Tom Dwan is returning to High Stakes Duel to take on Phil Hellmuth, again. As usual, that means the stakes have doubled with each player putting up $400,000 for an $800,000 prize pool.
Their match followed a run of good luck and sharp play on Hellmuth's part that granted him an unbroken string of victories over the first seven episodes. Those seven wins put Hellmuth up $750,000 in total as he racked up scores of 3-0 against Antonio Esfandiari, 3-0 against Daniel Negreanu, and 1-0 against Nick Wright.
Then Tom Dwan stepped in and ruined Hellmuth's day, beating Hellmuth for his $100,000 buy-in ($50k of which was still cold from the transfer from Nick Wright's tracksuit pockets to Hellmuth's).
After his loss, Hellmuth called for a rematch and Dwan agreed. The second time around, the chips ended up in Hellmuth's hand. One-all.
So far, Hellmuth has taken the conservative option wherever he can on HUD, cashing out after the requisite three matches. However, the back and forth means that Hellmuth was locked in for another round and Dwan agreed to take him on for the third time.
Hellmuth v. Dwan
For those who are tracking the arcane numerology of the series, this match's official title is Heads Up Duel III Round 4.
HUD3 began with Hellmuth v. Nick Wright. When Wright declined to exercise his option to a rematch, Tom Dwan stepped in. After this fourth round, the rules change and a two-win streak will be enough to allow the winner to bank his take. That means we are guaranteed at least one more round with each player putting up $800k.
Heads Up Duel III Round 4 will take place on May 12, and will be live-streamed on PokerGO. PokerGO has been cramming their schedule in the last few weeks with Super High Roller streams, High Stakes Poker episodes, and now another round of Hellmuth v. Dwan. Looks like they're doing serious work to get poker viewers hyped ahead of the 2022 WSOP.
PokerGO tweeted, "Get ready for the third installment of @TomDwan vs @Phil_Hellmuth on High Stakes Duel but this time there's $800,000 at stake! Who will win this one?"
Hellmuth is in the doghouse a bit this week after an embarrassing episode in which he called the tournament director on Eric Persson. One hopes that this next heads-up match will go a little smoother.
Featured image source: PokerGO
