A Tough Year for durrrr

'It hasn’t been the best year.'

By all accounts, it has been a very tough year for Tom Dwan.

The Boston University-dropout turned online high stakes poster boy is down more than $6 million dollars in the nosebleed games in 2009.

But the man they call durrrr, who booked a $5.5 million profit playing high-stakes online the year before, says anyone who thinks this is more than a temporary downswing, is welcome to put their money where their mouth is.

“It hasn’t been the best year,” he admitted to PokerListings during a break in play at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, where he appears primed for a deep run.

“But if anyone doesn’t think that it’s a downswing then they are welcome to cross book me in any game I play in. That’s all I have to say.”

Dwan has played very few live tournaments in 2009, which accounts for his less than $80k in tournament cashes on the year.

However, a newly minted deal with Team Full Tilt should see him hit the live tournament felt with a little more regularity going forward.

“I’m going to play a few more because of Full Tilt,” he explained. “I kind of wanted to play a few more tournaments anyway and Full Tilt’s a good reason to do so. So I’m probably going to be playing a bunch of them.”

One might think that a player who contests single pots worth more than final table money at the average World Poker Tour event would be less than motivated to grind the tournament circuit, but Dwan finds a way to get up for it.

“Lots of side bets,” he laughed. “And I’m trying to make more and more of them. So far I have $240k if I win and I’m trying to get some more somewhere.

“If you can get winning to be where it’s worth $4 or $5 million, for anyone but Brian Hastings that takes more than a day, so it’s worth it.”

But even with the motivation to play more live events and the down year he’s been having online, Dwan said he won’t be shying away from the high-stakes scene come 2010.

“Seems like the way to win the most gold,” he said. “So I’ll definitely be doing that.”

When play wrapped on Day 2 of the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Tuesday with approximately 130 players remaining, Dwan found himself on the top half of the leader board and threatening a run at the title and its $1,428,430 first-place prize.

To follow his progress and comprehensive coverage of the entire WPT Five Diamond, tune into PokerListings’ Live Updates.