Tom Dwan

Everyone knows that Tom Dwans game of choice is heads up poker. He loves playing heads up as he feels that he has an edge against most players and what better way to exploit that.

Now this post isn't exactly about Tom Dwan but rather a poker training site that specialises in heads up poker (HUSNG's) and trains losing players to become solid winners very quickly.

The results of the students so far are truly remarkable seeing -30% fish on sharkscope turn into long term winning players in only a few short weeks after taking what's come to be known as the 'Apprentice Course'.

The best part of this training course as opposed to hundreds of other would be miracle secrets is the fact that you can see the students progress yourself and even talk with them in the Tagpoker student forum. The next best thing is the fact that you can get it for free. The lead instructor is also so confident of his teaching abilities and the results of his students that in some cases he actually stakes them to play micro stakes heads up games right from the word go. Unlike most staking deals, these guys let you not only keep your stake but keep all of your profits too.

I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen such a thing with my own eyes and although it's not associated with Tom Dwan, I hope it's something that this living legend would approve of.

Have a look for yourself at the coaching options that are available and at the bottom of the screen, what the past students have to say about their free training: Free Heads Up Poker Training & Staking.


Below is a typical example of a review from on of the students that took the course. There are many more examples and testimonials to be found and yours could very well be the next one.


Ottocat01

Tom Durrr Dwan has announced that he will be taking his $1,000,000 challenge to the amazing city of London where he will face opponents live in a heads up match scheduled to either be played over 500 hands or until one of the two players goes bust.

The announcement came last month (July 09). The buy in in $500,000 each with blinds of $500/ $1000. The original Durrrr challenge was issued to the world back in February and top online pro Patrik Antonious quickly accepted the challenge.

The original $1,000,000 challenge that Dwan set out has yet to be concluded and momentum has firmly been lost along with much of the initial interest.

In the live version however the rule stating that no player can leave the table until the match is over and coupled with the fact that this poker challenge will be taking place at the same time as the WSOPE is in town, there will be a lot of coverage and publicity for Dwan.

It's rumoured that Tom Dwans first opponent will be a local, Londoner called Sammy George. Sammy plays in the high stakes cash games that can be found in London's most prestigious locations.

Regardless of the outcome of these matches, we certainly hope that this may reignite the challenge between Durrrr and Patrik Antonious and we will finally see a conclusion.

Most avid Tom Dwan fans love to watch him play because he's very quick to spot weakness in other players and capitalise on it by applying pressure. As much fun as it is to watch players like Tom Dwan run these big bluffs of TV, many newer players then go and try to replicate this genius themselves, without fully understanding the concepts behind why these players make the plays they do, WHEN they do.

So many new players can find themselves losing a lot of money by making very ill timed bluffs, in the wrong spots and/ or against the wrong player type.

Let's talk about one of my favorite bluffs that is simple and easy to employ, yet applies some serious pressure to your opposition. The squeeze play. Too many beginner players misunderstand bluffing and often use it at the wrong times. So today I'll talk about how to add this play into your arsenal.

What is a Squeeze Play?

The squeeze play is a simple bluff but a very powerful weapon when used at the right times. You are effectively going to be making a huge bluff pre flop with a non premium hand, looking to take the pot there and then. It's success relies on a few key factors all coming together at the same time.

Firstly you are much more likely to pull off a squeeze play if your image at the table is that of a tight, solid player, one who doesn't get out of line. What you're looking for pre flop is for a loose/ aggressive player to make an opening raise and another player to flat call his raise. Then at this point you make your large re raise looking for both players to fold.

Why does it work?

Well the idea is that you don't expect the loose, initial raiser to have a very strong hand all too often because he plays so many hands and the caller probably also doesn't have a monster or he would of likely re raised himself. When you raise the loose player not only probably doesn't have much of a hand but he has the additional problem of worrying about the third player left to act behind him. But what we are concentrating on here is that the loose player raised with a marginal hand and is now getting far more action than he wanted. The caller will likely fold too as he has already told us that he doesn't have a monster by flat calling the initial raise.

You will want to make a large raise to 4 or 5 times the size of the initial raise and if you find either of these players flat call you then they probably have a high pocket pair or AK, AQs type hand so beware post flop.

If you get called

This play is mainly a pre flop play but that's not to say you can't pick it up post flop. In re raised (three bet) pots you'll only need to bet around half the pot to pick it up after the flop. far too many beginner players spazz out and mash the pot button to try and get their opponents to fold. The truth is that the pot is so inflated already that they will call or fold the same frequency to a half pot bet than they will to a full pot so save yourself the extra money on your bluffs and when you actually do have a hand, it will still be easy to get all the money in by the river, even with a half pot flop bet.

A lot of aspiring poker players (like myself) always wonder "how the hell did Tom Dwan build such a huge roll in such a short space of time?" Well the truth is that he played a tonne of poker, learnt all that he could from every resource possible and kept putting in the hours whilst working on his game.

So could anyone achieve what Dwan has? Honestly? I doubt it. Tom Dwan started off with a $50 deposit and started playing in single table tournaments (sit n go's) before turning his attention to cash games.

How to turn $50 into $10,000

However, I do think that with work and a game plan, anyone of average intelligence could roll a small, initial deposit of between $50-$100 up to $10,000 without too much trouble, but you must have a plan and stick to it!

Reasons that most people don't

Back in 2008 Tom Dwan faced off against Phil Hellmuth in the NBC, heads up poker championships. This match was a sore point for Phil Hellmuth after he got all his chips in, pre flop with pocket aces against Dwans pocket tens. The hand occurred only early into the match and as you're probably guessing, Dwan flopped a set to knock Hellmuth out of the event.

For those of you that know of Phil Hellmuth, you'll easily be able to visualise the fireworks that ensued, the berating was instantaneous with Hellmuth telling Dwan "we'll see if you're even around in five years time".

(A rather upset Phil Hellmuth)

Dwan sat back in his chair whist Hellmuth continued on his tirade only saying that getting it in with tens is standard and offering Phil out to play heads up in any game, at any stakes, any time. (Phil never accepted the challenge).

So roll on the 2009 NBC heads up championships and once again the most anticipated match would be between Dwan and Hellmuth. I, as many of Tom Dwan fans were, was poised waiting for him to take the poker brat apart but sadly it wasn't meant to be as Hellmuth ending up knocking Dwan out of the event.

Still, maybe after this Phil Hellmuth will take Dwan up on his heads up challenge, but not before Dwan and Antonious are finished with their's!

Have you ever wondered what it looks like inside Tom Dwans front room, how big his TV is, what his office looks like and just how a baller poker player lives? Me too so let's take a closer look at Tom 'Durrrr' Dwan's pad.

Bellow you'll see that Dwan wasn't happy to settle for one huge, flat screen TV. Why buy two? Because he can. This front room looks like a holding ground for groups of friends to chillax on the sumptuous sofa whilst playing on the X-box and maybe an episode of High Stakes Poker on in the background.

Tom Dwan and Patrick Antonius have played 20,000 of their scheduled 50,000 hands and as you probably guessed from the title, Tom 'Durrrr' Dwan is up just under three quarters of a million dollars.

There have been some epic pots contested by these two. The most memorable for me was Antonius winning just under a half million dollar pot when he flopped a full house (queens over sixes) and Dwan flopped a set then turned a full house with sixes over nines.

Bellow is the graph of their contest to date.

Patrik Antonius decided to take Tom Dwan up on his $1,000,000 heads up challenge and get underway on their 50,000 hands of poker.

The two have played many times at the nose bleed stakes on Full Tilt poker. Even if Antonius doesn't think that he has much of an edge on Dwan (if any at all), he believes the odds that Tom Dwan is offering are simply too good to turn down.

Antonious became a member of team Full Tilt last year and right off the bat called out all of the top online players to play him in any game of their choice. He loves to play in the highest stake games and was the first player to have his own $500/$1000, private table. Antonious is also a huge talent when it comes to poker but I have to say that (in my probably biased) opinion Durrrr will come out on top.

I'll be following the progress of this challenge, keeping you up to speed with the swings of the challenge as I imagine they'll be huge!

Over the last few years the online poker world has watched a poker prodigy emerge. His name is Tom Dwan (aka Durrrr). As a teenager he crushed the biggest online cash games, backed a number of players in live and online tournaments with great success, and found live tournament success of his own as he built Durrrr Inc. into a poker powerhouse.