Let’s be honest, the durrrr Challenge between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius has proven to be more than a little disappointing. That doesn’t mean the Challenge concept doesn’t have the potential to grab the attention of the online poker world again though.

For those online railbirds keen on any nosebleed action they can get, Dwan has finally taken on his second opponent: Daniel “jungleman12” Cates. For the past month, the two have suggested Cates would step up to the Challenge and play durrrr in the 50,000 hand heads-up battle, but considering the Challenge‘s track record when it comes to getting things done, no one was holding their breath.

Dwan faces jungleman12 in newest durrrr Challenge

Things got serious this week though. Dwan gave an interview to the Full Tilt Poker blog discussing his latest opponent and Thursday saw the action get underway with two lengthy sessions that produced some massive pots and saw some massive swings.

Unlike the Challenge with Antonius, Dwan and Cates are logging their hands at the $200/$400 No Limit Hold’em Full Tilt Poker tables rather than the PLO ones. They are also using the “run it twice” option on a number of hands to keep variance to a minimum, but even running it twice couldn’t stop jungleman12 from pulling out to a $518,191.50 lead after 5,862 hands.

The first day of Challenge play broke down into two sessions. During the first session, it was Dwan who had the upper hand, booking a $129,888.50 win over the course of 1,651 hands and a couple of hours at the tables. With the late hour and a victory Tweet from Dwan, many presumed the two were done for the day. Dwan asked for an hour break, which, if past Challenge sessions are any indication, could last anywhere from an hour to a month. Dwan did return in short order though, firing up the Challenge tables again just two hours after the first batch of hands wrapped up.

The second session was an epic one, lasting over seven hours and consisting of 4,178 additional hands. Cates erased his deficit in the early goings of the match and surged in the final hour to end the day up an impressive $518,202.75. While there were the occasional six figure pots, Dwan kept relatively shallow stacks on the table, often splitting stacks when new tables opened rather than putting more money down. Shallow stacks inevitably resulted in smaller pots, but with Cates winning 62 percent of the pots, he was able to rack up a tidy profit.

With a little more than 10 percent of the second Challenge in the books, Cates is off to a fast start to claiming that $1.5 million from Dwan, but there are still plenty of hands to be played and there will inevitably be more swings on the horizon. In the meantime, there has been no word from Dwan or Antonius as to when or if the original Challenge will wrap up.

Personally, I’m rooting for Cates, but it’s nice to see a durrrr challenge that might end in less than two years. Full Tilt Poker has not created its official tracking page for the second durrrr Challenge, but I’ll try to follow the events and keep you updated.