Maryland native Dan “jungleman” Cates is considered one of online poker’s legends. The money game star has won roughly $11.3 million lifetime between PokerStars and entire Tilt Poker, making him the second one biggest winner in history behind Patrik Antonius.

On the live tournament circuit, Cates has cashed for about $3.4 million. Combine all of that with untold winnings in live cash games, and Cates is on target for possible induction within the Poker Hall of Fame one day.

With that said, Cates did experience a unprecedented losing year online in 2015. He dropped roughly $300,000, in line with tracking data from HighstakesDB. It was his first year within the red since 2009. Online poker have been getting tougher, especially with recent changes PokerStars implemented, but Cates has shown that he's likely going to face the test of time. His understanding of poker theory, especially in pot-limit Omaha, is widely considered one of the vital best.

Card Player caught up with the 26-year-old to get his thoughts at the state of high stakes poker, both live and online, and about his recent comments that Tom Dwan lost a pot worth $20 million in Macau.

Brian Pempus: Are you able to discuss how the hot changes to PokerStars have affected the high-stakes games, particularly the rake structure and rake-back for VIP customers?

Dan Cates: The high-stakes games online currently aren’t that good. It’s rare to peer $400-$800 or whatever, but there are some good, big live games. Online poker wasn’t getting any easier, and now they're making it even harder. I don’t think they know the way being a professional works. It’s almost impossible to play one game. I FEEL they're just looking to get more rake, which is smart [from their end]. The true issue is they raised the rake by like five times. I mean, it’s still beatable, but not by an important amount.

BP: I’ve seen you tweet about some high-stakes action within the Philippines. Is that the hotbed for live games these days?

DC: Well, there are some huge games in Asia but I can’t get too specific. There also are mixed games happening the U.S... in a spot like Los Angeles, and in addition Las Vegas. There are big games there sometimes.

BP: In the course of the World Series of Poker, do the most important games on the earth still move to Las Vegas?

DC: Yeah. I'LL BE coming back to Las Vegas. There have been some big games last year. I USED TO BE actually bouncing between tables because I didn’t know which [game] to play. Now I play basically all of the games. I DO KNOW the eight-game [rotation] pretty well.

BP: I ASSUME across the time that Black Friday happened was while you had reached the highest of the web poker world, so is it hard so that you can see the action almost continuously take hits since then? Your defunct challenge with Tom Dwan also seems to was a casualty.

DC: Yeah, it was way better back then…I’m still looking to get [the Durrrr Challenge] completed. I’ve been speaking to Tom. Hopefully his dad gets better. He’s along with his dad presently because he’s sick. We’re going to speak about it later.

BP: You said last year that virtually nobody is crushing it anymore on the nosebleed stakes. Would you are saying that the games that do run are more competitive than they have got ever been?

DC: They're more competitive, but it’s still possible to win. There's a lot of room for improvement still. People were definitely playing much worse prior to now. People still do obvious things wrong, in my opinion, but I FEEL do think it’s harder to enhance on this environment.

BP: You mentioned in a poker forum post that Tom Dwan lost a $20 million USD pot in Macau recently. Are you able to talk more about that hand?

DC: I can’t talk more about [Tom’s] hand rather than that it was set-over-set; I USED TO BEn’t sure I was alleged to say that, so I don’t think I should comment any more.

BP: You said in August that you simply had that actually rough session in Manila, losing $5 million [at $2,500-$5,000-$10,000 no-limit hold’em]. Was that your worst losing day to your career?

DC: Under no circumstances actually. When it comes to overall amount, yes, but I didn’t have all of myself. When you take a look at the volume apparently I got destroyed. It was a little misleading because on the subject of buy-ins it wasn’t that much. I did lose a big amount, but it's important to take a look at buy-ins. It was an enormous game, that much is true.

BP: Is it fair to mention that these live games, now that we're past the heyday of high-stakes online poker, are playing bigger than they’ve ever been?

DC: I don’t think that’s true, they simply happen to be big [every now and then.] Taken as a whole, they’ve shriveled too, and somewhat [rarer]. High-stakes cash games don’t last forever; you wish to have enough people who find themselves willing to play big. Five players is a lot, after which somebody quits, after which the sport doesn’t run.

BP: Do you've ever to cope with some poker site politics with a purpose to get a seat at a juicy high-stakes game through the WSOP?

DC: There's a big game [in Las Vegas] where that's the case. One time I didn’t get a seat even supposing a player have been gone for 2 hours. The workers wouldn’t [pick up the chips]. I ATTEMPT TO be sure that that’s enforced. You can’t let someone sit out forever. That’s really ridiculous. It happens, and when it does it’s pretty annoying.

BP: What plans do you have got for the WSOP?

DC: I’ll probably play the $50,000 tournament, and perhaps a few others. Those tournaments are always something I'LL do, because they're quite good. If cash games are running, I’ll be playing those. It’s annoying to must get up at noon for the reason that cash games run really late. To maintain waking up at that hour, it’s hard since you have [logged] such a lot of hours. Tournaments aren’t my first choice.

BP: Do you will have a session length cut-off where you're like, “F—k this, I ACTUALLY shouldn’t be playing anymore”?

DC: (Laughs). Well, if the sport is actually good, IT'S NOT THAT I AM leaving it doesn't matter what. I CAN play forever. I WILL BE ABLE TO sleep on the table, which I'VE done before. Or take naps. If the sport is whatever, I WILL BE ABLE TO get some sleep.

BP: You’ve been around for a very long time now. You're not a newcomer to the scene. What keeps you motivated still? Is it just the cash? Or is it also something else that keeps you hungry?

DC: It’s indirectly in regards to the money…I don’t know, I identical to to win. I don’t want a lot to maintain me motivated; I just need to win. That’s more or less my goal. Eventually, I WOULD LIKE to do things rather than poker as well, like business. There may be some type of internal ego at play.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]