Action Resumes in the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge

San Jose, Costa Rica (SANEPR.com) April 2, 2009 -- On February 18th, 22 year-old up and coming Tom “durrrr” Dwan locked horns with Full Tilt Poker pro Patrik Antonius in the first day of play in the Durrrr Challenge. Now, action has resumed after a two week hiatus, with Antonius barely edging out Dwan after 10 days of play and 7,068 hands. The contest has been the center of poker news headlines this week as the two esteemed pros close in on the 10,000 hand mark.

The concept of the Challenge is simple: If Dwan ends up just $1 after 50,000 hands of $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha, Antonius must fork over $500,000. If Antonius ends up $1 after 50,000 hands, Dwan will be forced to pay $1.5 million. In either case, the victor also keeps the spoils. The writers at PokerNewsDaily.com have taken up such an interest in the Million Dollar Challenge that they have launched a site just for its coverage, DurrrrChallenge.com.

The most recent session saw Dwan and Antonius log 460 hands in their quest for 50,000 and covered a span of 82 minutes. The session featured one pot of over $100,000. In it, Dwan flopped the nut flush, but the board pairing on the turn gave Antonius a full house. The two put their chips in the middle on the flop, creating a $102,000 pot.

In an exclusive interview with DurrrrChallenge.com, PokerXFactor instructor Chris “Fox” Wallace explained why action in the hand escalated so quickly: “Dwan flopped the nuts, so these guys were both happy to get it all-in, but that’s why the variance is so high. Durrrr flopped the nuts and was only a 2:1 favorite. This hand basically played itself.” Readers of DurrrrChallenge.com have been buzzing about the high intensity of Omaha, where the starting hands are grouped closer together in terms of strength than in Texas Hold'em. After 7,068 hands, Antonius leads by $23,467.

Also featured in poker news this week was Annie Duke's team chalking up another win on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice. Although Duke has yet to step up as Project Manager, her team has an impressive 4-1 record after five weeks of the show, which airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm Eastern Time on NBC. The Ultimate Bet pro told Poker News Daily that her team has agreed to let her be Project Manager on the next money raising task, a job that she has excelled at thus far. Readers of Poker News Daily can find weekly episode recaps of the popular reality series on the site.

Visit DurrrrChallenge.com for the latest on the Tom Dwan Million Dollar Challenge.

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