Daniel Cates

Early years

As a teenager, Daniel was introduced to poker and started playing with friends in the kitchen. At first his successes were modest: Cates lost more than he won. To maintain his bankroll, he got a job at McDonald’s.

Cates attended the University of Maryland, where he studied economics, but soon realized that an academic career was not his path. He made the bold decision to drop out and focus on poker, which turned out to be a turning point in his life.

Interesting facts about Cates:

• Daniel was so passionate about Command & Conquer that he thought he was the world champion of Bubble Trouble;
• His parents had long disapproved of their son’s passion for poker and tried to limit his access to the games;
• Cates became a frequent visitor to Bobby’s Room, the legendary high-stakes gaming room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas;
• In 2019, he survived a robbery while returning home late at night;
• Daniel befriends other famous players, including millionaire Scott Palmer.

Confrontation with Isildur1

In late 2009, Daniel faced one of the most enigmatic players of his time, Victor Blom (Isildur1), who caused a furor in the poker community. The one-on-one battle proved to be a tough one: in the longest poker session.

Cates lost $500,000, which was a serious blow to him. To recover, he lowered his stakes and started to choose his games more carefully, which helped him get back to stable results.

Durrrrr Challenge

In 2010, Tom “durrrrrr” Dwan challenged Daniel Cates to a legendary poker format: 50,000 hands of high-stakes Heads-Up. The rules stated that the winner would receive $1.5 million if the gap in winnings was more than $500,000. At the time the heads-up challenge was stopped (after 19,335 hands), Cates was in the lead with $1.2 million. Dwan never continued the match, leaving Jungleman as the unofficial winner.

Live Poker Achievements

Cates is a very successful player when it comes to live tournaments, here are his most high-profile wins:

• 2021. Winning the $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, USA; winning $95,020;
• 2023. 3rd place in the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London, London, winning $1940000;
• 2022. Re-entered the $50,000 Poker Players Championship event at the WSOP in Las Vegas, USA; winning $1449,103;
• 2014. 2nd place in the €100,000 Super High Roller at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Monte Carlo, Monaco; winning $1774,000;
• 2014: Winning the $100,000 Alpha8 event at the World Poker Tour (WPT) in Johannesburg, South Africa; winning $500,000;
• 2019. 5th place in the £100,000 No Limit Hold’em – Triton Million for Charity tournament in London, UK; winning $1200,000;
• 2016. 3rd place in the HK$500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller at the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) in Macau, China; winning $1000000.
• 2018. 4th place in the €100,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona, Spain; winning $800,000;
• 2015. 6th place in the $500000 Super High Roller Bowl tournament in Las Vegas, USA; winning $1000000;
• 2013. 3rd place in the €50000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona, Spain; won $500,000;
• 2012. 2nd place in the $100,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in the Bahamas; won $1000000.

Online Poker Achievements

His major accomplishments in online poker include:

• 2010. Became the biggest winner of the year, earning over $5 million in online cash games on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars;
• 2010. Took Tom Dwan’s Durrrr Challenge, playing over 19,000 hands and earning over $1 million;
• 2012. Winning the All-Star Showdown on PokerStars, where he beat the strongest online players and won a significant cash prize;
• 2014. His total online cash game winnings on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars exceeded $10 million, confirming his status as one of the best online players in history.