Tom Dwan is online poker’s biggest star. Find out how he’s won over $10m online in our exclusive interview
Nickname Durrrr
Age 22
Lives Fort Worth, Texas
Estimated online winnings (since 2007) $7.2m
Who Is He?
Tom ?durrrr? Dwan is the online poker star and a young pro with the world at his feet. From the moment he deposited $50 in an online account in March 2004, aged just 17, he seemed to be destined for super-stardom. By the end of his first semester at university he had turned $10k into $100k and soon packed in his engineering degree to focus on poker.
It?s taken just four years for him to sit with the elite: he?s a regular in the $1k/$2k online nosebleeds, has made explosive appearances on High Stakes Poker and mixed it up with Sammy Farha in Bobby?s Room. That he has garnered respect from all areas of the notoriously dismissive and ego-driven poker world speaks volumes about his talent and impact on the game. Durrrr is renowned for being the best multi-tabler in the world and with a reputed bankroll of over $10m the 22-year-old is destined to have a long future in both online and live poker.
What Makes Him So Good?
In a word: fearlessness. Durrrr will play anyone at any stakes. He is known for his hyper-aggressive style of play but is able to mix it up with the best players around ? both online and live. He has great stamina and unflinching willingness to gamble. He recently indulged in some record-breaking pots with Ziigmund in $3,000/$9,000 pot-limit Omaha where every pot was raised and re-raised as a standard.
At the start of this year he issued a heads-up challenge to the world (excluding Phil Galfond), putting up $1.5m to any opponent?s $500k that he would be in profit after 50,000 hands, playing four tables at the same time. Dwan is currently ahead of Patrik Antonius with just over 20,000 hands played. Ultimately he?s a unique player with a tendency to play a wider range of hands than most players and a relentless aggressive style. Combine this with a fierce analytical mind and an ability to play at up to four, six, or eight heads-up tables simultaneously and it?s obvious why durrrr is such a fearsome opponent.
Greatest Online Moment
In the summer of 2007, Dwan turned $7k into $675k in six hours. Friend and fellow online star Alan Sass had half his action which meant that for every minute he slept, Dwan had earned him $1k.
Durrrr’s Top Online Tip
?The second you think you?ve got nothing to learn is the point where you?re going to lose money. Even if a player has got a lot of money through businesses, they?re usually still going to be really smart. Bad players still take cool lines.?
Reader Questions
Are you better playing online or live?
Alan, Crewe
The same, I think. I?m making more money per hand live because there?s more information and I can analyse information better than my opponents but I think I make more money an hour online in most situations because you get more hands an hour. I?m fine with both. If had to pick one, it would definitely be online. Live, there are only games every few weeks. Online, you can sit there and carry on with your life while you?re working ? that?s one of the best things about poker.
Do you ever get friends coming up to you, giving you money and asking you to spin it up for them?
Stella, Havant
I used to have that, but they weren?t friends of mine. I had to explain to them how my time is worth a lot to me and I?d rather make my own money. It didn?t happen too often though.
When you play online, do you have things going on in the background?
Sam, Richmond
Sometimes I?ll have friends over, have the TV on or a movie. Maybe you?ll have to stop sometimes and pay attention to a hand, but it?s not like sitting in an office. I?ve always been fond of making slightly less an hour but enjoying playing by always having stuff in the background just so I don?t get fed up. At the higher stakes, you usually know the tendencies of your opponents fairly well because you?ve played them so much. You?re giving up a small edge but it?s definitely not that much.
What?s it like hanging out with friends who just have regular jobs?
Richard, Huntingdon
There?s some awkward situations. There?s some ?guys in Boston who definitely don?t have a lot ?of money. Sometimes they?ll be conscious of ?where they?re going to get their next meal. I try to make it as much of a non-issue as possible. I?ll be talking about how I need to fly to London…so sometimes it is weird, especially when I don?t know the people that well. They may have met me three years ago when I was someone who had just dropped ?out of school.
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