It is the match every poker fan has been waiting for. Phil Hellmuth is set to clash with Tom Dwan in High Stakes Duel III, the old-school legends are picking up where they left off back in 2008.
🚨🚨 @phil_hellmuth vs @TomDwan 🚨🚨
That's it. That's the Tweet. pic.twitter.com/esoj2oQF6A
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) August 3, 2021
Tom Dwan will be Hellmuth’s next heads up opponent
Hellmuth bagged his 7th straight win in the SNG-format heads-up High Stakes Duel matches recently, downing Nick Wright.
With the Fox Sports commentator revealed that he wouldn’t be asking for a rematch. The $100k buy-in is just a bit too much…
Great match @getnickwright! I’ll see you at the televised tables again soon, on Poker After Dark, only on the @PokerGo App. I enjoyed our dinner after the match (at Carbone @AriaLV), and enjoyed meeting your wife: she is awesome… https://t.co/e7HHidtG0u
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) July 31, 2021
…the poker community was abuzz with the idea that Ivey or Dwan could be up next.
Hellmuth wasn’t shy about discussing the possibility that he might face another fellow legend of the game, having trounced both Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu 3-0 in previous HSD matches.
“They told me after I beat Antonio that it was going to be Ivey, and I said OK,” Hellmuth told PokerGO this week. “They said it was going to be Dwan, and I said OK.”
The 15-times WSOP bracelet winner continued: “You know, of all the people on the planet, Phil Ivey has held over me more, like when we’ve played tournaments together, I’ll have ace-king suited and he’ll have aces with seven left at the LAPC.
“Ivey has gotten away with a lot against me, and so had Antonio, and I relish playing people heads up who have beaten me a lot because at least I’m going to get to play them 600 hands and I’m going to get rid of that whatever you call it, you know, bit of unluckiness, right? Dwan or Ivey, whoever. Either one is fine.”
Tom Dwan’s epic bad beat
Though Ivey may have been in the forefront of his mind, for most poker fans it is an unforgettable heads-up showdown with Tom Dwan that looms large in the memory.
The setting was the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Championship and Hellmuth, picking up aces, set a dastardly trap for his young rival.
What happened next, however, saw the commentators declare: “When you look up bad beat in the dictionary, that’s what you’ll find!”
The verbals afterward were even more brutal than the bad beat. However, with the “Poker Brat” calling Dwan’s play terrible and “durrrr” offering to play as many heads-up matches as Phil wanted.
In a recent interview, Dwan revealed that he expected to be Hellmuth’s opponent after the Esfandiari match in High Stakes Duel I. However, Daniel Negreanu jumped the queue to take a shot at Phil’s “White Magic”.
News that Dwan would finally get his shot at Hellmuth in High Stakes Duel III, Round 2, had Twitter poker lit up, a joke on the 2008 match first up…
Ha!
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) August 3, 2021
Phil Hellmuth with almost $1 million in winnings
- “White Magic vs The Dark Arts. Could be fun”
- “I’ll be tuned in. Tom will put Phil on tilt within 4 hands”
- Thinking @TomDwan breaks the streak and beats @phil_hellmuth in first round …setting up an epic rematch later.”
Because Hellmuth had already defeated Wright for $50k in round one of the third HSD battle, Dwan has to come in for $100k, and regardless of who wins a rematch will see the third-round reach buy-ins of $200k apiece.
Hellmuth’s 7-0 run so far has netted him $750,000 and a double over Dwan would take him over the $1million mark in the format.
Fans still have a few weeks before the big match kicks off. The battle is set for Wednesday, August 25, at 8 p.m. ET from the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.
The build-up is almost certain to produce some heated words and guaranteed there will be plenty of hype.
VIP grinders will, of course, bring you all the best of the action on and off the felt as two of the most popular and successful poker players of all time go to war!
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