Tom "durrr" Dwan's Online Poker Challenge Gets Under Way with Patrik Antonius

February 20th, 2009 | 10:51 am

The Durrr Challenge has officially begun on Full Tilt Poker. Tom Dwan is offering to pay $1.5 million as an incentive to any player who could beat him over a span of 50,000 hands at four simultaneous heads up online tables at minimum stakes of $200-$400 in the players' choice of either Pot Limit Omaha or No Limit Texas Hold'em. The player who accepts Dwan's challenge would only be expected to ante in for $500,000.

After months of speculation and many arguments of whether the Tom "durrr" Dwan poker challenge would actually take place, the waiting is no longer; The Durrr Challenge has officially begun on Full Tilt. The challenge is a reference to the terms Dwan issued, offering to pay $1.5 million as an incentive to any player who could beat him over a span of 50,000 hands at four simultaneous heads up online tables at minimum stakes of $200-$400 in the players' choice of either pot limit Omaha or no limit Texas hold'em. The player who accepts Dwan's challenge would only be expected to ante in for $500,000. Full Tilt opened up special "Durrr Challenge tables" for the occasion.

Dwan issued an announcement that the challenge had already begun and stated that he and Patrik Antonius had already played 1,541 hands in their first session which is only approximately 3 percent of the 50,000 hands he requires. Dwan finished the first session ahead of Antonius with $134,911.50.

The young online poker star made the public poker challenge in January and it didn't take long before some of the top poker pros came knocking. Phil Ivey and David Benyamine showed initial interest in taking the 22 year old on then that same week Patrik Antonius followed suit, also accepting the challenge. After some of the details were hammered out such as schedule and the like, it was settled that the Finnish star would have the first chance to take Dwan out.

"I didn't have to persuade Phil and David too much (to let me go first)," Antonius said today."They know that they will get their chance after me." Antonius also commented that he expects the challenge to take anywhere between four and six months to complete. He is currently in Thailand and said that he and Dwan will get together to play as often as they can.

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