There was controversy ahead of Friday night’s Million Dollar Game as it became apparent that Tom Dwan would not, as advertised prior, be in the starting line-up.
Producer Ryan Feldman claimed that player politics had forced his hand and said that the game could have fallen apart if he hadn’t made the decision to pull Dwan.
Dwan was frustrated about the situation, which ended with him getting a seat in the game at midnight, around an hour before big winner Peter left. The game broke just over an hour later.
Dwan pulls a favor
Talking to PokerOrg, Dwan said, “Ryan’s my friend, but I don’t like how he handled it and I told him that.
“I also told him I’d give him some ‘gentle shit’ for it, mainly because I don’t believe I would have got a seat Thursday or Friday if I hadn’t called in a favor."
Dwan went on to say there were no hard feelings.
"I really do like Ryan and Nick [Vertucci], and I think they are some of the better actors in the space. Most people and shows are much worse than this.”
Peter won close to $5 million over three sessions in the Million Dollar Game
Changes to Million Dollar Game 2025
So who was it that blocked Dwan from the game?
Alan Keating put out a tweet before Friday night's game, saying it wasn’t him and that Dwan "can confirm." However, Dwan did not do that. Instead, he vouched for two other players to PokerOrg, saying that Santhosh Suvarna and Peter had wanted him in the game.
The other players in the game at the start were Keating, Brandon Steven, Thomas, Stanley Tang and Rahul, a friend of Suvarna’s.
Feldman talked about the stresses and politics of putting a game like this together, and we asked him if the Million Dollar Game would be back next year. “Tbd,” he said. “I would like to, but there’s so much stress that went into it that we’re definitely going to cut back next year and make some changes. It’s fun, it’s just so stressful.”
Dwan’s response? Call. “I don’t buy his bluff for sympathy,” he said. “I’ll lay 3/1 they run it next year.”
