[toc]This week marked the return of popular poker television show Poker After Dark to the airwaves. If we are being honest though, it might as well have been The Tom Dwan Show.
After a couple years of laying low in Asia, Dwan returned to the States to take part in the show. Aria Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada hosted the action. PokerGO aired the show live on its subscription streaming service.
There were three cash game sessions with a different line-up each night. Dwan, better known to some by his online handle “durrrr”, sat in all three games.
Dwan won high six figures after three sessions
After the three days wrapped, Dwan was up over $500,000. He certainly won big. However, a glance at the key hands will give you some understanding of how well he ran during the sessions.
On the opening night, he picked up pocket aces preflop in a pot where Daniel Negreanu had queens and Antonio Esfandiari had kings. Esfandiari and Dwan got it all-in, making for a $700,000 pot. The aces held even after running it twice, so Dwan scooped the entire pot.
The following night, Andrew Robl joined the line-up, as did living poker legend Doyle Brunson. The action was $200/$400 no-limit hold’em, but with straddles in play, Robl decided to buy in for a whopping $1 million. All told, there was over $3 million on the table.
During the second session, Dwan finished with over $1 million in front of him. Dwan stacked millionaire Bill Klein when he had a set against Klein’s two pair. He then added even more to his stack when both he and Jean-Robert Bellande flopped a set, but Dwan’s was bigger. To Bellande’s credit, he did manage to fold the river, but Dwan won $575,000 from the hand.
Brunson left an impression on Poker After Dark too
The next morning, Brunson Tweeted about Dwan’s fortunate run.
You should have seen him last night! I used to be young and catch hand after hand like he does.#poorJRB https://t.co/l99Sr4MjiM
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) August 16, 2017
In Brunson’s defense, he was more critical of his own game. He was initially supposed to play the third night, but bowed out. He said his game was not where it needed to be to play at such stakes.
Tx for the kind words about my poker last night. True, I was card dead most of the night but I was uncomfortable. Been awhile since I played
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) August 16, 2017
I don’t know if I’m going to play tonight on Poker After Dark tonight. Game is going to be huge and I’m not sure my game is ready.
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) August 16, 2017
Brunson did not play. Instead, “Aussie” Matt Kirk jumped in the fray.
Dwan and Poker After Dark had fans feeling nostalgic
Social media was abuzz during the Poker After Dark sessions. Certainly, there was a fair amount of criticism. Most notably, viewers were frustrated by the limited graphics package, which did not include position at the table or bet sizes.
Much of the other chatter was excitement about the big pots though. It harkened back to the heyday of online poker, when players railed the nosebleed cash games featuring Dwan.
Unfortunately for the show and PokerGO, you cannot exactly script a popular player coolering the crap out of everyone. So, it remains to be seen if future Poker After Dark episodes will retain the level of hype around this one. As for Dwan, we do not know if this means he is back on the scene or if we will return to life under the radar with several hundred thousand dollars in his pocket.
