Dan Cates Shines Light On Current Poker Scene

Dan “jungleman12” Cates is one of the most successful poker pros on the circuit, with the 26 year-old having won $11.3 million playing cash games online, as well as a further $3.4 million from the live arena playing tournaments. He’s also got some pretty interesting insights and opinions when it comes to the present state of poker, which he was kind enough to share with Card Player during a recent interview.
One of the topics which he has been most vocal about of late is the recent changes PokerStars made to its VIP reward program, which he asserts has now made the online high stakes game “still beatable, but not by a massive amount.”
In terms of the best live cash game action, Cates said that there are some good games taking place in Asia, as well as big games being held in Los Angeles. In addition, Las Vegas continues to be a hotbed of poker action, with the action increasing exponentially during the time of the World Series of Poker. In addition to cash games, Cates said that he would also be entering a handful of tournaments at the prestigious tournament series, including the $50,000 event, although as he explains tournaments are not his first choice, and when cash games run deep into the night he certainly won’t be waking up after just a few hours to play in a tournament.
During his interview, Cates also gave some insights into the elusive Tom Dwan, stating that his father is currently “sick”, and that discussions on their stalled Durrrr Challenge are in the background, but still ongoing. He also briefly touched upon the $20 million he said Dwan had previously lost in a pot in Macau, stating that it was set-over-set situation.
As to his motivation for continuing playing at the highest levels, Cates said that it was no longer just about the money, and explained:
“I just like to win. I don’t need a lot to keep me motivated; I just want to win. That’s kind of my goal. Eventually, I want to do things other than poker as well, like business. There is some sort of internal ego at play.”