Dwan, Hellmuth To Compete In $400K Heads-Up Match

It’s official. Poker legends Phil Hellmuth and Tom Dwan plan to step into the High Stakes Duel ring at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022, for a $400,000 heads-up no-limit hold’em poker match.

The contest was in the works since September, shortly after Dwan snapped Hellmuth’s string of wins in the PokerGO heads-up “duel” format.

The August duel between Dwan and Hellmuth was the first televised match between the two since they famously battled in 2008. The two players have a storied rivalry in poker.

The match will be broadcast on PokerGO on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). The first hour of the match will be available for free on the PokerGO YouTube channel, with viewers needing to subscribe for the rest of the content.

Entering High Stakes Duel III Round 2 last year, Hellmuth had won seven straight High Stakes Duel matches, defeating the likes of Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, and FS1’s Nick Wright in the process.

According to PokerGO, Hellmuth exercised his option to a rematch with Dwan after originally seeming reluctant. Under the rules of PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel, the stakes double for this rematch. Each man will put up $200,000 for a winner-take-all $400,000 prize.

There could be another rematch after the conclusion of this contest, or the winner will move on to battle with a new challenger at double the stakes.

Per the rules, the stakes double with each round with the ultimate potential of an eighth round being played for $12.8 million in prize money. A player can walk away victorious if they win three consecutive matches before Round 4 or two consecutive matches starting with Round 4.

Image credit: PokerGO