It was only a matter of time before Phil Hellmuth's win streak ended in high-stakes heads up poker matches. Tom Dwan stepped into the second round of High Stakes Duel III and emerged the victor with a $200,000 score by defeating Phil Hellmuth at PokerGo's studio at the Aria in Las Vegas.
Chalk up this heads-up rumpus to Tom Dwan. Poker fans were treated with a long-awaited heads-up duel between Tom 'durrrr' Dwan and the Poker Brat aka Phil Hellmuth. A Hellmuth and Dwan throwdown was over a decade long in the making. The two personalities initially butted heads 13 years ago at the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. And now, Dwan s no longer the 20-something cocky punk known as durrrr, but he's a 30-something millennial pro who's trying to take down one of the biggest loudmouths in the gambling world. Hellmuth had been running good and hot at the heads-up tables recently, but he finally saw his sizzling streak halted by Dwan.
High Stakes Duel is a made-for-streaming event exclusively for PokerGo subscribers. These high-stakes heads-up matches are played out under the bright lights of PokerGo's Studio at the Aria Casino on Las Vegas Blvd in Sin City.
The first round of High Stakes Duel starts with a $50,000 buy-in and the winner walks away with $100,000. In the second round of High Stakes Duel, it's $100K each and the winner banks $200,000. If there's an additional and third round in High Stakes Duel, the buy-in is set for $200,000.
In the inaugural High Stakes Duel last year, Hellmuth defeated Antonio Esfandiari in three-straight matches to finish 3-0 and sweep the Magician.
In the second match of High Stakes Duel or HSD II, Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu squared off earlier in the year shortly after Kid Poker and Doug Polk jousted and Polk won a cool million. Negreanu could not overcome Hellmuth, who picked up another victory by a 3-0 sweep.
High Stakes Duel III featured Hellmuth versus commentator Nick Wright. After Hellmuth defeated Wright, he declined an option for a rematch.
That's when Dwan stepped in to play Hellmuth, who had won seven heads-up matches in a row. Alas, the record is now 7-1 after Dwan picked up the victory in Round 2.
"It's much better than a loss," deadpanned Dwan.
Of course, the two are playing a third round with a buy-in costing $200,000 and a total of $400K on the line.
"I'm going to try and win," added Dwan. "I'm never going to hear the end of it if I lose."
