What happened to the legends of online poker?

During the past twenty years, several players managed to rise to the top at the virtual felt. It may surprise many, but online poker has been with us for more than twenty years now.

From the early days, when only a few players tried their luck at the online tables, we can now see a whole industry with hundreds of thousands of players involved every day at the tables of online casinos all over the world.

Just like any other sport or game, poker has its own eras too, and each era has its champions. When thinking about the old times, between years of 2006 - 2010, the old school fans immediately start telling the stories of the old guards of the online poker battling for six- or even seven-figure money around the clock. Several names come to mind, but the following ones are certainly amongst the biggest legends of online poker.

Tom "durrrr" Dwan

The online moniker "durrrr" used to be one of the most feared screen names back in the day. The high-stakes cash game specialist, only in his early twenties back then played with the biggest players. He was one of the so-called "end bosses" in both No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha.

Durrrr's still grinding

Almost a decade after his latest online sessions, Tom is still an active player, and he managed to stay on top. He's a regular participant in the biggest stakes live cash games, which are usually played out behind closed doors.

However, thanks to the Triton High Roller Series [3], the average viewers can sometimes get a sneak peek of these massive games.

Phil "OmgClayAiken" Galfond

One of Dwan's closest poker friends back in the day was Phil Galfond, who was a PLO cash game specialist. Phil managed to win more than $10 million across several poker sites [4], and he still works in the poker industry.

However, he's not an active player anymore, he became a businessman, running several successful companies with the likes of his online coaching site and his own online poker room [5].

Hac and Di Dang

The owners of the „Chaisin Tails”

Probably the most well-known brothers in the history of online poker are "Urindanger" and "trex313". Both of the Dang brothers climbed the latter and reached the highest levels of the game. They were sitting next to Dwan and Galfond on many occasions, playing with blinds of $500/$1,000 online.

The brothers cashed in big on online poker, but after the notorious Black Friday in 2011, they moved on and decided to get their feet wet in a completely different industry.

After finishing their poker careers, they opened a restaurant in Virginia called 'Chasin Tails' and have been successfully operating the place ever since.

As Di said in an interview, "we’re pretty hands-on. A lot of times you’ll see Hac in the back scrubbing dishes. I’m not kidding. As well as taking out the trash, bussing tables and whatever needs to be done.

That’s really good because it sets a good example for everyone else. We’re in the restaurant every day. That’s where our new lives are going."