It seems like it was only yesterday that Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan issued his Million Dollar Challenge to the public but it has actually been months. It has taken eight months for the challenge to reach the halfway point and Dwan is leading Patrik Antonius by almost $700,000.

25,145 hands have been completed and 50,000 hands must be played for the challenge to be complete. October 7th was the most recent playing session between the two poker pros. This session took place at Full Tilt, of course, and ran for 1,063 hands. Dwan increased his lead by $418,000 which increased his lead by $697,000 overall.

Dwan first big pot was $194,000 and it took three hours at the Full Tilt Poker $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha tables. Dwan then raked in a $187,000 pot and then yet another large pot of $186,000. Antonius would then gain some ground after he put Dwan all-in with a board of 3-j-6-j with two diamonds. The river was a seven of clubs and Dwan was showing Jh-8d-9s-Ah for trip jacks but Antonius showed 3c-3h-Qc-6s for a full boat, threes full of jacks.

This pot was worth $160,000 and would temporarily stop Dwan’s run. Antonius would win yet another pot for $153,000 which would make Dwan’s gain just $418,000 during this session. Both players have managed to be up by $500,000 at some point during the challenge during the first half. Now in the second half it will be interesting to see where the players go from here.

Dwan has to be up by at least $1 by 50,000 hands to earn the challenge win and be paid $500,000 by Antonius. If Antonius is up by at least $1 then Dwan will have to pay him $1.5 million.