A lot of people play on top Texas Holdem sites with the hopes that one day they will have the guts to challenge Tom Dwan, whose Internet screen name is 'durrr'. Born in 1986 in New Jersey, Dwan has quickly made himself a household name in the poker world. He usually plays on his Full Tilt download, so the majority of his success has been in the online arena. He's starting to turn heads in the brick-and-mortars recently, however. He has played in several live events since turning 21, and he has appeared on a wide variety of poker television shows.

Dwan started playing poker around 6 years ago on Paradise, one of the best US poker sites back then. He started playing cash games on Full Tilt once he stopped finding sit-&-go's challenging. There aren't many people out there that have played as many hours online as Dwan. Mastering the art of multi-tabling allowed him to see incredible volumes on US poker sites, and he quickly moved up in stakes while building up a massive bankroll.

Being one of the best players in the world doesn't mean your game is variance-free. Dwan's favorite game is heads-up NLHE or PLO, so the large swings in his game are pretty much inevitable. He has both won and lost millions in a single session. The most famous downswing he's had was courtesy of a someone from Sweden named 'Isildur1', who sat with him on multiple heads-up tables. By the time they were finished, Isildur1 had taken $5 million out of Dwan's bankroll. I think that I would quit poker for free bet sportsbooks if I lost that much money in a week, but Dwan has obviously proven that he can handle the mental challenge poker provides.

In January 2009, Dwan announced his $ 1 million challenge. He is willing to play any player (except Phil Galfond) heads-up for 50k hands while playing 4 tables. Dwan will put up $1.5 million for his opponent's $500k - the winner of the 50k series will receive the extra money. Patrik Antonius is Dwan's first opponent for this challenge, and to date Dwan is leading by $ 1.8 million after 40k hands. If you would like to take this challenge, simply get a Full Tilt Poker download and make a screen name.

To date Dwan has cashed for around $ 1.5 million in live tournament poker. He has done a lot of travelling, and as such he has made money in Europe and Australia aside from the U.S. His highest WSOP finish happened just this year in a $ 1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. He finished second place behind Simon Watt for a little under $400,000. Dwan's failure to win a bracelet affected a lot of people other than himself because apparently a lot of people were betting on whether or not he would win one in 2010. I would rather play Internet slots than make crazy WSOP props like these!

The online players have always known that Dwan is a fierce opponent, but his live event cashes and appearances on Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker have caused the live pros to notice him, too. He's achieved so much at such a young age. We can only expect more great things in the years to come, too. If you aspire to be as great as Dwan one day, you need to get rid of the roulette bonus and play some poker instead.