Phil Hellmuth Defeats Tom Dwan In High Stakes Duel lll for $400,000

Image courtesy of PokerGO.com

Phil Hellmuth finally gained revenge on Tom Dwan last night, describing his opponent as “one of the greatest players in the world” after defeating him in their $400,000 High Stakes Duel III rematch...

It was Dwan who had brought Hellmuth’s incredible 7-0 High Stakes Duel winning streak to an end, the “poker Brat” unable to replicate his 3-0 whitewashes of both Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari and Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu.

When FoxSports host Nick Wright was also put to the sword and declined a rematch, it was time for Tom “durrrr” Dwan to enter the PokerGO HSD arena, and he felled Phil in spectacular fashion.

The rematch had a $400k pricetag on it, the $200k pot Dwan held from the first match and another $200k from Hellmuth’s very deep pockets.

The heads-up battle started off rather cagily, the first hour seeing neither player get out of line, but it started heating up when both players threw in some risky bluffs and pre-flop raises, with Hellmuth reverting to type on occasion as well...

Oh oh! F-Bombs are flying as @Phil_Hellmuth heats up after losing a pot versus @TomDwan.

The action is live on PokerGO, tune in now. pic.twitter.com/vz00I01Riu

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) January 27, 2022

Having rivered a flush against Hellmuth’s pocket tens, only to see Phil find a good fold, it was Dwan’s turn to suffer with the same hand, a turning point in the match...

Dwan: 10♦ 10♥
Hellmuth: 7♥ 4♦

Hellmuth decided to call Dwan’s big reraise pre-flop and when the cards came out...

Flop: J♠ 2♥ 7♦

...his friskiness paid off when it went check/check, the turn hitting him hard...

Turn: 7♣

Hellmuth responded to Dwan’s check with an almost half-pot bet, which was called...

River: 9♥

...and with Phil betting out another half-pot sizing on the river, an unhappy Dwan eventually called, only to hear Phil announce “Trips!” with Hellmuth’s “strange line” paying off handsomely.

That gave Hellmuth a 3-1 chip lead and he wouldn’t look back, extending it with some fiery and rather uncharacteristic play at times, explaining afterwards: “I thought that I had to play a little faster against him because he’s so good.

Phil added: “He’s so good, he’s always there, he’s making all these good folds, so I thought to step it up a little bit and to make some big bluffs today to win just to kind of get the mojo in my favor.”

Dwan couldn’t find a way back and when the end came it was a straightforward race that sealed the victory for Phil...

♠ ♣ ♦ ♥

Dwan: 8♥ 8♣
Hellmuth: A♣ Ks

Flop: 5♦ 2♥ K♦
Turn: 6♥
River: 6♦

♠ ♣ ♦ ♥

Hellmuth was naturally ecstatic at having finally downed his bete noire, telling reporters: “It feels good. Tom is just one of the greatest players in the world.”

Phil rated himself even higher, of course, adding: “I like to use the term ‘natural-born hold’em player.’ I think there are about 10 natural-born hold’em players in the world...I’m one of the 10, for sure. What do I have, 13 world championships in hold’em or something? Plus, just 50 final tables in hold’em. So yeah, I’m one of them.”

As for a rematch to the rematch, there will definitely be another Hellmuth-Dwan heads-up fight. “I know you’re rematching,” Hellmuth said to Dwan once the match was over. “This time for $800K.”

As for Phil’s own plans, that might be as far as he goes if he doesn’t defeat Dwan again.

“If I lose, I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to pony up $800,000 to play again, but I bet he will,” Phil revealed, adding: “If he doesn’t, then someone else will. I have to win twice more, and it could be Dwan then Ivey, or Dwan then Dwan, if I can win the next match.”

Part 3 of HighStakesDuel III between Phil Hellmuth and Tom Dwan is likely to take place in March or April, and we’ll bring you all the news on that as soon as we can.