durrrr is 14th on the list of biggest poker winners tracked by HighstakesDB. The data is based on 1067207 hands played and his total cash game profits amount to $3,370,911.
Tom "durrrr" Dwan is one of the most feared and hyped poker professionals in the world. His rise to poker stardom is as classic a rags to riches story as it gets; he was not by any means brought up in poverty but his wealth is all self-made. He started playing poker at the age of 17 (in 2004) by making a $50 deposit on Paradise Poker. He started playing $6 sit-n-goes and ended up losing $35. He managed to cash in both of the remaining two SnGs and as they say "the rest is history". Once he built up a sufficient bankroll, he focused on short-handed cash games and after beating those, he transitioned to heads-up games. Two of the toughest opponents he faced when climbing up the HUNL stakes were Fredrik Halling and Prahlad Friedman. He can now be seen playing the highest stakes available on Full Tilt Poker where he is one of the Professionals.
Much of the hype surrounding him stems from the Durrrr Challenge he issued to the poker community in January 2009. He was so confident in his heads-up game that he was willing to lay 3:1 ($1.5m:$500k) against anyone in the world (except his friend Phil Galfond) that he could beat them over 50,000 hands of NLHE and/or PLO. Only two people accepted the challenge; Patrik Antonius and Daniel "jungleman12" Cates - both matches have still not been completed and their status is still unknown due to Black Friday.
He was involved in an epic heads-up battle against the young Swede, Isildur1, who was later revealed to be Viktor Blom. The two battled each other across six tables in marathon sessions lasting all day and night, and by the end of the week, Isildur1 had won more than $5 million from durrrr.
Dwan is a cash game specialist and has yet to make a big score in the tournament scene. He had some big WSOP side bets on winning a bracelet but he just fell short in $1.5k NLHE event in 2010 in which he finishes 2nd. Many pros who betted against him were sweating the final table anxiously.
He is known for his wildly loose and aggressive style which he has displayed on his appearances on High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark. Dwan has been involved in some of the largest pots ever played in online and televised poker; he holds the record for the two biggest pots won in televised poker. He has more recently been playing the big cash game in Macau where blinds are rumoured to be as high as HKD $10k/$20k with a $40k straddle (equivalent to $1,300/$2,600/$5,200).