The match that has been going on between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius was eating up many a headline before the WSOP, but was pretty much put on hold once the series started. Antonius was holding the lead at the time, and now that the WSOP is finally over, these two can get back to what they started.
When Dwan put the original challenge out, there were plenty of players that said they wanted a piece of him, but Dwan stated, “There looks to be a lot of interest in people wanting to play me, but they never seem to appear online.” That being the case, he has taken his challenge live and will be putting up $500,000 to play anyone for 500 hands in either Omaha or No Limit Hold’em.
All of the matches will take place in London and will start out with $500/$1,000 blinds. The match cannot end until someone is broke or the 500 hands have been played out. Rumor has it that 4 players have stepped up to take on Dwan in his latest challenge, but no details have been released as of yet as to who they are.
Dwan continues to be one of the hottest young names in the game and with his latest circus act, he pretty much assures himself that he will remain in the limelight. While his online play speaks for itself, his live play comes under a lot of fire as he plays very aggressively and recklessly. He has benefited from some incredible cards during his days on the High Limit Poker show, but still donked off a lot of money as he refused to ever back off. The style did manage to get him some large payoffs as the session was winding down, but you have to question how that will work in a heads-up match.
He no longer has the benefit of the element of surprise as everyone knows his name and how he plays. Antonius is proving that he is very beatable if you are patient and don’t get caught up in letting him bully you out of pots. Dwan is not afraid to throw a large amount of money at the pot in order to take it down regardless of what he has in his hand. You better be prepared to fight back when you have something or he will walk all over you.
Antonius has laid down the blueprint of how to beat him so far, but will other players follow his lead. When he pushes, you have to push back and when you get a hand, you have to make him pay. The ideal match would have him up against Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu. All three of those players treat chips as weapons and have no problem mixing it up with middle cards. The fireworks would surely be going off if they sit across from Dwan in London.
While he wasn’t the first one out of the tournament, he was pretty close. There is no arguing the fact that he got a couple of really bad beats, but that is not going to make it any easier as he sits and watches the next 2 weeks pass by from the sidelines. It took less than an hour for one of the bigger names in poker to head to the rail.
The first has just bad luck. Phan was holding pocket Q’s when his opponent was sitting on 78c. The flop came out 10-4-5. The turn card was a 6h and when Phan made a 1,500 bet after a check, his opponent came right back over the top to make it 4,000. The river card was gave Phan a set and when his opponent led out for 5,100 he realized he was in trouble. Most players would have dumped their stack right then and there, but he merely made the call and managed to stay alive.
Just a few hands later, Phan looked down at AA and made it 300 to see the flop. He was called down by one player and the board hit 879. Phan led out and the player in late position made a raise that would have Phan all in were he to call. He thought about after the last straight popped on him, but then made the call and gave a quick lecture. The cards were turned and he was in the lead with AA to K9. The turn was a 10 and left his opponent looking for a 9 or a K to win and a J or 7 for the split. The miracle card came on the river in the form of another 10 and Phan was out about 45 minutes into the tournament.
So far, we are seeing some decent action and a little bit of drama. One player was taking a bit long to play his hands and it started to get to the table. One player in particular was very upset about it and it got a bit ugly there for a while. The floor came in to handle the situation and it now seems as though it is under control. You can count on a lot more of this with so many people looking at this as their shot at poker glory.
Dragan Galic caught a nice run of cards early and is already up to 120,000 in chips. There are several other big names that have had a nice run so far and are looking to get into day two in a commanding position. It is a little too early to get excited though and you won’t really be able to see how the tourney is flowing until the middle of the week.
The amount of players that are registered has to be a bit of surprise. They were touting this as the largest field ever and with the turnouts so huge during the other tournaments, there was definitely an expectation that every day in the Main Event would be close to if not sold out each day. Day One featured 1116 entrants and that is well below the total expected. Hopefully the next couple of sessions will pick up in numbers.
Lisa Hamilton was crowned the Ladies Champion in a tournament that for some reason has been under much scrutiny. Poker purists think that the tournament should not be a bracelet event as it is a restricted tournament. There is not men’s only bracelet event so why do the women get one? I cannot recall a year where this was such a hot topic, but whatever the beef from the rest of the players, Lisa gets the new jewelry for her big night on the town and $195,334 to pay the check.
While the bracelet has still not been awarded, the story of the day is the Omaha Hi/Low 8 or Better World Championship. Daniel Negreanu made his second final table and while he did not win, he was in the middle of a little bit of controversy and a lot of entertainment.
Daniel was literally down to one chip and somehow managed to win what seemed like a million hands in a row and actually got back up to over 500,000 in chips. Prior to his run, there was a discrepancy as Monnette was about to throw in his last chip when Clements showed his hand. He quickly pulled the chip back, but Negreanu was rightfully upset as he could now end up getting knocked out and lose about $30,000 in prize money.
After that controversy was put to bet, yet another small one was stirred up as one of the players at the table objected to Daniel celebrating so much with each win. Please keep in mind that he pretty much knew he was the next one out and was just having fun with the crowd. This was not anything that was directed at any one player nor was it reminiscent of the ridiculous celebrations by Khan that warranted a new rule being issued in the WSOP.
Negreanu is on quite a roll already this year and you can be pretty confident that this will not be the last final table of the year for him. It would be very surprising if he did not make at least one more final table and possibly snag a bracelet at some point. One thing is for sure, Kid Poker is great for the game and is easily one of the best if not the best player in the game right now.
As of this posting, there were still 3 players alive with most of the chips sitting in front of Danny Alaei. It is going to take a huge swing for him to lose this event, but the Limit Tournament from the other night is proof that anything can happen.
While he wasn’t the first one out of the tournament, he was pretty close. There is no arguing the fact that he got a couple of really bad beats, but that is not going to make it any easier as he sits and watches the next 2 weeks pass by from the sidelines. It took less than an hour for one of the bigger names in 
