The Durrrr Challenge, Tom Dwan’s open invitation to the online poker world to take ridiculous odds and compete in his sweet spot has reignited again. So far, because of the snail like pace of play only online poker player Patrik Antonius has been able to take Durrrr up to play online poker in the Challenge format offer. So far, it’s been acknowledged that David Benyamine and Phil Ivey. The others must wait in the wings until the Durrrr Poker Challenge completes. There was some belief that Benyamine was first up but it turns out it was Antonius that got first crack.

The online poker site got behind the challenge and started to promote it to railbirds. They devoted special tables to the action. No small wonder Dwan later signed with the site in a poker sponsorship deal. In fact, at the beginning of the Challenge the primary beneficiary was neither Dwan nor Antonius but the place they were playing. The Durrrr Challenge landed in their lap, and the unsigned Dwan’s creation was better PR than anything their marketing department had thought up.

The Challenge stipulations were simple enough, each player must play four tables at once heads up. The challenger has the choice of No Limit Texas Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. The stakes must be a minimum of $200/$400. The sample size to determine the better player would be over 50,000 hands. The person leading after 50,000 hands willl be declared the winner even if the lead is as small as say $1.00. If Dwan or Durrrr is winning he keeps his profit plus wins $500,000 from his opponents pocket. To get challengers Dwan offered 3 to 1 odds meaning his challenger would win $1,500,000 if he’s up even one dollar. Those are odds that had the top players salivating.

When it got started last year in February there was a great deal of hype and attention to it. The railbirds were tuned in and the excitement about the steep odds Dwan was offering was palaple. Questions abounded some focused on what lead would be big enough for them to settle the online poker challenge early. How far ahead did a front runner need to get people wondered? Was a settlement allowed? Was Dwan being foolish for offering such steep odds to the best players in the world? Who would snap him off?

From the get go the two online poker pros played 3% of the required hands. Dwan took a small lead of $134k. Since then the problem with the Challenge is finding time to play. Also, Dwan’s downswings at the hands of Isildur1 and, in general, have contributed to his rumored bankroll trouble. While it is not a recognized reason for the lack of play between Dwan and Patrik Antonius it can be surmised it’s impeded the two playing. Of course Dwan has been up in the challenge and when the two finally met again all he did was extend his lead.

The most recent meeting played over two days allowed Dwan to extend his lead. For the first time in the Challenge a player has taken a lead over a million dollars. At this point, if Dwan plays Antonius even he’s wiped out the odds he gave the Swede. Dwan stands to win over 1.5 million. If Antonius can recoup his million dollar deficit he’d win 1.5 million. So it’s almost a break even with 64% of the challenge played.

To a degree Dwan has already won. If they were to discuss settlements Dwan now has all the leverage. Considering it’s taken a year to play 2/3rds of the challenge things should wrap up in August. Course the World Series is in July so if it’s to end more likely it should be completed by June. Perhaps, the two online poker players will use the time constraints as motivation to finish things up sooner rather than later.