The site? Unregulated. The agreed sum? Unknown. The player? Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
The 37-year-old has $6.5 million in live earnings and was spotted patched up by the unregulated poker site while playing at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju, South Korea.
“I happen to be really optimistic on the next few years of poker,” Dwan said in an announcement video. “You’ve got to be trying some new stuff and doing interesting stuff. I think a lot of the poker world is missing that.”
This isn’t Dwan’s first poker sponsorship, having previously been a Full Tilt Red Pro from 2009-13 and served as a Triton Poker Ambassador.
PokerNews strongly advises its readers not to play on unregulated online poker sites. It’s not legal and your funds are at risk.
Dwan’s Outstanding Debts
The news of Dwan’s sponsorship comes weeks after Canadian poker player Peter Jetten cautioned against doing business with Dwan, saying he’d delayed payment for four years.
And only this week professional gambler and soccer club owner Haralabos Voulgaris also took to social media to discuss a sports betting debt that Dwan incurred in 2012.
“He was always civil when I was giving him more time but when I put my foot down he changed tactics completely”
The agreement was that Dwan would place bets for Voulgaris, due to his reputation as a professional gambler, a process known as “bearding”. In exchange, Dwan received 25% of the profits. According to Voulgaris, the pair won “high 7 figures”.
However, Dwan simultaneously lost money with another bearding group and didn’t have the money to pay Voulgaris his winnings.
“Tom does not dispute the debt,” Voulgaris said, before adding that he’d recouped some of his debts through a third party who also owed Dwan. “Without his help I’d likely still be owed mid 7 figs from Tom”
Dwan is at least in some way aware of the money owed, with Jetten (pictured) receiving $30,000 towards the debt after his tweet. However, discussions on the remaining balance being paid at the Triton Poker Tour stop in Jeju broke down.
“This is after four years of saying he’d pay full amount soon,” Jetten tweeted. “He was always civil when I was giving him more time but when I put my foot down he changed tactics completely. I’ve never dealt with someone this unethical.”
Who is Tom Dwan
Dwan gained fame during the late 2000s, particularly for his aggressive playing style. Known for his high-stakes cash game exploits, he became a favourite of poker fans through his appearances on poker TV shows such as High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark.
Additionally, Dwan was involved in various online poker challenges and prop bets, such as the “durrrr” Challenge, his now infamous heads-up duels with Dan “Jungleman” Cates.
As of 2024, the Challenge remains incomplete, with Dwan having paid between $700,000 and $800,000 in penalties for not playing. Dwan is currently down $1,251,059 after 19,335 of the 50,000 hands.
In recent years, however, Dwan has made a return to the live felt and has been a regular on the Triton Super High Roller Series, cashing nine times during 2022 and 2023 in Madrid, Cyprus and Monte Carlo.
Last year Dwan even made it to Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event only to bust short of the money. Dwan’s last WSOP cash came back in 2011, the year after he almost bankrupt the entire poker community thanks to one of the most famous bracelet bets of all time.
He’s also appeared on numerous cash game live streams including Hustler Casino Live where, in May 2023, he won the largest pot in live-stream poker history for $3,081,000 against Wesley Fei.
WATCH: The rise and rise of Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Be sure to check out this video from 2022 that takes a look at the story of Dwan’s poker history. From dropping out of university, transitioning to online poker and dominating the
Managing Editor
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019.
He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.