Daniel Cates

Daniel Cates (born November 14, 1989)^[1] also known as jungleman12 or w00ki3z. is a professional poker player from the USA, considered to be one of the best heads-up No Limit Texas Hold 'em players in the world.^[2] As of 2014, his online cash game earnings at Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars are over $11,000,000. In 2010, he won over $5,000,000 making him the biggest winner for the year.^[3]

Personal life

Cates was born and raised in Bowie, Maryland and began playing poker at the age of 17. He has said that at first he was a big loser and even took a job at McDonald's in order to refuel his bankroll. He describes his childhood as “weird, a bit aloof and mostly spent alone”. He spent much of his time playing Command and Conquer and had an uncontrollable obsession with video games.^[1] He studied Economics at the University of Maryland^[4] before dropping out of college to make poker a full-time career.

Poker

Cates began playing online poker at the $0.25/$0.50 level as well as losing money in his local casino game before employing "reverse game selection" in order to take on and beat the best players at his stakes in heads-up matches before moving up the limits. This saw him go from $0.25/$0.50 to $25/$50 in the space of just two years.^[5] In 2009 Cates lost most of his bankroll to Viktor Blom at Full Tilt Poker before rebuilding.^[6] In 2010 he began to play higher and higher stakes, racking up victories against many noted pros including heads-up specialist Tom Dwan. In August 2010 Cates agreed to take the Durrrr Challenge, playing Dwan at four tables of $200/$400 NL for 50,000 hands. If Cates should beat Dwan by $1 or more after 50,000 hands then he will win $1.5m from Dwan. As of April, 2011, the two have played 19,335 hands and Cates is up over a million dollars.^[7]

As of 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,100,000.

On August 13, 2015, Cates announced via Twitter that he lost 38 million HKD($5 million USD) at a casino in Manila.^[8]

Notes