Tom Dwan’s debt saga continues, but Durrr’s reputation is looking worse these days – unless you are part of ACR Poker’s hiring team. We’ll get to that situation later, but we should talk about allegations first, because there are a lot of them.
But first, a little backstory on the man of the hour.
Tom Dwan’s Duality Over the Years
There’s always been two ways to look at Tom Dwan.
On one side, there’s the young aggressive player who rose to stardom, like an American version of Isildur1 with more TV time. This persona and play-style is what you’ll see all over YouTube in those short poker compilations. It’s not a stretch to say that he’s inspired many poker players over his career.
But, just like Anakin Skywalker, Dwan also has a dark side. News articles, interviews, and videos have told tales about his debts for years now. Million-dollar tabs go way back to challenges he made in 2009, but the total owed seems to be much, much higher. Those waiting for payments seem to be getting restless this year and the Durrr debt saga is reaching a climax.
Now, Doug Polk is calling for those with outstanding debts to come forward and get coverage.
Going to cover the latest Tom Dwan debt situation, been some developments there.@PeterJetten @junglemandan @haralabob
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) March 5, 2024
Who else am I missing? Feel free to come forward if you'd like to be included in the piece and Tom owes you money.
Jungleman, despite being on this list, had this to say:
The pitchforks are out. Now, let's look at who's holding them.
Who Does Tom Dwan Owe Money Now?
We’ll be using the word “alleged” a lot in this article, for the usual legal reasons.
Draw your own conclusions about Dwan’s deficits. It’s clear that a lot of cash is owed, but there may be details that never reach the public's eyes and ears. The GTO strategy is to wait for concrete proof, like admissions of guilt, receipts, and legal proceedings (if they ever come).
These are all of the alleged debts we know about in 2024. We’ll be starting with the most recent accusations that re-lit the fires in February and March. After that, we’ll look back at payments that Dwan has missed dating back to 2009’s online poker days. Even Trueteller is rumored to be out over a million dollars with Dwan, but those details haven't surfaced yet.
Peter Jetten
The man who kicked off the most recent tweet storm was Peter Jetten – and it looks like he has good reason to. Apparently, Dwan initially owed Jetten around $246,000 in buy-ins from the 2020 Aussie Millions event (where Tom staked Jetten) but never paid for the buy-ins.
I decided to tweet about Tom Dwan because I think there’s zero chance of him actually paying me if I don’t
— Peter Jetten (@PeterJetten) February 20, 2024
My view is that he’s got such a massive ego that even if he makes 20mm tomorrow he’ll punt it off gambling before he pays
When I get a min I’ll share texts that show how…
Before his March tweets, Peter mentioned Dwan in February. This apparently caused Dwan to send over $30,000, but then things slowed down. .
After I tweeted about Tom he sent me 30k
— Peter Jetten (@PeterJetten) March 5, 2024
Things aren’t looking good tho. One of our recent convos went something like this:
He says he’ll pay remaining balance in Jeju. I say no I don’t believe you. He says if I don’t I’ll add 25k on top. I say no. He then switches gears and…
At a glance, this one really looks like Tom has both feet on the wrong side of the fence, but there is a little nuance to know. It appears that Peter Jetten had a bit of debt on his books too. Dwan claims that he let Jetten buy out of a makeup he owed at a reduced rate. Now that he’s gone public with these recent accusations, Dwan feels like Jetten should compensate him for that great deal he gave him on the makeup debt.
When asked if he owed Jetten money on a recent video interview, Tom Dwan told the reporter, “If we actually talk through fair, he would owe me a bunch. The makeup is worth more than the amount he was complaining about”
“I bailed the dude out a bunch of times, I helped him a bunch of times and everyone around us knew that.”
See Peter’s retort below:
Saw that incomprehensible Tom interview where he briefly touched on the debt. As expected, he was unable to substantiate why he isn’t paying
— Peter Jetten (@PeterJetten) March 9, 2024
I’ve already told @tomdwan that if he insists on pretending that this debt is contentious then we can have it arbitrated by a reputable…
But, it looks like all of the publicity has gotten Tom to start the arbitration process with Jetten. We’ll see how that goes and keep you posted. Some say that Tom might be confident in a win and that agreeing to arbitration might be a strength tell.
Tom has agreed to escrow the money and go to arbitration!
— Peter Jetten (@PeterJetten) March 13, 2024
Thanks everyone for the support
Haralabos Voulgaris
Despite playing and betting on sports together, Tom Dwan appears to owe Haralabos a serious amount of cash. The professional sports-bettor says the total owed is $350,000 from accumulated losses that Tom never paid him.
Okay my turn @TomDwan Can we finally get the last 350k that you've owed me since 2010. Pretty Please.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) March 5, 2024
For those that don't know the whole story its a wild story, happy to share all the details of this thrilling tale of Tom betting hoops (bearding) for me with one of the largest… https://t.co/jMyPYUpvzl
Dwan claims that he owed a “million or 1.1 million” to Haralabos a while back, as well as a side amount of around $350,000. Then, Dwan claims that he tried to get him into a “legal jeopardy spot” related to the bets, which caused Tom to feel like he wasn’t required to pay the extra money. From Tom’s perspective, he doesn’t owe Haralabos that money.
On a recent Hustler Casino stream, the two sat side by side, while Dwan won the biggest pot in the show’s history. Even Nik Airball noticed the unlikely seating arrangement and jokingly said, “This seat draw has to be rigged”.
The financially-intertwined pair seemed cordial, but Haralabos brought up the debt after the Million Dollar Hustler Casino stream. Then, he says Tom ghosted him and flew a private plane to “whatever rock he crawled out from”.
Imagine owing someone for 12 years, scooping a $3.1m pot right in front of the guy, him offering you a deal where you can make monthly 10-30k a month payments with 0 interest and then ghosting him while flying Private back to whatever rock you crawled out from.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) March 5, 2024
Tom does not dispute the debt, he knows he's responsible for it, our last conversation after the HCL Million Dollar match was me requesting him to pay a small monthly amount at which point he ghosted me.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) March 5, 2024
But, it kind of seems like Dwan does dispute the debt. He says that he and Haralabos “have been square for years and years”. That’s a pretty cut-and-dry statement, so it’s clear that one of these people is incorrect on a few details. It isn’t clear who that is, at least not yet.
We’ll see where this goes and let you know.
Daniel "Jungleman" Cates
From his first years in the poker spotlight, some chinks in Dwan’s reputation started to show. After challenging high-stakes players to the 50,000 hands of heads-up $200/$400 or higher, he managed to beat Patrik Antonius, before facing Daniel “Jungleman” Cates.
Dwan had done very well against Patrik, to the tune of over $2 million, but this was different. He lost over a million dollars before the first 20,000 hands were finished.
Then, the stalling began. The challenge started to slow and play progressed at a snail’s pace – if at all. Cates couldn’t easily get a hold of Dwan to keep playing and finish their wager.
There was no time limit in the rules (a major oversight), which meant that no due date existed either. Jungleman took another $200,000 in 2013 when the challenge got going for a while, but things have been quiet for a long time now.
It’s been called one of the biggest scams in poker. Since Dwan stands to lose money at the conclusion of the challenge, he has a financial incentive to stall as long as possible. Instead of buying out of the challenge, Cates says Dwan had paid around $800,000 in fines. For whatever reason, he’s chosen to pay fines, rather than buying out. We can only assume that the latter would cost him more.
In a hilarious video Daniel made about this challenge, where he claims Tom “forfeited”
I made a cartoon to tell the story! pic.twitter.com/2llx6GSyfm
— Daniel Cates 🇺🇸 🌎 (@junglemandan) October 23, 2023
Despite all of the internet fighting over this unfinished challenge and the money owed, it seems like Daniel isn’t too worried about it. He’s been brutally honest about Tom on Twitter/X, but seems to be on good terms anyway.
Playing @TomDwan ‘s therapist pic.twitter.com/iOmfQXL1Cy
— Daniel Cates 🇺🇸 🌎 (@junglemandan) March 9, 2024
On debts, Jungleman had this to say about Dwan:
“If I am really honest, I think that Tom probably spends too much on dumb shit, instead of paying people who he should!”
Opinions About Dwan’s Debts from the Poker World
Tom Dwan’s reputation could be at its lowest point ever this year. There’s a little division, but most of the poker community supports those owed, rather than Dwan.
Way back when, Peter and Cole would have been two of the most respected gamblers that vouched for Dwan. In the world of high stakes character and credibility, Durrrr is at rock bottom. https://t.co/AG456QYc9u
— Jesse May (@ScurrilousMay) February 19, 2024
So tilting seeing someone gambling like crazy when they owe you money. Sorry to hear it.
— Cole South (@ColeSouth) February 18, 2024
imo you *increase* your chances of getting paid by posting. Deadbeats will put you at the top of the debt list and just make an excuse “oh I missed his texts, we’re square now, carry on!” GL
Just take it up with his owner through indentured servitude, @paulphuapoker
— Vance Selbst 🏳️🌈 (@VanceSelbst) February 18, 2024
When the dust settles and some of these debts are taken care of, we’ll update the GipsyTeam readers.
We already update you on freerolls every day, where thousands are given away for $0 buy-ins. Are you missing those events?
Dwan Signs with ACR During Debt Saga
As Tom is receiving blows from the poker world on Twitter, ACR announced that he was joining their team.
Monster News!
— ACR Poker (@ACR_POKER) March 8, 2024
We’re thrilled to welcome the legendary Tom Dwan @tomdwan to the ACR Poker team as our newest Pro! 💪🏻
Why ACR? What’s next? Watch our interview with him for all the exclusive details.https://t.co/R7Nb1lfqvT pic.twitter.com/ZGwkJeruBh
With everything we talked about in this article, the timing seemed comical to many. So much controversy and (alleged) unpaid debts, yet one of the largest poker rooms in the world is making Tom the face of their brand?
Well, it will surely get the publicity levels they wanted. Even though Dwan might have some skeletons in the closet, it seems small compared to early-2024’s bot scandal on Americas Cardroom.
The companies response was quite a fumble. Moneymaker issued a challenge to the community to operate bots on the site successfully, later withdrew it, and ACR was mostly silent on the issue since then.
That makes Tom’s statements about ACR a little more difficult to listen to with a straight face.
“I think they are willing to face stuff and I think that’s pretty important,” said Dwan.
“I think there was a lot of times where people tried to sweep stuff under the rug in poker, whether it’s poker rooms, poker live rooms, or poker brands, or tournament places, and especially online sites. And I think the thing that I believe in the most probably about Phil is that he’s not trying to do that.”
However, ACR's CEO Phil Nagy doesn’t seem to have done much yet though, except make some vague commitments to game integrity and some awkward videos.
Hiring Dwan as an ACR Team Pro might not be a bad thing – in a different time – but this doesn’t feel like the correct moment. Many players and community members felt the same.
