Tom Dwan - the missing man

That is bugged out

Few on this thread have any clue what they're talking about.

Only medical professionals and those who have been through the mind-bending soul-sucking ordeal of a loved one becoming mentally ill have the experience to make an accurate analysis.

Those experiencing psychosis want nothing more than confirmation that what they're experiencing is real. House bugged, food & drink drugged, neighbors spying, people whispering about them everywhere they go, people tailing them on foot and in cars, involvement of well-known government spy agencies ( CIA M6 KGB ), delusions of grandeur, superhero complex, etc.

And they will deploy your love for them as a weapon against you if you do not actively confirm their paranoid fantasies. You will switch from a dearest loved one to "one of them" and vile hatred will be lasered in your direction.

If you really love someone, you have no choice but to take the side of rational thought and stand firm no matter their irrational demands.

1. no what you think is happening, in actual fact this is not happening because of x, y, z ( provide specific reasons why what they are claiming is nonsense )
2. you weren't always like this, just n days/weeks/months/years ago you never said anything like these stories & claims that you've recently begun to tell us about
3. no I'm not a member of the group persecuting you because there is no such group
4. you are experiencing a chemical imbalance that is altering your perception of reality, but there are medicines which can return you to normalcy ( Zyprexa is one ), will you agree to see a psychiatrist ?

You need to be incredibly strong and repeat 1-4 over & over, with a calm demeanor and loving but firm voice, never wavering, never yielding to what the mentally ill person falsely desires which is for you to confirm your love by engaging them and joining their paranoid fantasies as an active member of the persecuted.

Based on what I've seen there's little doubt in my mind that Tom has become mentally ill. Clearly he has not emerged from the psychoses that led to the episode that resulted in UK legally sectioning him under MHA.

Solid post, I agree, this has likely been slowly happening to him over years but even his “friends” probably didn’t know how to handle the initial signs beyond “haha you crazy”. The DN podcast info was more than enough for me, “lets put the phones in the car,” just to go chat in a restaurant at dinner….has to be only the tip of the iceberg.

All that to say if he is not self-harming or violent towards others, there is a chance to overcome if he has the right support around that he trust.

Sorry, not even close

Really disappointed on the lack of empathy in this thread. TD at the height of his powers was everyone's hero.

Brilliant player that just crushed online and then live. He was so good. He confused the **** out of everyone. Next level.

That look in his eyes.

It's obvious that he has some mental problems or is on drugs.

So sad.

Anyway, my thoughts and prayers go out to TD. I hope he gets well soon. I hope he gets sober. I hope he gets healthy. I hope he settles all his debts.

One of the greatest cash game players of all time.

How so? Explain your logic with this comment? How am I off base here? No sarcasm and explain to me how I am incorrect.

No rational refutations can be made, since you made no arguments to reply to
I can only share personal experience

I play chess since I was 4, I'm a decent amateur, and I would be very much -EV versus an IM minus one rook

I could ask what your ratings are on chess.com and or lichess to situate where your pov came from

A rook is worth five points. A pawn is 1, bishop is 3 along with the knight. You can't beat a competent player being down a rook.

Ok I have a comparison that may not be relevant. So in darts if u have the throw when u when the cork to see who goes first for the bullseyes. If u watch Luke LIttler if he goes first u are not going to beat Luk against the throw very often. You have to throw a 13 dart let or so to maybe get lucky. Bobby fischer or Kasparov won't allow to u make any erros along with Magnus. Being down a roook no chance in hell u lose vs anyone who has a clue in chess.

Youre making it sound as if Dwan won the bet, playing against an IM who was a rook down. Surely he lost?

He did. In the analogy above I guess the Magnus Carlssen/Luke Littler is Jungleman.

More likely he started the game, went to the bathroom, and never came back.

Dwan was not the one down a rook.
He played against a chess master. The master was down a rook. He still beat Tom.
Tom didn't think he could beat somebody decent down a rook. He tought he could win vs a international chess master if the master was down a rook. Tom lost.

"Not just" means they are also included.
But I was kinda hoping that you were talking about the people that were not showing enough empathy cause the post you quoted was saying we should respond with empathy.

Nobody will never be able to, 100%, factually prove whether he was drugged or not drugged. You can hold on to that theory as much as you want. Even Tom doesn't say or imply that it was the case.

He still tweeted like he believed the stuff he was thinking during his breakdown was true. 20 days later. What drug can he take that makes him act like a schizophrenic person for 20 days? And wouldn't they test for that at the hospital before releasing him?

Even if somehow we could prove he wasn't drugged, you will just make up another close to impossible scenario and throw it at everybody that says he is showing signs of mental illness.

I could tell my phone has been hacked by the government and that the president himself listen to my conversations. You wouldn't be able to prove the contrary. But if I truly believe it, it's paranoia.

Given your posts:
- You avoid telling what you doctorate is. (I suspect law)
- You haven't read the thread before telling

I don't think it's clear whether he has delusion of grandeur or a huge ego (narcissist). I'd lean toward the second one though (fwiw).
That'd not be big news anyway:
- Few people already said he had a huge ego (I remember Greenstein and/or Ivey saying it)
- The chess bet
- The Durrrr challenge
- The way he was trying to talk his way out of saying he owes Jetten.

Saying he should be entitled to talk to Putin and saying he could convince him if he could talk to him are two different things. It sounded more like the 2nd to me but I definitely could be wrong

You can if you are an IM :-) (or better)

But it does seem you think Dwan was down a rook as fish_but_lucky explains
Which was not the case

For the record:
This point system you refer to is a very rudimentary way to evaluate chess winning chances
A better way to think is that these numbers are dynamic depending on position
A knight on the rim (and out of play) can be worth as little as 1.7 points
While a central well defended knight can easily rise to 4
This is part of being able to evaluate a position correctly

In this case:
An IM will most likely have equalized or gained an edge in the opening before any rooks have come into play
(although this is hardly the whole story)

I am having a hard time imaging someone losing being down a rook. This isn't possible vs a competent player. I am not buying the narrative others are trying to sell me here in this thread. A decent chess player would never lose down a rook that is absurd.

Fortunately you don't have to imagine it. It happened. Just look at the results. FFS.

There have been plenty of “hope he gets better soon”, I even threw one in myself but we are allowed to discuss other things.

But even in his heyday he wasn’t Mother Teresa running around helping people. And he welched on Jungleman when he was at height of his powers and possible bankroll

An IM will destroy you even when he is down a rook.
Gothamchess was an IM for a long time, and when you look at his thoughts in his videos when he really goes deep into it, it is freaking crazy.
He even won blind vs Anna Crambling
International Masters are absolute beasts in chess.
They don't give a damn if you are up a rook.
Their endgame is insanly strong and they have so many midgame boards in their freaking heads.

I didn't know about the story of Tom playing an IM and starting up a rook. But I smiled instantly, because normal players with elos between 1000 - 1800 just can't win vs an IM.
Fedor has 1.8K I believe.

The crazy thing in chess is, that one can make it to almost 2000 with a little bit of tailwinds, good matchmaking and daily practice etc. But mostly comes from memorizing openings and having a somewhat decent mid and endgame.
But IMs are just so crazy at really analysing positions and think ahead so many combos, and just see things that a normal player just can't see. They will look at a position and will know that this is a position from 2023 Carlsen vs Hikaru, and know instantly what to do and will capitalize on every misstake you make, when a player with lets say 1800 elo is basically just guessing around with limited capacity of thinking ahead.

Seems sinster of you to smile at another person's expense. That is what a narcissist would do, dupers delight. I heard of Anna Crambling I believe from Youtube she is a good chesss player. I don't believe I would lose down a rook.

Gossip is the G in NVG

There is no S for supportive

Well posters on here and people hyped up Durrr a ton. Phil Hellmuth was sort of right when he said we shall see if you are around in 5 years. Why does Tom seem to be highly respected when he owes people money. I owe no one money and play my own bankroll and yet I get threatened on here makes zero sense. ToM Dwan has proved that he is a terrible human being. A good person would make a real effort to pay people back. I have zero sympathy, empathy for Tom. Pay your debts Tom, we have no sympathy for you anymore Tom we hate you Tom because you give poker players a bad name.