In the last-minute rush to get into the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event, there was a bit of an unexpected face in the crowd. Ultra high-stakes cash game phenom Tom Dwan made his way to the Horseshoe during the first level of Day 2D and promptly got to work building a stack.
Dwan, the fan-favorite more well-known for playing in some of the biggest televised cash game pots of all time, has been known to dabble in tournaments from time to time. However, those tournaments he chooses to play usually come with an even heftier price tag than the $10,000 WSOP Main Event. In fact, the last time he had a result in a tournament priced this low was back in 2011.
But while many might make a special effort to make it out because it’s “The Main Event” and a historical one at that, Dwan’s answer as to why he played was a little simpler: “You can buy in to Day 2.”
It seems clear that for Dwan to take the time out of his schedule to play a tournament, the juice has to be worth the squeeze. He’s not averse to playing in tournaments, as shown by his last trip to the Triton High Roller Series where he cashed in three events for a total of $414,700. It just depends on the time it takes to get there and how that takes away from any nosebleed cash games that might be going on.
“I almost played the [WSOP] $25,000 and $50,000 PLO and the $250,000 No Limit, but I’ve been playing a bunch of cash,” Dwan said on break in the Main Event. “All of those I was going to buy in on Day 2. I think it’s a good addition being able to buy in on Day 2.
“I kinda wish they’d have a shot clock in some of the tournaments, at least the bigger ones. Because I know, at least for me, that’s one of the more annoying things. I felt like the $25,000 No Limit, for example, supposedly a lot of the hands were taking a super long time, and when there’s decent cash games…I wasn’t in the mood.”
Apparently he was in the mood on Day 2D. He spent the first level getting a massage, chipping up, and catching up with friends like John Juanda. And despite the buy-in being significantly less than his usual stakes, Dwan thought that the payout was going to be worth it if he makes a deep run.
“I assume it’s going to be $10 mil plus for first and probably ten plus people make a million…so pretty decently sized, it’s a good field. I don’t know, I’m happy to play it.”
Better yet, $12.1 million for first. It also helps that Dwan’s been spending more time in the United States and seemingly enjoying it. Of course, he made headlines in late May when, on Hustler Casino Live’s Million Dollar Game, he played (and won) a $3.1 million hand – the largest pot in poker broadcast history. But it wasn’t a one-and-done for Dwan as once that stream was done, he returned to the stream days later for even more action. And, just this week, it was announced that he and ‘Nik Airball’ would be appearing on the “Tom and Airball” show on HCL – a high-stakes $500/$500 Pot Limit Omaha stream from July 17-21.
It may not seem like so long ago, but there was a period when the opportunities for fans to watch Dwan play were few-and-far in between. But according to Dwan, there were a number of reasons for that, the most important was how good the games were.
“TV poker was dead in the West,” he said. “All the shows were small, not good. It was only Triton that had decent stakes.”
“I was mostly always playing on streams except when there was a two-year period of huge games. And then there was COVID right after but I think I still played some streams in 2019. I played some of the Triton stuff.”
But, for now, he’s back and ready to play. Late registration was incredibly kind to Dwan as he more than 7x his 60,000 starting stack to bag a top-50 Day 2D stack. So far, it seems like a good thing the West Coast cash games kept him close enough to make it to Las Vegas and also a good thing for ‘Durrrr’ fans that Dwan is able to find what he’s looking for.
“It’s nice that when I’m here [in the U.S.] there’s actually some decent TV poker, so that’s cool.”