Dwan: Overly Serious Professionals Taking Away The Fun of Tournament Poker

Published on August 7th, 2018 1:33 am EST

In a recent interview with Pokernews.com, Tom "durrrr" Dwan made some comments about the current state of full-deck tournament No Limit Hold'em that have sparked debate online.

The gist of Dwan's comments? Overly serious professional players, with their penchant for staring down amateur players before every action is taken, are taking the fun out of the game.

In his comments, Dwan acknowledged that he took some time during televised hands in the past, though he offers that he was actually contemplating a decision at the time. In today's poker world, Dwan says, there are players who are staring down their opponents in every single hand and on every single street.

For this reason, Dwan says, he prefers playing in short-deck tournaments where the pace of the game is much quicker.

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Dwan's comments resonated with a number of other poker pros, with Antonio Esfandiari and Bryn Kenney both emphatically chiming in with their support.

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Whether it is staring down their opponents every hand or going on a rant every time an amateur opponent seemingly makes a bad decision, some poker pros have gone way overboard in their approach to the game.

Ironically, many of the pros who complain about the fact that making money in poker is harder than it used to be are also the ones who do their best to chase amateurs away from the table.

Phil Hellmuth, for instance, took some grief during this past World Series of Poker due to his actions towards some of the amateur players at his tables. Hellmuth, who is one of the faces of poker, was rightly confronted by other pros for his attitude towards the casual players at the table. Why are you chasing away the very players, they said, they are giving you your edge?

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Some players have stated that tournament directors should hand out penalties to players who go overboard in staring down amateur opponents.

It remains to be seen if this will actually happen, though comments from Dwan, Esfandiari, etc. will certainly help to accelerate the process.

Source: Pokernews.com - Tom 'Durrrr' Dwan on What's Wrong With No-Limit Hold'em Tournaments

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Filed Under: Other Poker News