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Despite all of the tournament and side-game action at the World Series, Dwan and Antonius find time to play a monster $1m Challenge session.
When you sit down for a quick 20-minute session of poker, how long do you tend to play? Those of us who are strict about our playing regime might get up after the 20. The majority of us could stay a while longer if the action is too good to pass up. If you’re Tom Dwan, however, it seems that 20 minutes can eventually turn into 15 hours.
The play began when Finnish challenger Patrik Antonius sat down at a $500/$1,000 table and Dwan asked if he wanted to remain playing at those levels or to move to the $200/$400 Durrrr Challenge tables. Dwan claimed to have 20 minutes to spare, so the pair began their heads-up battle.
A full 15 hours later, both players logged off, with Dwan the considerably happier of the two. In the 4,523 hands, there was the biggest pot of the challenge, the biggest stacks and the biggest swing of the entire match. Let’s take a look at the key moments from the match.
First Blood: Antonius Gets Going
The first moments of the challenge fell firmly in favor of the Finn, notching up a $300,000 lead in the opening exchanges. The preflop action was especially aggro with Antonius eventually making it $75,600 to go before Dwan flat called. With over $151,000 in the middle, the remainder of each player’s stack went in on a Qh-10c-6s flop, bringing us a pot of $194,795 pot.
With the cards on their backs, Dwan showed top pair, top kicker with his Ah-Qs-Js-2h, but Antonius got it in with the best of it, a Ad-As-8c-7s gave the Finn an overpair and a gutshot. The hand held up, putting Antonius in the black for what would only be a short amount of time.
Dwan Hits the Heater
By the time the pair broke for dinner, Dwan turned around what was once a $600,000 deficit to a $331,000 lead. One pot that sent Dwan in the right direction came after a stroke of Omaha-esque luck.
With players effective stacks at just over $188,000, the standard preflop action of bet, raise and call saw the two face a Kh-8s-5d flop. Antonius flat-called Dwan’s $4,800 lead, with the Finn then calling a check raise on the 6d turn. With the pot size ballooning to over $130,000, the remaining money went in on the river, which was the 7d. Durrrr check-called Antonius’ $123,995 all in bet and Antonius showed 10s-8h-8d-2s for a flopped set of eights. But Dwan had backed up onto the nut flush with his Ad-As-9d-7c and $376,791 sent the way of the American.
Things Get Worse For Antonius
In the style of an Ali knockout, Dwan finished the crippling one two with a pot of over $408,000 just moments later. With all of the money going in with the board showing 9c-8d-2d-5s, Dwan showed his turning straight (8h-7h-7c-6s) against Patrik’s Ad-Th-9s-9h. Once again, Antonius flopped a set only to be rundown by Dwan’s draw. With the river still to come, the Finn needed the board to pair but, as the poker gods seemed to have aligned against him, the river brought the harmless 10c, only improving Dwan’s hand further.
With the dust beginning to settle on what was a four-hour heater, Dwan turned a $600,000 deficit into an $800,000 uptick—a swing of over $1.4 million.
A $477,555 Silver Lining
For the scant consolation it provided, Antonius did manage to collect the biggest pot of the session. The action preflop saw $36,000 in the middle before a community card hit the board. The paired board of Qs-6s-6s might have slowed the action down among mere mortals, but Dwan instead decided to check-raise Antonius’ exploratory $16,400 bet up to $47,100. The Finn wasn’t deterred, calling the bet to lead the pair to a 9h turn.
Dwan might have dwelled before putting in a $54,600 bet, but the response from Antonius was certain enough, re-raising all in for $173,678. Dwan called the remaining $119,078 and showed a boat, sixes full of nines (9c-8d-7d-6c)—far behind Antonius’ veritable warship, his Kc-Qh-Qd-9d giving him the nut full house. The river sent an inconsequential 4h and the biggest pot of the night, weighing in at a massive $477,555, went to the Finn.
Dwan Rollzzzz On
As the two players continued well into the early morning, the apparent swings of Pot Limit Omaha were all in Dwan’s favor. By 5:10 in the morning, the gap expanded to $1.2 million before a 10-minute spell saw the youngster dump $200,000 back to Antonius. A short time-out was called, but the break did nothing to halt the comeback brewing on the Finnish horizon. Three monster pots later and Antonius had reduced the deficit to $764,000. At just before 7 a.m., Dwan quit the match, having claimed he’d hardly been able to keep his eyes open for the last five hours. The degeneracy of Dwan knows no bounds.
Hands played this session: 4,523 (9.05% of total challenge)
Total hands played: 20,647 (41.3% of the 50,000 hands)
Swingometer: Tom Dwan +$764,670.50
Current standings: Tom Dwan +$726,547.00 |
