At the end of last year, many people were writing Tom Dwan off, labelling him a “flash in the pan” who got “lucky for a couple of years”. At the time, Isuldur was running rampant through Full-Tilt’s most nosebleed-inducing stakes, and durrrr was the unfortunate victim. Durrrr has never been considered “cool”, but he was always respected as a player, and lauded by many as a messiah of the modern game. However, as the Isildur onslaught continued, durrrr’s reputation diminished quicker than his bankroll and his fans soon began to doubt his previously assumed talent. Isildur was the new king and it seemed as though durrrr was on the verge of becoming yesterday’s news.
Of course, poker fans are a fickle bunch, and within several months, durrrr was a fan favourite once again. Like the limescale in your bathroom, he just refused to go away, and despite what must have been a highly destructive experience, both financially and morally, he quickly set about making a comeback that would vanquish any questions people had about his capabilities as a poker player.
Whilst Isidlur’s roller coaster became less thrilling over multiple rides, crashing and burning with frustrating regularity, durrrr set about recuperating the four million plus he’d lost in 2009. At time of writing he is up almost $3.2 million for 2010 and is the biggest winner by a clear million. Meanwhile, he took a commanding position in the Durrrr Challenge, extending his lead over one of the game’s most respected talents to $1.8 million.
On High Stakes Poker he shone once again, sending the table into a spin with his unrelenting aggression and unpredictable playing style. He was the one guy who you could sense the other players didn’t want to mess with, as they knew he could put them to a decision for all their chips. And if you ever want to recover respect, then firing three barrels against Phil Ivey with nine high can’t be a bad start. If there’s one thing you can say about durrrrr, it’s that the boy’s got balls.
I must confess that I jumped upon the bandwagon, hailing Isildur as a God of poker, despite his similarities to our old friend BlueScouse, and challenging the status of durrrr as one of the game’s greats. After all, how can someone who demolishes half their bankroll (an assumption, I admit) in such a short time span be recognised as a formidable force in an industry where success is so heavily centred around profit. And isn’t heads-up cash the purest form of poker? If so, how come this new fella just rinsed the world’s best player for millions?
There was one day, however, where my opinion changed and I hopped off the bandwagon with a restored faith. The date was November 19, 2009, and durrrr was on Day Two of his Million Dollar Challenge, a series of three consecutive heads-up cash matches in which participants would stump up £500,000 and either go bust or complete a maximum of 500 hands. His opponent for the day was Ilhari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies, and after 12 hours of play, durrrr finished the day with a deficit of $68,000.
On the surface, losing to Ziigmund doesn’t seem like much of an achievement, but from my perspective, it was one of the most remarkable performances I’d witnessed for a long time. Firstly, they were playing Pot Limit Omaha and Ziigmund is recognised as one of the game’s most fearsome Omaha players. Secondly, durrrr was at the tail end of an Isildur ambush in which his losses for the year had surpassed the five million mark, the majority of which had occurred over the course of the last few weeks. Thirdly, durrrr was physically and, one would assume, mentally exhausted. The day prior he’d played 12 hours against Marcello ‘luckexpress10’ Marigliano only for the game to end in a stalemate, the Italian veteran leaving several thousand to the good. After the encounter, durrrr headed straight to his hotel room to play online throughout the night. As a result, he could barely keep his eyes open against Ziigmund, knocking back Red-Bulls as if they were Jelly Babies and periodically drifting off at the table like a narcolepsy sufferer.
For most players, never mind a player of Ziigmund’s ilk, playing any opponent in this state would seem easy pickings. But this wasn’t just “any opponent”, this was Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan, and after 12 hours, of which the final few were at increased stakes, durrrr was still playing an optimal game, matching Ziigmund step-for-step. It would have been easy to make that one costly mistake, or to decide to ‘go for it’ on the final few hands in order to avoid a second straight defeat in front of new sponsors and a television audience that were already doubting his abilities, but durrrr somehow maintained his focus to finish with his head held high and his bankroll in tact.
It was at this point that I realised durrrr wasn’t your average player. I don’t use this term frequently, but it was obvious to me that durrrr was a ‘freak of nature’, a poker prodigy, and a machine who was undeterred by any of the aforementioned setbacks that would send most players into meltdown. I suddenly realised that durrrr was going nowhere and that when Chip Reese made his ‘Ask me again in 20 years’ comment when asked if he thought a certain young up-and-comer was a good player, durrrr was one of the few that would fall into the category of actually still being around.
The following day, durrrr tackled Sammy George, a high-rolling London-based cash player. As many predicted, Sammy couldn’t quite match up to durrrr, and despite pulling in a highly credible performance, lost a whopping $796,000, including a remarkable pot in which he folded two pair to durrrr’s bluff with seven-deuce. Again, durrrr had played a near impeccable game against a fresher-faced opponent.
After his final encounter, I took a rare opportunity to speak to durrrr about his performance. I knew he would be fatigued, but I wanted to meet him in person and ask him about the last three days with the intention of throwing in an Isildur related question without him noticing. The venue for the Challenge was Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair, London, and I was invited to join durrrr in the restaurant upstairs for a brief, but hopefully interesting chat.
The first thing that struck me about durrrr was that he was unique in his mannerisms. Away from the felt, his poker face would evaporate, and his face would convulse uncontrollably as he mulled over a question. He seemed easily distracted, and you could sense his mind constantly wandering. Now and then, his eyes would glance into the upper corners of their socket and peer upwards as if alerted to a cobweb on the ceiling that he has a sudden urge to remove.
“Eddie [Hearn] got in contact with me about it,” said durrrr as I asked him how the Challenge got off the ground. “We discussed a bunch or ideas and eventually came up with this live challenge. I’d met him before at the Premier League about a year ago, and I was always late for everything, so, at first, I don’t think he was my biggest fan. But he's a very good guy and runs a bunch of good poker shows and we've become very friendly in the last year.”
Durrrr has to be one of the most media cautious players that I’ve stumbled across. Whilst FullFlush (the anti-durrrr, some might say) is happy to label opponents “gay” and metaphorically stick his middle finger up to the poker world, durrrr is self conscious about everything he says, and will do his utmost to avoid offending anyone. If you were to ask him if he thought a known fish was good player, he’d likely commence with a compliment. He may simply have been brought up to be cordial, or perhaps he is shrewd enough not to tap the aquarium, but either way, he never seems to have a bad thing to say about anyone.
“The guys who accepted the challenge are all great players,” he continued. “Obviously, I’d rather they had absolutely no idea how to play, or came in saying, ‘What’s a big blind?’ and moved all in every hand, but they were tough to play against in the end. I’m pretty friendly with all three of them and they were a lot of fun to play with, but I won a lot of money, so I have no regrets.”
“With everything that’s happened recently,” I prodded, trying to up the ante, “and given your new sponsorship deal, did you feel any kind of pressure heading into the Challenge?”
Read Part Two...
Les Ambassadurrrrs – Day One
Les Ambassadurrrrs – Day Two
Les Ambassadurrrrs – Day Three
For more high profile interviews see:
Phil Ivey
Patrik Antonius
John Juanda
Ian Frazer
Annette Obrestad
James Akenhead
Richard Ashby
Sammy George
Roland De Wolfe
Jeff Lisandro
Freddy Deeb
Barry Greenstein
Phil Laak