Phil Hellmuth seeks to avenge ‘High Stakes Duel’ loss to Tom Dwan

For the first time, Phil Hellmuth has to get up off the canvas on “High Stakes Duel.”

Hellmuth’s 7-0 streak in the made-for-TV poker format ended in August when he lost to high-stakes standout Tom Dwan in a $100,000 buy-in heads-up No-limit Hold’em match.

They are putting up $200,000 each for the rematch, which will be broadcast at 5 p.m. Wednesday on the subscription video service PokerGO.

Dwan and Hellmuth have a long history, dating to a 2008 TV match in which Dwan put a bad beat on Hellmuth with pocket tens against pocket aces.

Hellmuth called Dwan a “sucker” at the table and said he made a “terrible play.”

Dwan defended his play as the “standard,” correct decision and told Hellmuth: “Learn to play heads-up no-limit.”

In their first “High Stakes Duel” battle, Dwan held the lead for most of the match, then took over completely when he called with bottom pair to snap off Hellmuth’s bluff with ten-high.

“I think I’d like to play you heads-up forever,” Hellmuth told Dwan after the failed bluff.

Hellmuth previously swept three matches each against poker stars Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu before defeating FS1 host Nick Wright.

Hellmuth, 57, is the all-time leader with 16 World Series of Poker tournament victories, and he has more than $26 million in career tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.

Dwan, 35, has nearly $5 million in career tournament earnings, but he is known more for his appearances on “High Stakes Poker,” in which he played several pots approaching $1 million. In recent years, he has been a fixture in high-stakes games in Macao.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.