WPH #583: Does Tom Dwan Still Have IT?!

#highstakespoker #pokerstrategy #hustlercasinolive

Tom Dwan became a legend during his online poker days on Full Tilt Poker, his fearless and aggressive style was on full display against the best in the world at the highest stakes. Now, he finds himself on the receiving end of some river aggression from businessman Steve Swedlow. Both players have boats, but Swedlow’s is bigger! The question is does Tom Dwan still have it to be able to find the incredible laydown or if this hand will simply go down as one of poker’s classic coolers.

When playing poker, whether in cash games or tournaments, it is crucial to be constantly aware of your table image. If you have shown down several bluffs or revealed speculative holdings during the current session or in previous ones, some opponents will take note. You should then look to use that perception to your advantage. If you have demonstrated a tendency to 3-bet bluff on the turn or river, your tablemates may be less inclined to believe you the next time you apply pressure, so next time make sure you do it with value!

On the other hand, if your big river bets have consistently been backed by strong hands like the nuts, observant players may start overfolding when you fire large on the river in the future. Against these types of poker players you can use that large sizing with bluffs on the river as they are now folding too much. The key is to stay balanced so you cannot be easily exploited, regardless of how others perceive your play.

Tom Dwan also known as durrrr from his online days is a 39 year old American professional poker player. He is a favorite poker player for many around the world as they would watch him battle in the highest stakes cash games on Full Tilt Poker before poker’s Black Friday hit. Dwan is known for his fearless style and crazy bluffs. He was a regular on Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. Today, Durrrr is mostly known to play in high stakes private games in Asia. Durrrr is often seen on the Triton poker tour playing in the largest buy-in poker tournaments in the world. Dwan currently has over $6,900,000 in live poker tournament earnings which puts him in the top 300 on the all time money list.

Hustler Casino Live is a full-scale, high value poker production. Close to a million dollars was spent transforming the casino’s high limit poker room, the Crystal Room, into the set of this new state of the art live poker show. Hustler Casino Live looks more like the coverage from a TV broadcast sporting event and appeals to those beyond the poker community. Unscripted and unedited, they host regular poker streams such as ‘Max Pain Monday’ and ‘Thirsty Thursday’. Some of the most notable poker players to have appeared on the show are Phil Ivey ‘The Tiger Woods of Poker’ ‘RaiseOnce’, Tom Dwan ’durrrr’, Phil Hellmuth ‘The Poker Brat’, Chris Moneymaker, Doug Polk ‘WCGRider, Garrett Adelstein ‘Gman’, Tony Guoga ‘Tony G’ and many more.

Preflop: Britney limps under the gun with Q8 of diamonds, which causes Tom Dwan to limp behind holding pocket sixes from the hijack. Steve Swedlow completes out of the small blind with T9 of diamonds and Ryan Feldman checks his option holding A7o from the big blind.

Flop – Tc 9s 6s: On the wet connected flop, Steve flops top two pair with his suited connector and decides to lead out for $800. Feldman folds his gutshot straight draw before Britney calls with her straight draw and overcard. Dwan raises his bottom set to $3,700, which both Steve and Britney call.

Turn – Th: A board pairing ten of hearts on the turn gives Steve the nuts with a boat, tens full of nines. He opts to lead out for a tiny bet of $700 that Britney calls. Dwan, who also improves to an inferior full house, raises to $7,600. Steve chooses to trap with the nuts as he just calls, as Britney wisely folds.

River – 7c: Still with the nut full house, Steve fires a min bet of $400 on the 7 of clubs river. Dwan, with sixes full of tens, raises to $14,000 before Steve p