Poker Blog

I’ve been reading about poker training sites in forums and talking to my friends about them. There was speculation that the online poker games were getting too tough. I had taken allot of time off from poker since I have a young son, but recently I noticed I was falling behind and rusty in my poker thoughts. So I deposited $160.00 onto Full Tilt Poker to see if I could build a roll in low stakes. I was happy to find out they lowered the rake in low stakes rooms and added new micro limits. I started playing .05/.10 NL Holdem and 50 cent $1 stud / Horse poker. I also was playing small stakes tournaments. I won a horse tournament and was winning a NL holdem tournament but finished 4rth place. I built my roll from $160.00
to $650.00 in 3 days but have fallen to as low as $350.00. I’m at around $530.00 right now and have a feel for the games again. I can now assure you that the players in low limits up to 2/4 limit have no clue on how to play. I really think they should take the time and sign up at Cardrunners.com and watch the videos and read the Pro’s blogs. I should be higher but I suffer from a term called “schooling”. No I’m not being “schooled”, but rather, I raise and 5 people call. Limp call, limp call, etc etc. They are “schooling” together like fish and running down my big hands. So AAk is good hand in stud right? Its good against one or 2 people , but get 5 callers – one with 567 , another with 10dJd9d , another with QQ6 and another with 10c 4 c 2s, and finally one with 993, one of them is going to run you down. This is “unconscious collusion”. I’m going to go over to Cardrunners.com and see if any of the videos discuss multiple limp callers in limit games, to see how I can counter this. This has been a big issue for me in Omaha hi lo tournaments. Omaha hi lo is the game where this seems to happen the most. In conclusion, the low limit games at Full Tilt are easy to beat. Take a shot by depositing $150.00 and playing .5 .10 cent NL holdem at Full Tilt!

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It was a race to $1 Million at the Ivey Thunderdome between Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan aka Durrrr at Full Tilt Poker. Ivey was sitting with around $750,000 to durrr’s $250,000 when Ivey decided to finally turn the screws and finish durrrr off. Ivey kept the pressure on durrrr by taking a lot of large pots while allowing durrrr to take some blinds and smallish pots. However, in the end, “The Man” was too much for durrrr.

Ivey called a raise to $3,000 from durrrr and the flop hits 7s-6d-2c. Ivey bet $4,000 on the flop and durrr made the call. The turn fell the Ac and Ivey bet out $12,000. Durrrr makes the call. The river fell the 5s and Ivey checked to durrrr. Durrrr bet out $32,400 and Ivey check-raised to $123,000. Durrr wasted no time in folding and Ivey took down a $102,799.50 pot.

Later on, a mini raising war went on pre-flop that resulted in a $54,000 pot. The flop fell 3s-Ad-8s and Ivey potted. Durrr folded and Ivey took down a $53,999.50 pot.

Both players saw a flop of 6h-4d-Jd. Ivey bet out $4,000 and durrrr raised to $16,200. Ivey called. The turn fell the 10c and durrrr bet $23,600. Ivey called and the river fell the Kd. Ivey bet out $85,600 and durrr laid it down. Ivey took down a $85,559.50 pot.

Durrrr did actually win a decent pot at one point. All the money went in on a flop of Qh-8c-5h. Durrrr held both a straight and flush draw and Ivey had a set of fives. Durrr would fill out his flush on the turn and Ivey was unable to hit his boat. Durrrr takes down a $128,213.70 pot.

Durrr got his hand caught in the cookie jar on a flop of 2s-2h-6h. Ivey bet out $14,000 and durrrr raised to $42,200. After thinking a second, Ivey repopped it to $144,600 and durrrr folded quicker than a mortgage company in California. Ivey took down a $102,399.50 pot.

The final blow to durrrr came after a pre-flop raising war that left him all-in. Ivey called and showed As-Ad-2s-6s and durrrr showed Ah-Qh-Jd-3d. The flop all but sealed it for Ivey when the 9s-3s-8s hit the flop to give Ivey the nut flush. Durrrr picked up some hope on the turn when the Qs fell to give him two pair. However, the river card hit the Jc to give Ivey the $173,418.90 pot and to allow him to finish the session with over $1 Million.

Btw, Ivey also took another $5,000 in the form of a side bet that durrrr made with him. Durrrr challenged Ivey for a “first to $1 Million” bet during the session with the caveat that Ivey would lose if he left the table. (The bet was made when Ivey was at $850,000.)

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After a two day layoff, the 2nd session of the Million Dollar Challenge Match between Tom Dwan aka durrrr and Patrik Antonius kicked off Saturday around 2 p.m. Antonius had to borrow $300,000 from durrrr, and he was happy to oblige. Durrrr started the session up $134,911.50.

The first session between the two did not last long, but did serve to boost durrrr’s lead. After a brief session of 92 hands, durrrr was up $171,573 over Antonius. He then took off for lunch and Antonius prompted him to come back as he had “to go to sleep in two hours.” The lunch break wound up being extended as durrrr got involved in another high stakes game. After the game broke, the challenge resumed.

The post-lunch session started with Antonius taking a huge pot off durrrr to cut his deficit in half. The board showed 10d-9c-8c-5s when Antonius bet $13,200 in a $17,600 pot. Durrrr moved all-in for $46,177.50 total. Antonius only had $32,977.50 and made the call. Antonius showed Ah-Jh-Qs-7c for the nut straight and durrrr showed 7h-5h-6d-4d for the sucker end of the straight. The river 10h was meaningless and Antonius took down a $109,954.50 pot.

At this point, durrrr was only head $98,000 over Antonius, but in less than five minutes, he made back the money he lost. Antonius called the standard $3,600 raise pre-flop and both players saw a flop of 6c-6d-5s. A raising war ensues between the two and when the smoke clears, durrrr is all-in. Durrrr showed 10s-6s-8c-7h for a set of sixes and a straight draw. Antonius showed 5c-5d-Kc-2d for fives full. The turn of the 4h missed both players but the river fell the 8h to give durrrr a better full house. He raked a pot worth $113,998.50. At this point the challenge stopped for the Gus Hansen – Theo Jorgensen fight. They agreed to come back and play afterwards. They were gone only 30 minutes after Jorgensen took the fight.

Antonius would start to chip away at durrrr’s lead after the fight and in a pair of hands; he would cut durrrr’s lead in half. First, with the board showing Jd-7s-4d-Ac-Kc, durrrr bet $23,600 into a pot of $39,200. Antonius would then raise to $53,200. Durrrr went into the tank for a bit before finally laying the hand down. This allowed Antonius to drag an $83,699.50 pot. A little later, with the board showing 4d-7c-Qd-8d-3h at the river, Antonius forced durrrr to lay down at the river with a $35,600 bet into a $50,400 pot. At the 2,319 hand mark, durrr was up only $85,000.

In a matter of minutes, Antonius nearly eliminated the remainder of durrrr’s lead. At the river, the board read As-Jd-Jd-8d-7c. Durrr had bet out on the flop and turn, and he bet out again at the river. He bet $17,400 into a $39,200 pot. Antonius immediately moved all in for $56,833.50 total and durrrr made the call. Antonius showed Ac-Ad-5c-4c for aces full and durrrr mucked. Antonius raked a pot of $152,866.50 to knock durrrr lead down to less than $10,000.

Play went back and forth for a bit, but as the session was nearing its end, durrrr and Antonius were just about even. Antonius then took a pair of pots to finally retake the lead from durrrr. First, Antonius took a $57,599.50 pot off durrrr when he flopped top two pair. The last decent sized pot of the day saw a raising war ensue on one table and when the smoke cleared, Antonius was all in for $44,573 total. Durrrr made the call and showed Qh-Jd-9d-7h. Antonius showed Ad-Ah-6c-Ks. The board ran Kh-4c-5s-7d-3c and Antonius took down the last decent pot of the day with a lowly pair of aces.

The $89,145.50 pot would put him up $41,000 over durrrr. Antonius would win a few smallish pots to close out the day and to finish the session $63,631 over durrrr. At the end of the session the two agreed that they would come back and play tomorrow around noon. As always, this is with the caveat that the game will be delayed if there are any decent high stake games going on. During their final chat, it was also revealed that durrrr has paid a few random people to keep track of the stats to make sure that neither he nor FTP makes a mistake.

According to FTP’s durrrr challenge stats tracker website, 2,883 hands have been played over a span of 12 hours. Durrrr has taken down 1,610 hands and Antonius 1,261. Antonius has an average hand win of $2,122.63 and durrrr $1,622.82.

Barring any cash games catching durrrr’s interest, the challenge will resume Sunday. All the action can be watched at Full Tilt Poker.

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The first of the Million Dollar Challenge matches has begun. In the first match, Tom Dwan aka Durrrr takes on Patrik Antonius. Play started around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning with both players buying in for $40,000 on each of the 4 durrrr challenge tables. Things started off slow for the two players with Antonius up about $25,000 after about 80 hands.

click photo to see stats

Durrrr was able to pull back to about even when the first big hand of the challenge went down. Preflop, Antonius raised to $1,200 and durrrr made the call. The flop fell Kh-Qd-6d and durrrr led out for $1,750. Antonius made the call. The turn fell the 4h and durrrr bet out again, this time for $4,250. Antonius then raised to $18,650. Durrrr made the call. The river fell the 9d to put a potential straight draw on the board. Durrrr then moved all-in for $16,366 and Antonius tanked for a bit. He finally called the all-in bet and showed Kc-Qh-8h-8d for top two pair. Durrrr showed Ah-3h-10d-5s for nothing but air. Antonius raked a big $75,931.50 pot off of durrr and durrrr reloaded.

After 170 hands, Antonius was up around $68,000. Durrrr would make most of that back in one hand against Antonius. Antonius would make a standard raise to $1,200 pre-flop and durrrr followed along. The flop fell 2c-4h-Jc and durrrr check-called a bet of $2,400. The turn fell the 9s and durrrr checked to Antonius, who bet $6,400. Durrrr then check-raised to $26,400 which prompted Antonius to shove for $47,986 total. Durrrr made the call. Antonius held Jd-5d-4s-3h for two pair and a straight draw. Durrrr held 8d-8c-2d-2s for a set of deuces. The river fell a harmless Qd and durrrr’s set raked him a $102,991.50 pot.

Antonius would then take a few more pots off of durrrr to pull back in front. At the 300 hand mark, Antonius was up $65,634. Durrrr decided to take a sandwich break around 7:30 a.m. which made the railbirds go bananas. The best line of all the railbirds and posters came over at 2+2 forums when one poster said, “Don’t be fooled. The gods demand a new sacrifice. Durrrr is sacrificing another virgin.”

Around the 460 hand mark, Antonius took another big hand off Durrr. The pot was three-bet pre-flop with $21,600 in the pot when the flop fell 2c-10s-8h. On the flop, durrrr check-raised Antonius all-in for $34,691 and Antonius made the call. Antonius showed Ad-As-4s-6s for a pair of aces and durrrr showed Ac-Qd-10h-9c for top pair and a straight draw. The turn of the Kc and river of the 6d helped neither player and Antonius took down a $90,981.50 pot. At this point, Antonius was up $115,000 against durrrr.

The next couple hundred hand were relatively uneventful with play going back and forth between the two. At the 710 hand mark, Antonius was up $107,459. At this point, durrrr started to make a comeback. He took down back to back huge pots to erase much of the win that Antonius had racked up. First, he took an $114,384.50 pot against Antonius when Antonius pushed with two pair and a flush draw. Durrrr held a lower two pair and a flush draw. Unfortunately for Antonius, durrrr rivered his flush and took the pot. Next, Antonius pushed with a double gutted straight draw and durrrr called with a set of tens. Antonius missed his draws and durrrr took a pot worth $148,266.50.

Durrrr then erases the remainder of his deficit and took the lead on Antonius when Antonius called an all in bet against durrrr holding both a straight and flush draw. Durrrr held two pair and a better flush draw. The river missed both players and durrrr took down a $104,891.50 pot. At this point, durrrr was up around $50,000 and things just proceeded to get better for durrrr.

Around the 1,350 hand mark, durrrr took another huge pot off Antonius. This time, all the money went in on a flop of Qd-6s-9s. The pot sat at $134,631.50 when durrrr showed Jd-10s-6c-6d for a set of sixes. Antonius showed As-Qc-8s-3h for the nut flush draw and a pair of queens. The turn of the Qh gave durrrr a full house and Antonius a set of queens. Antonius had 10 outs to win the hand, but the river fell a harmless 10h and durrr moved up over $100,000 for the session.

Play would continue for nearly 200 more hands with Antonius finally bowing out at hand 1,541. After 1,541 hands, Patrik Antonius is down $135,000 to durrr. No return time has been announced, but you can be certain that Antonius wants to get back on the horse to try and pull at least back to even against durrrr.

The stats for the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge are available directly from Full Tilt.

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