The greatest poker players in the history of the game have nicknames. Texas Dolly, Kid Poker, The Poker Brat… durrrr?
Building on a screen name invented by a 17 year old with a $50 bankroll to inspire tilt in his opponents, Tom Dwan has turned the name “durrrr” into a different sort of tilt inducing moniker than he originally intended. In the realms of ultra-high stakes internet poker, the name “durrrr” has come to signify one of the great legends in the relatively young history of online poker.
Tom Dwan began with a $50 bankroll at the age of 17 in micro stakes cash games and Sit & Gos, rapidly eating his way up in the poker world.
By 18 years of age, Tom “durrrr” Dwan had become a regular fixture at the $200/$400 games on Full Tilt Poker, often playing against superstars Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine and Phil Ivey. A famous “Bluff” magazine piece was run on Tom Dwan in 2006 where the reporter sent to cover Dwan watched the prodigy log onto his famed “durrrr” account and play an impromptu one-hour session. In that session Dwan made $200,000.
At 19, Tom was able to bypass the US age restriction on poker tournament entry by venturing over to the 2005 European Poker Tour in London where the age limit is 18. There, he finished 12th in the £ 3,000 EPT Main Event No Limit Hold’em event earning £7,000 or about $12,000.
On July 30, 2007 in an event which bears similarities to a Lebron James entering the NBA draft, Tom Dwan turned 21. At the age of 21 years and 68 days old, Tom Dwan finished fourth in the $9,700 WPT No Limit Hold’em Championship for a $324,244 payday – his first major payday in a US tournament. He has followed that performance up with two second place finishes in the 2008 PL Omaha Aussie Millions and 2008 $5,000 WPT Limit Hold’em at the Borgata event in addition to two top 10 finishes in WSOP events. All the while, he continues to earn the brunt of his living under the auspicious screenname “durrrr,” generally on the highest stakes game on Full Tilt Poker.
Dwan’s online games are also amongst the most-watched poker related clips on YouTube.com. There, you can see Tom “durrrr” Dwan engaged in all sorts of six figure cash game hands including a crushing pot where the phenom cracks Aces to the tune of $267,000 holding 7-3 off-suit.
In early 2009, Dwan made an astonishingly bold challenge to the poker world – he would put up $1.5 million to anybody’s $500K, and four-table them heads up for 50,000 hands. Upon completion, whichever player is ahead will not only keep their winnings, but get the original sum as well. The first to accept durrrr’s challenge was Patrik Antonius, and while that match is currently in progress, Dwan has both Phil Ivey and David Benyamine waiting to take the “durrrr Challenge” as well.
Click here for Tom “durrrr” Dwan’s interview with Poker News Daily.