Poker Hall Of Fame: Tom “Durrrr” Dwan

Tom Dwan, online poker name “durrrr”, is deemed one of the best poker players. A college dropout originally from New Jersey who has become one of the biggest cash game players in a very short amount of time. 

He has said to have made over $2,000,000 playing high stakes poker online. He makes a session out of sitting down with the top poker pros such as Phil Ivey, Patrick Antonius, John Juanda and others at limits as high as $300/$600 NLH.

Tom Dwan got his start in online poker back when he was 17 years old, his first deposit was $50 and according to him he hasn't had to invest any additional money to poker after that initial first deposit. At first Durrrr was playing $5 Sit N Go tournaments, but soon he realized that he could make even more money from cash games poker. 

According to him he slowly grinded up from the small limits without getting much attention from the online poker community until he reached $10/$20 no limit games.

At the time when he got up to $10/$20 no limit it was the biggest no limit holdem game at a renowned online poker site PokerStars and due to that lot of Railbirds were interested about this game and began writing and gossiping about who was this guy who was always winning big amounts of money under PokerStars nick Holdem_NL.

However $10/$20 was just a start for Tom Dwan on his way to the biggest online poker games in the world, soon he had build enough roll from these games that he began looking for a bigger games to play, and he found those from Prima Poker ( these days known as Microgaming) where he was able to play highstakes nl holdem up to $200/$400 headsup. 

 

According to the statics Tom was also a big winner at Prima Poker before the games dried up in that network and Tom Dwan had to be looking for a new games again. Luckily for him FullTiltPoker online poker room had started hosting the biggest online poker games you can find from internet and Tom Dwan was soon playing them under his FTP “nick durrr”.

While durrrr had made quite the name for himself playing online poker, it was time for Tom Dwan to do the same in the world of live poker. His first tournament cash came abroad, as 19-year-old Dwan took 12th place at the 2005 European Poker Tour London Main Event.

Two years later, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan made his first score on American soil, finishing 4th at the 2007 World Poker Tour Main Event in Foxwoods Casino for better than $300K. This cash stands as the largest of his career. In 2008, He made another big score in the $5K No-Limit Hold ‘em event at the Borgata Winter Open, adding more than $225K to his bankroll.

When the World Series of Poker rolled around that summer, Tom Dwan was finally able to make a name for himself on poker’s biggest stage. He cashed in two events during his inaugural WSOP, including a 7th place finish in the $10K World Championship Mixed Event for over $65K.

Tom Dwan was also a part of the biggest pot in the history of online poker, but this time on the wrong side of the outcome. Playing at one of Full Tilt Poker’s $500/$1,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em tables, durrrr ran his pocket Kings into the pocket Aces of his opponent in a pot worth nearly $724K. Altogether, durrrr has been a part of four of the seven biggest pots in online poker history.

In January of 2009, Tom Dwan issued a challenge to the poker world. He offered to put up $1.5 million to any opponent’s $500K, playing heads-up online at four tables simultaneously for 50,000 hands.

After the last hand is finished, the player who has earned more money – even if it’s only $1– wins the challenge. If durrrr wins, he keeps any money he won during challenge play, along with the challenger’s $500K. If his opponent wins, they keep their winnings and the $1.5 million that durrrr put up.

First to accept the Durrrr Challenge was Team Full Tilt’s Patrik Antonius. When these two titans of high-stakes poker finish their 50,000 hands, both Phil Ivey and David Benyamine are in line to accept the challenge and take on Tom Dwan.