Bodog Beat

Poker pro Phil Ivey is set to take on 22-year-old poker phenom Tom 'durrrr' Dwan in a heads-up poker challenge with $1.5 million on the line. (Bodog Beat Image)

What economic downturn? First reported by Bluff Magazine here, the poker world and the poker forums have been ablaze with the news that 22-year-old online poker phenom Tom "durrrr" Dwan has challenged anyone (except good friend a fellow online pro Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond) to a 3 to 1 heads-up poker match with $1.5 million on the line.

Here is durrrr's quote from that article:

“I’m making this heads-up challenge to the world. Anyone can accept. Four tables, minimum of $200/$400, and I’ll put up $1.5 million to their $500,000. We play 50,000 hands minimum and if they end up a dollar after rake they keep the side money or whatever. So basically, if you and I played and you won a dollar, you would get my $1.5 million and if I won a dollar I would win your $500,000. So I’m giving a million dollars free if anyone thinks they can do it.”

The point worth noting here is that the $1.5 million and the $500,000 are just a side bet. Playing $200/$400 PLO can result in swings of millions by itself and the winner gets to keep the winnings plus the side bet. So, this challenge could potentially be worth several million over the course of the 50,000 hands.

According to Phil Ivey's podcast on PokerRoad yesterday (listen here), it sounds like he was the first to jump on this challenge and has been joined by David Benyamine and Patrik Antonius. He also anticipates that someone is going to lose $3 to $4 million before this is all said and done.

To stay up to date on all the latest developments, check out the 2+2 thread here or just come back to the Beat for a much more concise and less annoying summary of what's going on.