Tournament Trail Q and A -- Tom DwanDwan Talks About Playing Poker for the Highest Stakes Around |
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Tom Dwan likes to play for the highest stakes in the world, as many of you know from the Durrrr Challenge. Dwan is currently facing off against Patrik Antonius, who was one of the first players to accept the challenge, and Dwan just regained the lead this week. Before these two began their epic high-stakes match online, they faced off at the Aussie Millions Million Dollar Cash Game in January. Antonius got the better of their heads-up match in Australia, setting the stage for a tense showdown in subsequent months.
Card Player caught up with Dwan after the match, and he talked about the warm-up for their online main event.
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Ryan Lucchesi: How did you approach Patrik Antonius during the match?
Tom Dwan: We’ve played a lot, and this wasn’t really much different. We haven’t played much heads-up live, but we have played a lot online. It didn’t work out, but that’s going to happen sometimes, obviously.
RL: When you have played an opponent as much as you and Patrik have, and you guys know so much about each other’s game, how many levels ahead are you thinking?
TD: I had a few pretty big folds, so we’ll see when it airs.
RL: Playing to the strengths, you have the advantage online while Patrik has the edge live, due to experience. How large is your advantage online going to be against Patrik’s advantage live, and vice versa?
TD: I think that live it helps him a little bit, but it’s very inconsequential. I think he plays better than me live, but I think I’m competent enough that it’s not a huge thing.
RL: Would you agree the Patrik is especially hard to read because he is so emotionless at the table?
TD: Most good players are really hard to read. David Benyamine would be a great example of somebody who is always moving around and talking a lot who is still hard to read live. If somebody is smart enough and thinking about enough, you can’t gain reads off of little things they do, especially if they play poker very often at high stakes.
RL: In two hands tonight, you had Patrik dead to rights and he sucked out to beat you. Is it even harder to avoid going on tilt when you’re playing for such high stakes?
TD: I could have made a pretty hefty chunk on the second hand, but again, I got a lucky flop. Yeah, he got a lucky turn, but I got a lucky flop, so that’s poker, that’s going to happen.
RL: Do you think you can play for low stakes anymore, or do you need high stakes to keep you interested?
TD: I try to only play when I think I’m playing my best game. I try to not play poker too often because I think it’s a bad quality and it can deteriorate your game.
RL: What’s the lowest amount you think you can play your best game for?
TD: If I needed to I think, I could play $10-$20, if there was a situation where I needed to play $10-$20. I think it’s important to never say, “I’ll only play high-stakes games.” I happen to think I’m a favorite in most of the games that run in the world that are no-limit or PLO [pot-limit Omaha], but to say you're only going to play if certain stakes are involved is not a great idea.
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