Phil Hellmuth Beats Tom Dwan in High Stakes Duel Rematch
3 minutes
Last Updated: January 27, 2022
Phil Hellmuth has returned to his winning ways on High Stakes Duel matches, claiming a victory against Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan in last night’s skirmish. This brought Phil’s total tally to eight wins out of nine matches.
Hellmuth’s only defeat came at the hands of Dwan, who triumphed over the Poker Brat to put a wedge in his winning streak. That was a reason more that this rematch was highly anticipated by poker players and fans alike.
In the previous match, Tom finished off Hellmuth by cracking his pocket aces, which only added salt to the wound. However, five months later, Phil was as ready as ever to take on Tom Dwan again for the prize pool of $400,000.
No Early Fireworks
Last night’s skirmish started as expected, with both players testing waters and not willing to take any big risks. After about an hour of play, stacks were even, and it was anyone’s game.
But then came an important hand that turned the ties in Hellmuth’s favor.
After turning a flush draw, Hellmuth went for a min check-raise, confusing Dwan. When the river bricked off, Phil aborted the operation and checked to Tom, but ‘durrrr’ couldn’t pull the trigger and ended up checking back.
Both players showed a king-high (Tom had a flopped flush draw), but Hellmuth had a better kicker and raked in a 50K pot. More importantly, this gave him a much-needed confidence boost.
In the next couple of hours, the game picked up some speed, with the Poker Brat making some uncharacteristic bluffs. In an interview after the match, he explained these were necessary adjustments against an opponent like Dwan.
Hellmuth’s ramped-up aggression paid off handsomely when he got lucky and turned trips in a bloated pot. Dwan couldn’t find a fold with pocket tens on a jack-high board, and Phil’s trip sevens gave him a 3 to 1 chip lead.
Wow! @Phil_Hellmuth extends his chip lead and keeps the pressure on @TomDwan!
Watch the $400,000 High Stakes Duel match live right now on PokerGO! pic.twitter.com/pgGb1Kl5TN
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) January 27, 2022
After this, things just wouldn’t go ‘durrrr’s’ way. In the final hand, he called off Hellmuth’s 3-bet shove before the flop for 70,000, holding a pair of eights.
The Poker Brat held AK, so it was a classic race. However, a king showed up on the flop, and it was the end of the road for Dwan.
Rematch Already Announced
Following the last night’s win, Hellmuth now has the record of eight wins and just one loss on High Stakes Duels. Along the way, he defeated Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari three times each.
After that, as per the rules of the Duel, Phil was allowed to cash out. He used the option both times, denying his opponents a chance for a rematch.
The next in line to take up Phil was Nick Wright, a sports talk personality and the only amateur to accept the challenge.
Despite putting up a good fight, Wright lost the first round and gave up his right to a rematch.
Tom Dwan jumped at the opportunity and ponied up $100,000 to fill Wright’s seat. That match took place in August, and Tom was able to finally put a stop to Hellmuth’s perfect winning streak, at least for a short while.
Having lost yesterday’s match, ‘durrrr’ has the right to challenge Hellmuth to another rematch, and this time the price of poker will be $400,000 per player.
Dwan has already announced he’ll be exercising his right, so we’re in for another interesting battle down the line.
If everything goes to plan, that match should take place late in March, and if Hellmuth comes out on top, he’ll have three wins against Tom and will be allowed to cash out and refuse future challenges from ‘durrrr.’
There is a lot of money and pride on the line here, so this is definitely the one to look forward to!
