Tom Dwan and 'Jungleman' Squash 'Durrrr Challenge' Beef in GTO Wizard Chat
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Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Daniel "Jungleman" Cates sat down together to iron things out a dozen years after a feud sparked following the untimely conclusion to poker's most infamous online poker challenge.
The poker legends squashed a beef stemming from the 2010 "Durrrr Challenge" on the now-defunct Full Tilt Poker site in a GTO Wizard video.
What Was the 'Durrrr Challenge?'
Dwan, known as "durrrr" online, was one of the best high-stakes online poker players in the late 2000s. He dominated the biggest games on Full Tilt in the pre-Black Friday era.
The internet poker superstar issued a challenge in 2009 to anyone willing to play him heads-up. If his opponent could turn a profit against him over 50,000 hands at $200/$400 stakes of no-limit hold'em or pot-limit Omaha, he'd pay the winner an additional $1.5 million. But if he were to win, the loser would owe him an extra $500,000.
Patrik Antonius, who was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame last year, was the first challenger. He started off strong but quickly fell behind over $2 million and decided to buy out of the challenge.
Cates, in 2010, stepped in next, and he dominated the match. He won more than $500,000 in the first session. Things didn't improve going forward for "durrrr."
"Jungleman" built a lead of around $1.2 million across 19,000 hands. Black Friday then happened, putting a hold on the challenge. Full Tilt resumed operations in 2013, prompting the competitors to return to action.
But the contest only lasted a few more sessions. Cates became frustrated Dwan had been facing other players instead of him. Years would go by without the match continuing. Not a single hand in the challenge has been played since 2013.
'Jungleman' Says His Peace
Cates' frustration grew as the years went by. Dwan stopped answering his texts, and the $1.5 million side bet hadn't been paid. He called out "durrrr" numerous times in tweets and on podcasts. Partial buyout payments were made over time, but the relationship appeared to be damaged.
Those days, however, are in the past. Dwan and Cates had a sit-down interview in a GTO Wizard video (see above) that seems to have put an end to the feud.
"I will say that if people don't respond to me I will get really frustrated if there's no response, it's probably one of the most frustrating things," Cates admitted to Dwan. "But at some point I realized that my anger wasn't really doing all that much good."
"Jungleman" admitted that, at times, he was out of line by sharing private information. He also said that he now views the penalties for quitting the Durrrr Challenge early as too steep, and that "I can't add on an additional crazy amount" after Dwan had already lost more than $1 million.
The poker stars who both represent GTO Wizard have played poker against each other in ring games a few times since the Durrrr Challenge abruptly ended in 2013. They're now cordial and appear to have respect for each other, a complete 180 from their public feud that has lasted a dozen years. Is the hatchet buried?
"I feel like it is," Cates answered. "I mean, I feel like you never know, but I can tell you, like, I did not have any malice for a long time. I did not have that feeling of malice for quite some while, which is the good feeling to have."
The 20-minute video ended with a teaser for Part II, and it appears there could be a new Durrrr Challenge in the works. We'll all just have to wait and see.
