Online Poker Education

A lot of players play on top Texas Holdem sites thinking that with enough studying, they will eventually have the guts to play versus Tom Dwan, known as “durrr” to the online players. The 23 year old has become one of the most well known poker players in the world. He started as an online player on a Full Tilt download, and the result is that most of his winnings have come online. More and more he’s making a name for himself in live poker, however, and he’s becoming a very well rounded player. He has played in several live events since turning 21, and he has been on TV on several high stakes poker shows.

Dwan’s first real money poker was played on Paradise Poker, one of the best US poker sites at the time. He started playing $6 sit-&-go’s, but eventually he switched to cash games on Full Tilt. There aren’t many people out there that have played as many hours online as Dwan. Mastering the art of multi-tabling allowed him to see hundreds of thousands of hands on US poker sites, and he quickly moved up in stakes while building up a massive bankroll.

Being one of the best players in the world does not mean your game is immune to variance. Dwan’s favorite game is heads-up NLHE or PLO, so the large swings in his game are pretty much inevitable. He has both won and lost millions in a single session. The most well known downswing of his career so far was courtesy of a player from Sweden called “Isildur1”, who challenged him to a gruelling heads-up match on multiple tables. By the time they were finished, Isildur1 had taken $5 million out of Dwan’s bankroll. The thought of losing such a staggering amount is enough to cause many players to quit poker and turn to safer games like free bet sportsbooks, but Dwan obviously has enough mental toughness to fight through the variance.

In January 2009, Dwan announced his $1 million challenge. He will play anyone except Phil Galfond heads-up, and the rules are that they must play 4 tables at once and a total of 50k hands. Any player up money after 50k hands would receive an additional $1.5 million from Dwan, but if Dwan came out ahead, that player would have to agree to give Dwan $500k. Patrik Antonius is Dwan’s first opponent for this challenge, and to date Dwan is leading by $1.8 million after 40k hands. If you would like to take this challenge, simply get a Full Tilt Poker download and make a screen name.

So far Dwan’s cashes in live tournaments amount to almost $1.5 million. He has cashes all over the world, including in the EPT, the Aussie Millions, and of course the WPT and WSOP. His best WSOP finish was this year in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event where he finished 2nd for $381,885. Many players breathed a sigh of relief when Dwan did not win a bracelet this year because apparently a lot of people were betting on whether or not he would win one in 2010. Bets like these seem even more risky than playing Internet slots!

The online players have always known that Dwan is a fierce opponent, but playing several live events and appearing on TV shows such as Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker has earned him respect from the live pros, as well. He’s achieved so much at such a young age. We can only expect more great things in the years to come, too. If this article has inspired you, forget the roulette bonus and play some poker instead.