High Stakes Online Poker: Jungleman12 Takes $100K From Isildur1

In the fast-paced world of high stakes online poker, Jungleman12 has conquered Isildur1 in recent days to the tune of $100K. 

Isildur1, whose real identity is believed to be Viktor Blom of Sweden, made waves on the live poker tournament scene by finishing among the top 20 in last week’s World Series of Poker Europe.

Jungleman12, real name Daniel Cates, is the 20-year old online poker phenom whose total winnings already exceed $2 million.

So how did the Jungleman12-Isildur1 battle go down?

From HighStakesDB.com:

They played 2123 hands of $100/$200 NLHE which is considered both players best games, so you can really say that we were witnessing a match of strength vs strength. As you can see from the graph, Isildur1 had the best of it for the first 700 hands, and was up as much as $55K before jungleman12 started to work his magic. He built a lead as high as $100K before Isildur1 managed to turn things around and for a very brief period take a $20K lead. The last third of the match, however was all about jungleman12 and in the end he was a $97K winner.

Last week, ESPN.com posed the question:  Is Daniel Cates (Jungleman12) online poker’s new big superstar?

When it comes to high stakes poker, Tom Durrrr Dwan may be the reigning king, at least in terms of popularity as weighed by search inquiries to the Gambling911.com site. Jungleman12 is actually participating in the infamous Durrrr Poker Challenge:  Part Duex.

Cates rise in the realm of online poker has been astounding reports ESPN.com:

Starting with a strong success rate in game play, he found his beginnings in high school lunch-hour $5 sit-and-gos, using torn-up pieces of paper as chips. When he wanted more, he found his way online and promptly lost $3,000 at micro stakes before it finally started to click. In less than a year, he made his way to midlevel sit-and-gos when he discovered easy success in heads-up play. From there's he's ascended through higher stakes like a warm knife through butter. Staying at one level for a month felt like a long time.

Cates' reputation took hold when he started playing the highest stakes. When he beat Dwan for some $800,000 in heads-up play, Dwan mentioned he was looking for his next Challenge opponent. Considering the results, Cates was more than a little surprised at the offer.

"It was a little insulting," Cates recalled. "It suggested that my beating him was all variance. I was a little thrown aback because the results I've had against him have really strongly implied I had an edge against him, even though I'd run hot in the past. From the sample size, it's so unlikely he has an edge. It must imply a lot of confidence on his part. I wouldn't say his finding a hole in my game was a big concern. I was worried that maybe he had an unknown reason to think he had a good chance to win. I thought maybe he was hustling me or something. I don't think that's the case now. It's a pretty sick hustle if he is."

Ace King, Gambling911.com