challenge and faced Durrrr on the last day of three with Dwan $40,000 up after close fought contests with Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies at the Les Ambassadeurs club in Mayfair. The Londoner started well against Dwan but was forced to re-buy for the first time when the American’s aces held against George’s AK.

But the hand that will have everyone talking saw Durrrr move all-in with seven-deuce for 400k when George was holding two-pair in what would’ve have been a million dollar pot if Sammy had found the call. The collective gasp from the rail confirmed that Durrrr was on fire as he showed the bluff and George ending up r-buying again before Durrrr finally crushed him for good just before the allotted 500 hands were reached.

Durrrr appeared to play faultless poker throughout but the American was conciliatory in his victory over his good friend Sammy. “I don’t think I played too well today, I just think I happened to get a bunch of hands, like I don’t think Sammy played badly he just happened to be on the wrong side of some tough spots,” said Durrrr. “It’s easy to look like a genius when you have the best hand every time, and easy to not look like one when you get beat every hand.

“I caught a lot of hands tonight, he made a bunch of folds to me and all but one of them was right. He made a few pretty tough folds like when he had a pair of kings and I hit the flush on the river, I thought he played really well that I saw at least. He happened to make one big fold that was wrong but it was a pretty impossible call there – I am bluffing with any hand I get to the river with that isn’t a pair or better, but it’s so rare that I get to the river without a pair so his fold is pretty reasonable and I would make the same fold just about every time.

The pair decided to play the seven-deuce game with $10,000 going to the player who won a pot and showed 7-2. Sammy won a couple of pots in this fashion, but Durrrr’s bluff with the hand was a devastating blow to George. On a Jh-Ah-6h-3c board, Tom held 7s-2h to Sammy’s Ad-6c – Durrrr bet and Sammy called. 3d came on the river and Tom moved all-in – Sammy tanked for over five minutes before Durrrr showed the seven-deuce bluff.

"Sammy’s one of the people I get along with best when I play high stakes with, along with Ziigmund.

“I made a pretty questionable flop call which I kind of regret, it was probably bad even with the $10,000 bonus in the 7-2 game,” said Tom. “Once Sammy checked the turn I had to bet in my mind as I thought I was going to win a lot of the time. On the river I might have given up but on the board-pairing river I think it was an easy shove as it’s so believable that I have a full-house there and Sammy has a tough call with any hand.

"He rarely has a full house and it’s likely he just has aces or something like that, so I really like my shove on the river and fortunately Sammy didn’t make the hero call. It would have been an absurd call and luckily for me he didn’t make it – I was pretty worried for a while that he was going to make it but thankfully it worked out.”

“We’re playing the 7-2 game and the board has come very strong – he either had the nuts or nothing and I was so close to calling,” said Sammy of the 7-2 hand. “But you can’t in that situation – if I’d called and he has the nut-flush I’m an idiot, if I call and he has air I’m a hero. But I enjoyed my game and the way I played, I guess there are a few things I could tweak but not totally change. I’m a bit disheartened by the loss and I know a lot of people thought I would lose but when it airs people will see a different side to the result.”

Durrrr dominated the game from that point onwards and as the clock ticked towards 12 hours of playing time, Sammy was down to 90k against Durrrr’s 900k and shoved all-in with 94 on a 7-6-4 flop, Tom called with A7 and his hand held to see him end the match with $1million in chips in front of him.

“Basically the story of the night is Sammy catching cards early when I had nothing and me catching cards late when he had second-best hands and in just about every case there was nothing he could do.” said Durrrr. “Right at the end he was justifiably a pretty tilted and you can’t blame him as he still had some outs.”

“I don’t feel that I could have played those hands any better,” said George. “The last hand of the night I was a bit tilty, but Tom even told me he was hitting the river and I’m sure when it’s watched back people will see that. The turning point was the bluff with the 7-2 when I had the two-pair but I cannot call there for three times the pot. The game was in his favour, he was hitting cards and rivering cards but I respect Tom a lot and always will and we’ll play many more times. He’s one of the best in the world and I think he’s up there with Phil Ivey and Patrick Antonius. I took on the challenge and I think when people see the show they will have a different opinion of me from what they had before.”

Each player bought into the challenge for $500,000 and the blinds were set at $500/$1000 with each opponent being offered the preference of Pot-limit Omaha or No-Limit Hold’em. Durrrr and Marigliano played a mix of both with the Italian ending their challenge £22,000 up, while Ziigmund stuck to Pot-Limit Omaha in his match with Dwan finishing $68,000 in front of the Finn.

“The last three days has been a rollercoaster of swings and emotions at the Full Tilt Poker Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge,” said Eddie Hearn, managing director of tournament organisers Matchroom Sport. “Every match brought something different to the table and the Sammy George encounter was a real battle. To be fair to Sammy he played some great poker and he played some great poker but Tom was faultless and that’s why he is the best player in the world. All-in-all, the event was a huge success and we are already in talks to take the challenge to the States early next year.”

DAY TWO REPORT
Tom “Durrrr” Dwan came out on top of a fascinating 12-hour heads-up Pot-Limit Omaha battle with Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies at the Les Ambassadeurs club in London.

Durrrr came into the clash on the back of a $22,500 loss to Marcello Marigliano in the opening challenge and needed to bounce back against his Finnish opponent. Overnight he resumed his online battle with Isildur1 on Full Tilt and after showing up without any sleep, the strain began to show towards the end of the encounter as he admitted to feeling delusional, and at one stage it looked like he would not be able to finish but he dug deep to not only keep the pace but to come out on top.

In a gripping clash between two of the finest exponents of heads-up PLO in the world, Durrrr showed his class to come back from holding just $127,000 after Ziigmund took the early advantage and forced Durrrr to re-buy. As the end of play approached, Ziigmund bet 60k on the river and Durrrr raised to 194k and Ziigmund called – on the 3h-Kd-Kh-8h-5d board, the American showed a full house with Kc-Jc-8c-7h to Ziigmund’s Ac-Ks-7c-3d which ultimately led to Durrrr finishing the contest $68,000 to the good.

“It was a tough game but a great one at the same time,” said Dwan. “There were some huge pots and in the end it could’ve gone either way really but after losing out against Marcello I’m delighted to have won today and I’m looking forward to taking on Sammy tomorrow.

“I was a pretty tired after playing 12 hour the night before on Full Tilt, but I think the fact I was playing Ziigmund and that the challenge is an important one helped me through.”

It looked like it could have been all over early when Durrrr moved all-in with Qs-Td-8s-5h on a 5s-9h-3s flop with Ziigmund calling with As-Ah-6d-Js – but the 5d came on the turn to double Dwan though.

“I played badly in the last five hours and made six or so bad calls in the last half an hour – but we played for such a long time that I was a little bit tired, but it was a tough game but fun at the same time,” said Ziigmund. “I was in front around 250k and Tom moved all-in, I was small favourite but Tom won it and then a few hours later the same happened with me all in and Tom the favourite but I won, so there were a lot of swings in the game. In the end Durrrr won $68,000 but really that’s nothing in this game, it was one of the toughest I’ve ever played in and it was great to be involved.”

The pair have logged countless hours on the internet but face-to-face their match took on a different dimension. As high as the stakes were they kept raising them as the natural gamble in them pushed the game to the limit. Starting at 500/1000 they sound doubled the blinds and did so again by the end, often that wasn’t enough and they played with two blind straddles.

True to PLO form the biggest pots saw all the chips on the table go in, one of the biggest pot of the evening the pot reached 512k on the turn after Ziigmund had also re-bought, Durrrr was a 72 per cent favourite with three sevens and Ziigmund on a flush and straight draw – six of hearts on the river gave Ziigmund the pot and drew him back level.

It was poker played at the highest level much to the delight of those on the rail like Roland de Wolfe, Tony G, Ian Frazer, John Duthie and Durrrr’s opponent today, Sammy “any two” George. The railers certainly added to the jovial spirit despite the high stakes and on the table, with pots over 500k hinging on one card, neither the winner nor loser flinched and in between breaks in play they played Chinese Poker for $5,000 a point.

DAY ONE REPORT
The opening match of the Full Tilt Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge saw Italian Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano come out on top after 12 hours of play with Tom “Durrrr” Dwan at the Les Ambassadeurs club in London.

The duo bought in for $250,000 at the beginning of the match and as the clock struck 2am and the last hand was over, Marigliano ended with $272,500 – a $22,500 gain – having played No-Limit Hold’em until the final hour where they switched to Pot-limit Omaha.

Durrrr won the greater number of pots – 55 per cent to Marcello’s 45 per cent – but the key hands and bigger pots went in the Italian’s favour to see him triumph on the first of three days of action.

“In the end I won a small amount but I’m happy though as I won with bluffs,” said Marcello. “He raised a lot pre-flop and you have to play tight but I made some good moves and I’m happy I proved I can play with Tom.”

Both players were down 100k on more than one occasion and Durrrr rebought as his stack dropped below 150k when Marcello bluffed him off a 100k pot with King-high, but he fought back to move 100k to the good. Marigliano levelled the match up when he flopped a full-house with A3 on the 3AA board and as the day sped to its conclusion, the Italian moved close to 100k in front when they both held hearts  - Durrrr with six-deuce, Marigliano with Queen-seven – and two hearts came on the flop.

Marcello was all-in before the Ace of hearts on the turn gave him the pot and a healthy lead over Dwan before they moved to Pot-limit Omaha. Durrrr clawed his way back in the final hour, but goes into the second day on the back of defeat.

“It was a really aggressive match,” said Durrrr. “There was a time when Marcello folded 20 hands in a row then the next hand he picked up a gutshot and decided to win the 150k out there. But he made two really good reads and without either one of them he ends up down 50k or so but instead he’s up. They were key hands really and there were some other big hands but it was an interesting match – of course I wish I’d won.”

The small swing in Marigliano’s favour belies the action with Durrrr recording a button raise frequency of 84 per cent, and Dwan seemed surprised at the end of the match that they had gone the distance.

“It’s so crazy that at the end there was just a 25k difference in the end – that’s absurd. It’s so unlikely that one of us didn’t lose 500k,” said the American, who faces Finnish star Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies today (Wednesday).

“I was up 150k at one or two points and down 200k – but it still wasn’t as swingy as I thought it would be, we didn’t have many big hand versus big hand spots, or even medium hand versus medium hand spots. I expect there to be more action in the matches with Ziigmund and Sammy George.”

Date updated: November 20, 2009

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