Tom Dwan Poker Player

• Poker Tom Dwan
• Tom Dwan Wife
• How Rich Is Tom Dwan
• Tom Dwan Now

Well, maybe not. Type in 'Gay Poker Players' into Google and Tom Dwan's name is bound to come up more than any other single poker pro. Dwan seems to take the speculation well. Let's face it, when. Dwan on High Stakes Poker Having recently played in every session of the new High Stakes Poker, Dwan reminisced about his first experience playing on the show. 'The first few times I played High. Tom Dwan, also known as Durrr, is one of the best young poker pro players that helds some amazing records. Learn everything about him. Tom Dwan Biography. Tom Dwan is an American poker pro, commonly known online by his username ‘durrrr'. While Dwan initially grew his bankroll playing online, he rose to prominence after great success.

Poker Tom Dwan

Two years after parting ways with Full Tilt, Tom ‘durrrr' Dwan is off the poker community's radar. Several threads with hundreds of posts have been opened on 2+2 forums since then and still no clear answer. Nobody really knows Dwan's whereabouts and his recent poker history. Is he playing in Macau? What stakes does he play? Why doesn't he play online anymore? Why doesn't he play any major live tournaments? Is he broke? Will he finish the Durrrr Challenge? Has he changed his name into Timmy Dean? And what does the notorious violent Macau's 14K Triad have to do with ‘durrrr'?

• Tom Dwan Wins $985K Pot on High Stakes Poker 2021 seems to have got off to a good start for High stakes pro Tom Dwan. One of the participants on the latest episode of the 'High Stakes Poker' that was aired on PokerGO on Wednesday, Dwan took down a monstrous $985K pot in what you can call one of the biggest pots of the season so far!
• Poker icons do not come any bigger than Tom Dwan, the 33-year old New Jersey legend spending a decade and a half at the forefront of the game and involved in some of the biggest stories to ever.

In other words, lots of question,s and not a lot of clear answers. Luckily though for you Dwan fanboys, here at PokerTube we've done thorough research on the matter, connected the dots and came up with the following answers.

It All Started With...Dan ‘jungleman' Cates and Black Friday

We all know Dwan was the spoiled wizkid of the poker community at the beginning of the decade. He was crushing the nosebleeds and his confidence was off the charts. He believed in his abilities so strongly that he offered 3:1 odds to anyone who could beat him heads-up over a 50,000 hand span.

That's when Daniel ‘jungleman' Cates entered the scene accepting the ‘Durrrr Challenge' and the odds that were just too good to turn down. The stage was set: if Cates lost, he would have to give Dwan $500,000. If he won, Dwan would have to pay him $1.5 million. The heads-up battle started in 2010 with the two playing around 20,000 hands online. Cates was clearly ahead with an impressive profit of $1.3 million. But the challenge came to a sudden halt in the spring of 2011.

Full Tilt and PokerStars were shut down and the players' bankrolls were seized by the American authorities. As a result, Dwan and Cates couldn't continue the challenge.They instead had to look elsewhere in order to get action so they tried out the live games in Las Vegas and Macau. That's when the first rumors of the million dollar stacks in Macau appeared.

In November 2012, Full Tilt reopened and Cates was eager to finish the challenge and boost his bankroll with $1.5 million. However, Dwan wasn't into playing online poker anymore probably because the live games were much more soft and rewarding. According to HighStakesDB, ‘‘durrrr' played under 100,000 hands throughout the course of 2012 and 2013 and only 2,500 were part of the ‘Durrrr Challenge.'

Dwan's Big Issue with FTP and jungleman

On December 2013, Tom Dwan parted ways with Full Tilt Poker. Two months later, he said in an interview he had a ‘big issue' with FTP but refused to reveal more. In the upcoming months, he had an even bigger issue with Cates who wanted to finish the $1.5 million challenge. ‘durrrr' wasn't that interested although he agreed according to Cates to pay $40,000 for every two months without progress in the challenge. ‘jungleman' threatened to reveal certain aspects of Dwan's private life and the poker community sided with him. Yet, Dwan was unfazed. His camera appearances were fewer and fewer to the point that nobody knew what was up with him. The only sources of information were his Twitter account, a bunch of social media photos, and the Macau illegal sports betting scandal.

The Triad and the Emergence of 'Timmy Dean'

In the summer of 2014, Paul Phua and his son Darren along with Richard Yong and his son Wai Kin, all friends of Dwan, were arrested in Las Vegas. According to several reports, ‘durrrr' helped the Phuas cause and paid alongside Phil Ivey and Andrew Robl the $2.5 million bail. He also helped one of Phua's friends with a place to stay during the trial. And if we also add this Instagram photo to the mix, we can clearly see that Dwan was enjoying himself a year ago:

A photo posted by Jean-Robert Bellande (brokelivingjrb) on

Paying a huge bail? Helping a Macau friend? A house in Las Vegas? Partying with Survivor: China Jean-Robert Bellande? Not that broke, don't you think? ‘durrrr' has clearly made some influential friends in Macau while playing the highest stakes. Some reports talk of stakes as high as HKD50,000/HKD100,000 or $6,000/$12,000 with $500,000 and $1,000,000 stacks. Last year, Card Player Latin America reported about HKD200 million ($25 million) winnings for Dwan denied by the American. He posted on 2+2:

This was Timmy Dean in early 2014. Yes, that's right Timmy Dean, the new and improved Tom Dwan. Since Phua was linked with the notorious 14K Triad - one of the largest international criminal organizations in the world with an estimated 25,000 members - Dwan was also a link in the eyes of the poker community. Many joke that the American is the usual ‘white puppet boy' of the Triad used to entertain and to fill their bank accounts (many suspect he is actually staked by them; there wouldn't be any other way to play comfortably at those limits). What better way to do that than letting him loose at the poker table? To better Americanize the image of the ‘white boy', the users played with words coming up with a new name for Dwan: Timmy Dean. They also made countless poems to mark the occasion. One of them sounds like this:

Done Triad wrong

Swim with fishes

All night wong

Dwan Today: More Macau and ‘Durrrr Challenge'

But enough with jokes: where is ‘durrrr' now? What is he doing? Does he play poker anymore? Of course he does! Do not mind those rumors saying he's broke living in someone's basement. He's alive and kicking hard. In May 2015, he was present at the Poker King Club grand opening alongside Ivey, a sign that he's already a man of the house in Macau.

My fine for being 90minutes late and in sweatpants was a pokerking patch pic.twitter.com/8klfWDamHB

— Tom Dwan (TomDwan) 22 mai 2015

Later in the summer Cates made an interesting announcement on 2+2 saying that he solved his problem with Dwan and the challenge would hopefully be completed in the next nine-months (jungleman posted on July 27, 2015).

We have completed 25k hands roughly. Tom and I have had some disputes but I believe we have essentially resolved them . The challenge is agreed to be played out in the next 9 months (God-willing). I think tom intends on finishing the challenge but has been distracted by things of great importance... In addition Black Friday greatly hindered our progress.

Winfred Yu, President of the Poker King Club also reignited the ‘durrrr' topic stating in an interview at the APPT9 Manilla about Dwan's involvement in the highest cash games in the Philippines. He with Cates and Ivey played and may still be playing stakes as high as $5,000/$10,000 Six-Plus Hold'em - same as the classic NLHE only that the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s are removed from the deck to make the game more about gambling and less about skill.

The Conclusion: Dwan's still at the poker tables

The short answer to the burning question: What Happened to Tom Dwan? He's still at the poker tables. Maybe not as we are used to - not in the online environment, his last activity on FT according to HighStakesDB was on December 15, 2013 on 2+2, his last activity was on January 24, 2015 - but definitely on the live green felt.

Celebrity Alert at the Poker King Club: @TomDwan joins in on the fun at the poker tables! Hey Tom! #PokerkingClubpic.twitter.com/bPqfBSUb5Q

— Poker King Club (@PokerKingClub) 9 octombrie 2015

As you can see, Tom is still a poker player even if he decided to avoid the scrutiny of the poker community. With a little bit of luck, we may also see him in the upcoming months battling with ‘jungleman' and finally ending the ‘Durrrr Challenge' and his online poker career.

Because the juiciest games have gone live in places like Macau.

Table Of Contents

'I think this might be the only podcast I've ever done.'

After 80 minutes of enthralling conversation, this wasn't the biggest takeaway fans had from Brandon Adams' recent podcast with poker legend Tom Dwan, but it certainly was one of the more surprising.

The pair naturally spent time on poker, including Dwan's origins and mental approach to the game, but also touched on the election, the US economy, and the status of legalized online US sports betting.

You can check out the podcast episode for yourself below.

Dwan on High Stakes Poker

Having recently played in every session of the new High Stakes Poker, Dwan reminisced about his first experience playing on the show.

'The first few times I played High Stakes Poker, I think my no-limit game was quite a bit sharper than most peoples. And the gap was pretty big. So I was able to get away with playing a bunch of hands. Plus it was fun and obviously, it was my first time playing on TV. I was trying to play more hands and everything worked out.

'When I was bluffing, it would work out. When I had it, people would pay me off. I just ran really well. Now a lot of people's no-limit games are sharper; I haven't played much no-limit lately so my game isn't super sharp. But these are deep-stacked games and sometimes, people use goofy sizes.'

Related: 'Tom Dwan Is Not Kidnapped and Not Part of the Triads'

Tom Dwan Wife

First Taste of Live Poker

Dwan said that his first experience of live poker was at the Vic in London, which hosted the European Poker Tour stop for the first five seasons. He subsequently went to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure where he encountered Jean-Robert Bellande.

'I was watching him playing $25/$50, and in a single-raised pot, he called 20k in a 70k pot with ace-jack on a jack-high board.

'I thought to myself 'what is this idiot doing'! And then he won the pot! Coming from online where this never happened, I started thinking: 'maybe I should start learning about this live poker thing'!'

WATCH: Tom Dwan - 'The Games in Macau Are A Little Bigger Than They Used to Be'

Dwan the Student

With over $3m in live earnings according to The Hendon Mob, Dwan admits his transition from online to live had a learning curve to it.

'Back then it wasn't easy to get high-level poker education. I knew I had played more hands in the last year than the guys [at the table], and there were certain strategic things or concepts that I knew better, but I tried to learn from a lot of the people playing live stuff that they knew that I didn't.'

'Back then it wasn't easy to get high-level poker education...'

This included live tells, an alien concept to an online crusher, as well as the problems that boredom has on a live player at the table.

'Things like where you don't get a hand for an hour, so you bluff it off. Because you're not multi-tabling at home more comfortably.'

How Rich Is Tom Dwan

Dwan says that if someone came up with a new game, he'd be good at it. But the learning process was the important part.

'How good you were at a new game wasn't important day one, but it's how fast you learn and pick up from other people.'

If you're enjoying PokerNews live updates from this event, be sure to check out our sister site Oddschecker US, an all-inclusive sports betting portal offering odds, tips and offers from sports including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer

Tom Dwan Now

The Future of Poker

Before the pandemic, Dwan had switched his attention to live short deck with some 'pretty big' short deck games going on for a while. However, his days of grinding for an entire day may be behind him.

Read More: Where You Can Play Online Poker In Pennsylvania

'Over the last few years I don't feel as sharp after 20-30 hours as I used to, but I also haven't played that many long sessions. So it's probably part of it. I'm more out of practice. I used to have those much more regularly.'

As well as playing, Dwan still keeps an eye on legislative developments, especially in the United States. He believes there is an opportunity for sites to expand, as long as they police bots and cheaters 'aggressively.'

'I think there's a large opportunity coming with the US opening up'

'People in the US love poker and they haven't had an easy way to play since Black Friday. I think there's a large opportunity coming with the US opening up. If sites police it well, I could see there being somewhat of a golden age. Maybe not quite as much as the first...'

Dwan repeated the concept of a 'golden age' on numerous occasions, especially as part of the wider legal gambling space that poker could be a part of.

Related: Online Poker in Michigan: Who Will Be There from the Start?

Done Triad wrong

Swim with fishes

All night wong

Dwan Today: More Macau and ‘Durrrr Challenge'

But enough with jokes: where is ‘durrrr' now? What is he doing? Does he play poker anymore? Of course he does! Do not mind those rumors saying he's broke living in someone's basement. He's alive and kicking hard. In May 2015, he was present at the Poker King Club grand opening alongside Ivey, a sign that he's already a man of the house in Macau.

My fine for being 90minutes late and in sweatpants was a pokerking patch pic.twitter.com/8klfWDamHB

— Tom Dwan (TomDwan) 22 mai 2015

Later in the summer Cates made an interesting announcement on 2+2 saying that he solved his problem with Dwan and the challenge would hopefully be completed in the next nine-months (jungleman posted on July 27, 2015).

We have completed 25k hands roughly. Tom and I have had some disputes but I believe we have essentially resolved them . The challenge is agreed to be played out in the next 9 months (God-willing). I think tom intends on finishing the challenge but has been distracted by things of great importance... In addition Black Friday greatly hindered our progress.

Winfred Yu, President of the Poker King Club also reignited the ‘durrrr' topic stating in an interview at the APPT9 Manilla about Dwan's involvement in the highest cash games in the Philippines. He with Cates and Ivey played and may still be playing stakes as high as $5,000/$10,000 Six-Plus Hold'em - same as the classic NLHE only that the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s are removed from the deck to make the game more about gambling and less about skill.

The Conclusion: Dwan's still at the poker tables

The short answer to the burning question: What Happened to Tom Dwan? He's still at the poker tables. Maybe not as we are used to - not in the online environment, his last activity on FT according to HighStakesDB was on December 15, 2013 on 2+2, his last activity was on January 24, 2015 - but definitely on the live green felt.

Celebrity Alert at the Poker King Club: @TomDwan joins in on the fun at the poker tables! Hey Tom! #PokerkingClubpic.twitter.com/bPqfBSUb5Q

— Poker King Club (@PokerKingClub) 9 octombrie 2015

As you can see, Tom is still a poker player even if he decided to avoid the scrutiny of the poker community. With a little bit of luck, we may also see him in the upcoming months battling with ‘jungleman' and finally ending the ‘Durrrr Challenge' and his online poker career.

Because the juiciest games have gone live in places like Macau.

Table Of Contents

'I think this might be the only podcast I've ever done.'

After 80 minutes of enthralling conversation, this wasn't the biggest takeaway fans had from Brandon Adams' recent podcast with poker legend Tom Dwan, but it certainly was one of the more surprising.

The pair naturally spent time on poker, including Dwan's origins and mental approach to the game, but also touched on the election, the US economy, and the status of legalized online US sports betting.

You can check out the podcast episode for yourself below.

Dwan on High Stakes Poker

Having recently played in every session of the new High Stakes Poker, Dwan reminisced about his first experience playing on the show.

'The first few times I played High Stakes Poker, I think my no-limit game was quite a bit sharper than most peoples. And the gap was pretty big. So I was able to get away with playing a bunch of hands. Plus it was fun and obviously, it was my first time playing on TV. I was trying to play more hands and everything worked out.

'When I was bluffing, it would work out. When I had it, people would pay me off. I just ran really well. Now a lot of people's no-limit games are sharper; I haven't played much no-limit lately so my game isn't super sharp. But these are deep-stacked games and sometimes, people use goofy sizes.'

Related: 'Tom Dwan Is Not Kidnapped and Not Part of the Triads'

Tom Dwan Wife

First Taste of Live Poker

Dwan said that his first experience of live poker was at the Vic in London, which hosted the European Poker Tour stop for the first five seasons. He subsequently went to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure where he encountered Jean-Robert Bellande.

'I was watching him playing $25/$50, and in a single-raised pot, he called 20k in a 70k pot with ace-jack on a jack-high board.

'I thought to myself 'what is this idiot doing'! And then he won the pot! Coming from online where this never happened, I started thinking: 'maybe I should start learning about this live poker thing'!'

WATCH: Tom Dwan - 'The Games in Macau Are A Little Bigger Than They Used to Be'

Dwan the Student

With over $3m in live earnings according to The Hendon Mob, Dwan admits his transition from online to live had a learning curve to it.

'Back then it wasn't easy to get high-level poker education. I knew I had played more hands in the last year than the guys [at the table], and there were certain strategic things or concepts that I knew better, but I tried to learn from a lot of the people playing live stuff that they knew that I didn't.'

'Back then it wasn't easy to get high-level poker education...'

This included live tells, an alien concept to an online crusher, as well as the problems that boredom has on a live player at the table.

'Things like where you don't get a hand for an hour, so you bluff it off. Because you're not multi-tabling at home more comfortably.'

How Rich Is Tom Dwan

Dwan says that if someone came up with a new game, he'd be good at it. But the learning process was the important part.

'How good you were at a new game wasn't important day one, but it's how fast you learn and pick up from other people.'

If you're enjoying PokerNews live updates from this event, be sure to check out our sister site Oddschecker US, an all-inclusive sports betting portal offering odds, tips and offers from sports including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer

Tom Dwan Now

The Future of Poker

Before the pandemic, Dwan had switched his attention to live short deck with some 'pretty big' short deck games going on for a while. However, his days of grinding for an entire day may be behind him.

Read More: Where You Can Play Online Poker In Pennsylvania

'Over the last few years I don't feel as sharp after 20-30 hours as I used to, but I also haven't played that many long sessions. So it's probably part of it. I'm more out of practice. I used to have those much more regularly.'

As well as playing, Dwan still keeps an eye on legislative developments, especially in the United States. He believes there is an opportunity for sites to expand, as long as they police bots and cheaters 'aggressively.'

'I think there's a large opportunity coming with the US opening up'

'People in the US love poker and they haven't had an easy way to play since Black Friday. I think there's a large opportunity coming with the US opening up. If sites police it well, I could see there being somewhat of a golden age. Maybe not quite as much as the first...'

Dwan repeated the concept of a 'golden age' on numerous occasions, especially as part of the wider legal gambling space that poker could be a part of.

Related: Online Poker in Michigan: Who Will Be There from the Start?

'Sports over the next few years...it's pretty unlikely it doesn't play out. There are different scenarios where it could be bigger or smaller. But with poker, a lot depends on how aggressive the operators are on how to level the playing field, and there's not one answer.

'Hopefully it happens, but we'll see. It's still undecided, but if it happens there could be a really good spot for poker in the next few years'