To Phil Hellmuth, it may have seemed like years that Tom Dwan held the High Stakes Duel title. In reality, it was about six months. But with the holidays and the World Series of Poker in late 2021, it took a while to schedule the rematch.
Since the start of High Stakes Duel in 2020, Hellmuth had been undefeated. He went seemed unstoppable, defeating Antonio Esfandiari three times, Daniel Negreanu three times, and sports commentator Nick Wright once. Then came High Stakes Duel III against Tom Dwan. When Wright declined to challenge Hellmuth again, Dwan stepped in to settle a longstanding heads-up beef between he and Hellmuth.
It wasn’t easy, but Dwan won. It took about five and a half hours and many ups and downs for both players. Hellmuth didn’t take the roller coaster particularly well, but that’s quite normal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY7iq9BBNx8&t=17s
Hyping It Up
The Hype Show featured Ali Nejad and Phil Galfond discussing the first duel between Hellmuth and Dwan. They discussed the lines on what Hellmuth might eat during the match.
In all seriousness, they voiced their thoughts on the match. Galfond picked Dwan to win, saying that Hellmuth probably hadn’t decoded Dwan’s heads-up thought process yet. He believed that Dwan’s fundamental game was stronger. Nejad semi-reluctantly took Hellmuth to win.
Watch the Hype Show to find out why, as the show faded out, Nejad said to Galfond, “C’mon, eat a Pop Tart.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jQMl1YQoSA&t=887s
Weighing In
The duo met with Nejad prior to their match for the Weigh-In. Hellmuth started by recalling his seven previous High Stakes Duel victories, his 2021 World Series of Poker victories – including his 16th bracelet – and his business dealings. He admitted that Dwan beating him last summer hurt.
Dwan noted that he and Hellmuth have been playing more cash games together of late, so there isn’t as much contention between them as many people might have believed. He didn’t appear to have much to say about the match.
Dwan watched their previous match the day before this one because the stakes were bigger. Hellmuth watched it several days prior and appeared to have developed a strategy for this rematch. Both of them, however, seemed to agree that anything could happen.
The Action
When the two opponents met again at the PokerGO Studio at the end of January, Dwan put his $200K on the table that he won in the previous round, and Hellmuth brought $200K to challenge.
Hellmuth started aggressively and caught some flops. Both players made some good bets and folds, though.
It only took 30 minutes for Dwan to take a 25K pot with a rivered flush to beat the pocket pair of Hellmuth to send the latter out of his seat, cursing and talking to himself briefly. Dwan took a lead for a bit, but Hellmuth calmed down and evened the stacks by the one-hour mark. Hellmuth took the biggest lead (230K to Dwan’s 170K) after a 50K pot after an hour and a half of play. At that point, Hellmuth seemed to be on his game and made a solid laydown to keep his lead on a K-K-T-Q-Q board. Hellmuth held a queen, but Dwan had a king, and Hellmuth pegged it to make the correct fold.
Hellmuth continued making good reads but got frustrated around the two-hour mark when Dwan nearly evened the stacks again. That was until about 30 minutes later when a very big pot developed. It started with Dwan betting out with two red pocket tens and Hellmuth three-betting with 7-4 offsuit. Dwan called. On the J-2-7 flop, they both checked. The seven on the turn prompted Dwan to check again. Hellmuth bet 17K into the 42K pot, and Dwan called. A nine on the river brought another check from Dwan and another bet from Hellmuth, that one 37K. Dwan was torn and finally called. Hellmuth scooped the 150K pot.
Dwan appeared frustrated and didn’t catch a break in the following sequence of hands.
More than three hours into play, Hellmuth limped in with A-K, and Dwan raised with pocket eights. Hellmuth responded with an all-in move. Dwan didn’t hesitate much before calling. The dealer delivered 5-2-K-6-6 on the board, giving Hellmuth the win.
Will Dwan Challenge?
Dwan asked the staff for some details about how many matches he would need to win to close it out. If Dwan challenges and wins, he will need to win two matches in a row. That means he would need to put up $400K to play this time and then, if he wins, wager it all again.
Ultimately, Dwan did announce a rematch. He will put in $400K, and the two will play for the $800K pot. PokerGO will announce the date when the two players agree on it.
https://twitter.com/PokerGO/status/1486745830115708932?s=20&t=8-7Ft6USzCRQ2uEO_OWpSw
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