The “Durrrr” Challenge: Halfway Through

We’re up for a bit of reminiscing here now that the “durrrr” challenge finally – finally – reached its halfway mark last Wednesday. 25,000 of the 50,000 required hands have been played, and Tom Dwan is in the lead with an impressive $697,532.

The Million-dollar Challenge

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and analyze how this challenge has played out so far. It was in February that Tom Dwan issued the million dollar challenge. Anybody who joined would have to play with Dwan for 50,000 hands in $200/400 or higher in four tables simultaneously. At the end of the challenge, whoever is ahead wins – even if it’s just by a dollar. If the challenger wins, then Dwan will have to fork over $1.5 million. But if Dwan wins, then the challenger will give only $500,000.

Both parties, however, get to keep their individual challenge winnings. It was a sick challenge, put out to feed one man’s ego, just to prove to the world that he’s the best. It was also a tempting challenge, and it drew in two of the biggest names in the industry, namely Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey. Antonius was up first, and the first Dwan vs. Antonius session happened on February 18, 2009. The challenge was slow at first, with smaller pots. But eventually, both players got the handle of the game and the pots became bigger, and the tug-of-war for the lead became more intense. At one point, Antonius even held a $400,000 lead for two months. But at another, Dwan held a $1.2 million lead. But the action was slow, and sessions were rare, with both players busy with their own lives. The halfway mark loomed, but wasn’t touched until 231 days after the first ever session.

231 Days Later

It was in a four-table $200/400 pot-limit Omaha match that it happened: the 25,000th hand. The challenge was slowly but surely approaching that half-way mark, at a snail’s pace, in fact. Antonius and Dwan, after all, don’t seem to be too keen on finishing this challenge quickly. But we can’t blame them, the life of a poker pro – raking in millions in minutes with the possibility of losing them just as fast – must certainly be busy, with the tournaments and what not’s. Still, there was no suppressing the fans’ sigh of relief when these two finally sat down for a session after almost a month of inactivity.

October 1, Patrik and Tom both logged in for a session of 400 hands. Antonius was in the lead with just over $30,000, but Tom quickly overtook him and gained a lead of more than $230,000. They were just a little more than a thousand hands short of reaching the halfway mark. And it was only last October 7, Wednesday, that that this was achieved, with 1,063 hands played in just three hours and fifteen minutes. Patrik and Tom had gone over the 25,000 mark, playing 25,145 hands in all. It was also in the last session when Dwan bagged more than $400,000 in winnings. Dwan won 3 of the session’s 5 pots, including one that was worth almost $200,000, putting him firmly in the lead with almost $700,000.

Related posts:

1. Dwan takes Lead, Durrrr Challenge at Halfway Mark
2. Patrik Antonius on the Durrrr Challenge
3. Isildur1 Wins $2.6 Million from Durrrr
4. Tom “Durrrr” Dwan Down in the Dumps
5. Isildur1 Goes Bust?