Live in London

Back in July 2009, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and Matchroom Sport’s managing director Eddie Hearn got their heads together and decided to take the Durrrr Challenge that has captivated online poker fans out of cyberspace and into a live arena. Durrrr would be going face-to-face with his opponents over 500 hands.

Sammy “Any Two” George was the first man to stump up the $500,000 to take on Durrrr but we had to wait a while until the line-up was complete. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies and Marcello Marigliano signed up in mid-November and the challenge was ready to roll by the end of that month.

Of course, gossip and rumour are part and parcel of an event of this size, and as Durrrr found a new online nemesis in “Isildur1”, the whispers on the Internet began. How much has he lost? How much has he got left? Who is Isildur1? And, most worryingly, I bet he doesn’t do the live challenge!

The first three points were open for debate but the final one was never in doubt, as Durrrr typed into the chat-box during one of his tussles with Isildur1 that he was leaving for London the next day.

After holding the World Open in the Palm Beach Casino, both the players and crew got a taste for the unique atmosphere generated by the clientele and it was clear that something similar would be preferable over a TV studio for the Durrrr Challenge. So Durrrr would sit down with his three opponents at the Les Ambassadeurs club in Mayfair, and the exclusive members only venue had set a room aside for Tom to lock horns over three days with Marcello, Ziigmund, and Sammy. The sight of a TV crew stomping through their opulent corridors had the staff cringing at first as gear was lugged in and cables lined the floors, but the final result was a dramatic setting that was ready to host something a little bit special.

Where was the star of the show while this was happening? Well, tenpin bowling of course. Sammy and Roland de Wolfe had been bowling with Durrrr during the World Open and the show’s producers decided to take them to the lanes to catch them off-guard and get some interviews. So Sammy, Ziigmund, and Durrrr began this high-stakes event surrounded by children and larking about in the lanes. The only difference between them and the kids was that they were playing for ten grand a strike of course. There was one man missing from the festivities though, as Marcello left the tomfoolery to the younger men in the challenge and the little-known Italian stayed in his hotel to prepare for opening the event the next day.

Marigliano, known as “luckexpress” online, certainly looked the part for his match, pandering to the stereotype of the slick Milanese gent in a sharp black suit and sunglasses. Whether or not it was intentional it certainly added to his mystique — few people claimed to know him and those who did, could say little more than that they had seen him on high stakes cash games on Full Tilt and Betfair.

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan Vs. Marcello Marigliano
Once Durrrr arrived, we were quickly off-and-running, no-limit hold’em was the game of choice, although the rules stipulated the players could change to pot-limit Omaha if they desired. As expected, the early exchanges were a cagey affair and mirrored a Sunday league football match played in front of one man and his dog; casinos on a week day lunchtime rarely reach fever pitch.

Durrrr edged $50,000 ahead before a technical delay briefly halted proceedings — “We can start again if you like?” joked Marigliano — but as they returned, the serenity was blown open by the biggest pot so far. Marcello raised the button to $2,500 and then called Durrrr’s three-bet. Dwan led out with $16,500 on the 8-6-3 rainbow flop and Marcello called. A four on the turn saw $35,500 from Tom and another call, watched closely by the crowd that had swelled from the park on Sunday to Premier League-sized. An eight came on the river for Durrrr to ponder for a few seconds before pushing $97,000 into the middle. Marcello’s reaction was instant and all in, for around the $150,000 mark. Durrrr met this with a disbelieving chuckle and threw away K-Q, and was aghast as Marcello showed K-9, his bluff meeting the approval of the rail which now included Durrrr’s final opponent Sammy George, along with de Wolfe, and Neil Channing, who provided analysis for the show which will air on SKY Sports in February.

After the excitement of the bluff had died down and Tom reloaded with another $250,000, Durrrr began to chip away at the Italian and after seven hours of play found himself $80,000 to the good and stretched further ahead before Marigliano’s prayers were answered by a dream flop.

The Italian raised with A-3 and called when Durrrr reraised with queens. The flop came A-A-3 and Marcello called Durrrr’s $11,000 bet, with Durrrr popping in $22,000 when a four came on the turn which Marcello reraised to $60,000 and Dwan called. A six on the river saw Marigliano move all-in and Durrrr folded, taking Marcello in front with a shade over his starting stack.

It was a lead he would consolidate around midnight as the pair both picked up hearts — 6-2 for Tom and Q-7 for Marcello — on a 10 5 3 flop. Durrrr put Marigliano all-in and the ace of hearts on the turn saw the Italian move $77,000 up.

As we hit 1 a.m., the pair decided to switch to pot-limit Omaha for the final hour of play and Durrrr set about closing the gap, but time defeated the American and Marigliano could be proud of his day’s efforts, ending the day $22,500 up on Durrrr.

“In the end I won a small amount but I’m happy though as I won with bluffs,” said Marcello. “He raised a lot preflop and you have to play tight but I made some good moves and I’m happy I proved I can play with Tom.”

“It was a really aggressive match,” said Dwan. “There was a time when Marcello folded 20 hands in a row then the next hand he picked up a gutshot and decided to win the 150k out there. But he made two really good reads and without either one of them he ends up down 50k or so but instead he’s up. They were key hands really and there were some other big hands but it was an interesting match — of course I wish I’d won.

“It’s so crazy that at the end there was just a 25k difference — that’s absurd. It’s so unlikely that one of us didn’t lose 500k. I was up 150k at one or two points and down 200k — but it still wasn’t as swingy as I thought it would be, we didn’t have many big hand versus big hand spots, or even medium hand versus medium hand spots. I expect there to be more action in the matches with Ziigmund and Sammy George.”

A long opening day over, the majority of those involved dragged themselves to the nearest bed to prepare for two more similar days — except for Durrrr. He retired to his room and embarked on another mammoth session online with Isildur1, so when we returned the next day, the buzz again was on how much Tom had surrendered to his mystery opponent.

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan Vs. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies
When the man himself arrived, a rather theatrical hush fell about the place as the weary Durrrr bumped into all and sundry on his way to the seat he would occupy for 12 more hours of heads-up action, this time all pot-limit Omaha. Opposite him sat Ziigmund, fresh as a daisy and itching to get underway. Two of the best Omaha players in the world were ready for action, but one of them had barely slept in three days.

The tiredness certainly showed and after two hours of play, Durrrr was down to under half of his starting stack and bought in to add another $250,000. However it didn’t change his fortunes. Dwan bet $5,000 on the A 7 4 flop with 8 5 5 4 and Ziigmund reraised to $21,000 with A K 7 2.

Durrrr came back with $58,000 and the Finn called. The ace of spades on the turn saw both players check for the five of hearts to come on the river. Durrrr bet $36,000 only for Ziigmund to reraise and take the pot with Tom looking pretty fed up with life.

But respite for Durrrr was just around the corner as a couple of hands later he moved all in on a 9 5 3 flop holding Q 10 8 5 against Ziigmund’s A A J 6 and it looked like Dwan’s day would be over. But the five of diamonds was a godsend on the turn and an innocuous deuce on the river doubled him through. Another short break saw some $5,000-a-point Chinese poker between the pair and Durrrr looked like a new man, so much so he had to fend off one well-lubricated lady who accosted him as the pair resumed play and asked for his hand in marriage, but he swatted her aside with aplomb to concentrate on getting ahead.

Durrrr worked and worked and eventually reached parity as the game clock neared seven hours, and as Ziigmund added an additional $250,000 to the table, they both had $500,000 in front of them. They raised the blinds from $500-$1,000 to $2,000-$4,000 and the lead chopped and changed before an explosive ending with less than 30 minutes before the 2 a.m. cut-off.

On the K K 3 8 board, Durrrr held K J 8 7 and called Ziigmund’s bet with the Finn clutching A K 7 3. The five of diamonds came on the river, Ziigmund bet $60,000, Durrrr reraised to $194,000, and Ziigmund called. Durrrr tabled a full house to end the day $68,000 ahead. After falling to Marcello the day before and then taking on Isildur1 overnight, the American showed real guts to get ahead in the challenge with one day left.

“It was a tough game but a great one at the same time,” said Dwan. “There were some huge pots, and in the end it could’ve gone either way really, but after losing out against Marcello I’m delighted to have won today and I’m looking forward to taking on Sammy tomorrow.

“I was a pretty tired after playing 12 hours the night before on Full Tilt, but I think the fact I was playing Ziigmund and that the challenge is an important one helped me through.”

Ziigmund said, “I played badly in the last five hours and made six or so bad calls in the last half an hour but we played for such a long time that I was a little bit tired. It was a tough game but fun at the same time.

“I was in front around 250k and Tom moved all in, I was small favourite but Tom won it and then a few hours later the same happened with me all in and Tom the favourite but I won, so there were a lot of swings in the game. In the end Durrrr won $68,000 but really that’s nothing in this game, it was one of the toughest I’ve ever played in and it was great to be involved.”

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan Vs. Sammy “Any Two” George
And so we reached the final day with a first for the week — a well rested Tom Dwan. In his way stood the first player to accept the challenge, the local man Sammy “Any Two” George. The affable Londoner had a keen army of followers with him, and there were more than one or two people suggesting that his unpredictable approach to the game could cause Durrrr some problems.

After one hour of no-limit hold’em action, that threat edged towards a promise as George moved $100,000 in front inside the first hour. The pair agreed that a “seven-deuce” game would make for some fun side-bet action with $10,000 to the man who won a pot showing that hand, and Sammy was the one to make it count, first winning a hand with it, then bluffing Tom off the hand on a 9-9-7-Q-10 board with a $42,000 bet on the river with 8-5 which Tom folded to. It wasn’t the last we were to see of that particular game though.

George’s joy was not to last however and it was a traditional car-crash hand that would see him bust after a couple of hours. Durrrr picked up aces and raised, and Sammy reraised with A-K. The American popped it up to $30,000, Sammy to $113,000, and then he called Durrrr’s all-in move. The board was devoid of royalty and Sammy reached behind him and pulled out another $250,000. The game was still on but the momentum was all Tom’s.

Another rebuy for Sammy followed soon as Durrrr moved over $350,000 in front of his opponent, but the real pivotal point of the game was just around the corner as the seven-deuce game was about to bite George.

Durrrr picked up 7s 2h and on the Ah Jh 6h 3c 3d board he moved all-in for $400,000. Sammy held two-pair with Ad 6c and thought for what seemed an age — in reality around five minutes — before folding, and looking sick as Tom revealed the bluff with a $10,000 bonus to rub salt in the wound.

After a couple of gruelling days of action, Durrrr was positively brimming now, inside at least. Dwan continued to show little emotion but he was well on top and after a brief period of Omaha action — “For a bit of a break and to mix things up,” Sammy later explained — Durrrr finished the job with under an hour left to play, and Sammy with under $100,000.

George moved all in with 9 4 on the 7 6 4 flop and Tom called with A 7. The turn and river ran 6 2, and Sammy was a goner. The first live Durrrr Challenge ended with Dwan finishing $796,000 to the good over three days, with $750,000 of that coming from Sammy.

“I don’t think I played too well today,” said Durrrr. “I just think I happened to get a bunch of hands, like I don’t think Sammy played badly he just happened to be on the wrong side of some tough spots. It’s easy to look like a genius when you have the best hand every time, and easy to not look like one when you get beat every hand.

“I caught a lot of hands tonight, he made a bunch of folds to me and all but one of them was right. He made a few pretty tough folds like when he had a pair of kings and I hit the flush on the river, I thought he played really well that I saw at least. He happened to make one big fold that was wrong but it was a pretty impossible call there. I am bluffing with any hand I get to the river with that isn’t a pair or better, but it’s so rare that I get to the river without a pair so his fold is pretty reasonable and I would make the same fold just about every time.”

“Basically the story of the night is Sammy catching cards early when I had nothing and me catching cards late when he had second-best hands and in just about every case there was nothing he could do,” said Durrrr. “Right at the end he was justifiably pretty tilted and you can’t blame him as he still had some outs.”

“I don’t feel that I could have played those hands any better,” said George. “The last hand of the night I was a bit tilty, but Tom even told me he was hitting the river and I’m sure when it’s watched back people will see that. The turning point was the bluff with the 7-2 when I had the two pair but I cannot call there for three times the pot. The game was in his favour, he was hitting cards and rivering cards but I respect Tom a lot and always will and we’ll play many more times. He’s one of the best in the world and I think he’s up there with Phil Ivey and Patrick Antonius. I took on the challenge and I think when people see the show they will have a different opinion of me from what they had before.”

As the welcoming hosts, Les Ambassadeurs, saw their club return to its former glory, those involved were left to reflect on three days of enthralling action. How the action will be received will become apparent when the show hits the screens, but what was apparent is that Durrrr is hungry for more and has a new and exciting platform to operate on.

“The last three days have been a rollercoaster of swings and emotions,” said Hearn. “All-in-all, the event was a huge success and we are already in talks to take the challenge to the States early next year.” As the over-used phrase goes — watch this space.