Dan “Jungleman” Cates has shown up at the $50,000 Poker Players Championship dressed up as the Terminator as he attempts to win the event three years in a row. Both of the American’s WSOP bracelets came from these two victories and now he is back, clearly meaning business as he portrays himself as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character from the 1984 classic movie.
— Daniel Cates 🇺🇸 🌎 (@junglemandan) June 16, 2023
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Dan Cates Aims for Three in a Row
In 2021, Cates tricked Ryan Leng into a bad fold during a critical stage of the heads-up battle leaving an open road to his first World Series of Poker victory.
Exactly 12 months later, Cates found only Brazil’s Yuri Dzivielevski sitting between him and back-to-back wins. Incredibly, he pulled it off, banking $2.4 million for both wins.
Can he complete the “threepeat?” We wouldn’t bet against him but this event is thought by many top players to be the toughest poker tournament in the world right now. It’s never a given.
The large buy-in keeps most amateurs out and there are very few rich recreational players joining the fray. It is basically full from top to bottom with elite players. As tough as it gets!
Cates’ victory in 2022 marked the first time that anyone had ever won this tournament in consecutive years. Only Michael Mizrachi and Brian Rast have won the event more than once, with three and two wins respectively.
Shaky Start to Day 1 for Jungleman
Day 1 didn’t start off so well but Jungleman battled back after losing half of his stack to end the day around where he started it with 200,000 chips. One notable exit from the event was Daniel Negreanu who lasted barely half a day.
All that said, this is a five-day event so the early going is unlikely to be any kind of accurate indication of who will be in the running come the sharp end of the tournament.
There is also some serious controversy going on in the high stakes tournament community at the 2023 WSOP.
Czech player Martin Kabrhel has been accused by multiple players of marking cards during play, leading to calls for his expulsion from the series.
Legend of the game Andrew Robl tweeted his astonishment that he was still welcome to play given what he claims to have witnessed.
How is Martin Kabrhel not banned from the WSOP? He makes any tournament no fun for anyone and on top of it I’ve seen him mark cards in every tournament I’ve ever played with him.
— Andrew Robl (@Andrew_Robl) June 18, 2023
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