This week, “The Showdown with Jon Friedberg,” which can be found exclusively on Poker News Daily, welcomes heads-up cash game star Dan “jungleman12” Cates. The Durrrr Challenge competitor hasn’t done many mainstream interviews, so we’re thrilled that he agreed to join “The Showdown,” which is released every Tuesday on Poker News Daily.
If you enjoy “The Showdown,” then show your love by signing up for UB.com using the promo code “UBPND.” The CEREUS Network site serves as the presenting sponsor of the web television series and welcomes USA action. Check out Part 1 and Part 2.
Friedberg started off by discussing a Tweet from Kathy Liebert saying that Howard Lederer would be busto if not for his involvement with Full Tilt Poker. Friedberg weighed in, “Although I would have to say it’s probably true that Howard’s skills are not what they used to be because he’s doing so much with Full Tilt Poker, running a business, and making money off it, you can’t really judge him on that because he has so many other things going on.”
Attention then turned to Erik Seidel, whose win in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship added to an already phenomenal 2011 in which he’s cashed for over $4 million. Friedberg cautioned, “Sick run, yes. But does he deserve all of this recognition he’s getting? In my opinion, not necessarily. I think that, yes, he’s won a few tournaments, but these are really small tournaments. They just happen to have high buy-ins and therefore the payouts are really big. I think the NBC Heads-Up tournament was the most impressive.”
Cates then joined the set and recapped his rise in the online poker world: “It was a gradual process. I didn’t just wake up one day beating nosebleeds. I went from not being a losing player to being an okay player to being a winning player to moving up in stakes. Eventually, I came to play the nosebleeds and win.” Cates is up nearly a million dollars in his ongoing Durrrr Challenge match against Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
Cates is primarily known for his prowess in the world of cash games. Does he care about winning a WSOP bracelet? “Winning a bracelet wouldn’t say that much about aptitude in tournaments because there’s a ton of variance in tournaments,” Cates clarified. “That in and of itself is not that meaningful. Although I do want a bracelet a decent amount, I could certainly live without it.”
Winning the Durrrr Challenge could mean a $1.5 million payday for Cates on top of his earnings at the table. Friedberg asked Cates whether he thinks about the amount of money at stake when he vies for millions of dollars: “When I play, I don’t think, ‘Man, I could have bought a house with that money.’ I think of it more in terms of points – when I’m winning, I’m winning points and when I’m losing, I’m losing points. I care a lot about winning and losing points. The money is a little bit detached.”
A necessity for playing high-stakes poker is proper bankroll management. Cates gave us the inside scoop on his disciplined approach: “For the most part, I’ve been pretty rolled. I’ve taken a few shots that have been a little bit risky, but I never do anything where there’s a high chance of me going broke. I always try to give myself some room to recover if I lose a lot of money in almost every circumstance.” Cates also recently faced off against PokerStars pro Viktor “Isildur1” Blom in the SuperStar Showdown.
Wrapping up the first part of the interview was a discussion of Cates’ spending habits. He admitted that buying luxury items was a rarity: “I buy a few luxuries every now and then, but I don’t spend that much. I spend it traveling… I’ve been looking into investing, but haven’t invested a lot yet. I’m planning on doing it after I get a few things settled out. I’ve also been looking into charities. At some point, I’ll donate a lot of money to charity.”
Check out the rest of this week’s episode of “The Showdown.” Also, be sure to visit our sister site, DurrrrChallenge.com, for more information about the unique heads-up showdown between Cates and Dwan.