The Million Dollar Challenge between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates returned on Saturday following a month-long break for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe. In the short 582-hand session, the fifth of the second incarnation of the Durrrr Challenge, Dwan cut into Cates’ lead by a scant $1,400. The last action prior to Saturday came on August 30th.
Only one pot during the recent play passed the six-figure mark. In it, Dwan raised to $1,200 before the flop and Cates 3bet to $4,000. Dwan called and the flop came 4-5-6 with two spades. First to act, Cates bet $4,400 and Dwan called behind to bring another six on the turn. Then, Cates fired out another bullet, this time totaling $11,400, and Dwan called to bring the three of hearts on the river. Cates checked, while Dwan promptly shoved for $32,000.
Facing Dwan’s all-in bet, Cates called to create a $103,000 pot. Cates showed 9-7 for a seven-high straight, while Dwan tabled ducks for the sucker straight. Although it totaled over $100,000, the latest rich pot did not rank among the top 10 largest in the challenge’s history. To counter Cates’ $103,000 scoop, Dwan took down four pots of $35,000 or more to cut Cates’ lead slightly to $689,000 after 7,402 hands. Fifty-thousand are required for the challenge to be completed.
Dwan has won 2,821 hands so far, or 38% of the pots played. Contrastingly, Cates has largely taken a commanding lead in the Durrrr Challenge’s second cycle, winning 4,539 hands, or 62%. In five sessions, Dwan and Cates have bet a total of $44.7 million and played for 11-and-a-half hours.
With the 2010 WSOP Europe wrapping up in London last week, we might see increased action in the Million Dollar Challenge. Dwan cautioned via Twitter just before the mini-session kicked off that the latest encounter could be abbreviated: “Just started vs Jungle… Internet sucks and I don’t have too much time tho.” Cates, meanwhile, Tweeted to his followers that he was getting his fix of high-stakes poker by six-tabling $100/$200 online against “Isildur1,” who is presumed to be Swedish pro Viktor Blom.
While in London, Cates seemed to struggle in ring games and tournaments, Tweeting, “Live poker not going so well, blah. Couple solid mistakes made… want to play that 10k 6m turbo [and] maybe some shorthanded live cash.” He added, “Tournies not going well, hopefully will do well in EPT main/high rollers. Also, I seem to have a serious case of ‘dude where’s my tube ticket.’”
Posters on TwoPlusTwo were elated to see play resume, if only for a few hundred hands. One poster, “BigDish,” questioned Dwan’s current mental state: “I wonder how much the last couple months have affected Dwwn. Taking 2nd in the WSOP tourney when Ivey won a bracelet causing him to lose a bunch, not doing great online, and if he’s losing live, it’s really hard to always being happy go lucky towards someone who is doing really well and beating you personally for 1.5 mill.”
Meanwhile, the first installment of the Durrrr Challenge between Dwan and Patrik Antonius appears to be all but dead. There has been no play in exactly three months and Dwan is up by over $2 million. The first challenge, which features Pot Limit Omaha instead of No Limit Hold’em, has stretched for 21 months.
We’ll keep you posted on the latest from the Durrrr Challenge right here on Poker News Daily. You can also visit DurrrrChallenge.com for full recaps and analysis.
