dan cates Archives - Paul Phua Poker

Watch the new video interview for the Paul Phua Poker School, in which Dan Cates reveals how he went from playing poker with scraps of paper at high school to the biggest poker games in the world. Paul Phua picks the highlights

In his previous video interview for the Paul Phua Poker School, Dan “Jungleman” Cates talked about the aggression that has made him one of the world’s best heads-up players – “I just try to win all the pots I can!”. He also talked about how he could apply some of those heads-up tactics to full-ring games.

In this latest video for the Paul Phua Poker School, Jungleman (as we all call him at the poker table) tells us a bit more about how he became the successful poker player he is today. For anyone dreaming of becoming a poker pro, it’s instructive to see how it’s done!

How Jungleman Dan started playing poker

Dan Cates made more than $10 million profit on the Full Tilt poker site, and has more than $5 million in tournament cashes. He also plays cash, including in “the Big Game” that I play in. He’s still just 27 years old, yet he has already been playing poker for 12 years. Jungleman reveals in this new video interview for the Paul Phua Poker School that he started at the age of 15:
“l played with some friends in high school during lunch periods using torn-up little pieces of paper as chips, playing for $10 or whatever.”
How times have changed! But while the stakes may be different, Jungleman’s competitive drive has remained undimmed.

How Dan Cates improved his poker strategy

We asked Jungleman how he improved his poker strategy. It’s striking how, in so many of these interviews for the Paul Phua Poker School, the pros agree on one key poker tip: it is vital to learn from other players, and get a second opinion on problematic hands.
“In the start, it was all me,” says Dan Cates. But, he says, whenever he tried to learn a new game, he would try to find “the specialists that were best in those games”. Poker proved no different. “it’s helped in random different ways,” says Dan Cates, “like other players gave me their opinions or whatever on things, and over time I learned more and more.”
As Dan Colman said in his recent video interview for the Paul Phua Poker School, “a big part [of success] is having friends who are very good players”.

Dan “Jungleman” Cates’s playing style

Over time, each player develops his own playing style. Jungleman’s is aggressive (he talked in the last video about how he likes to 3-bet with 5-6 suited), but it is also highly data-driven and analytical. Asked about his strongest attributes as a poker player, he says:
“I guess one of my strongest attributes would be that l understand the game. l think l understand the game better than most opponents. Just how it works, and all the decision tree points. l have a very good memory for each decision tree point, and also how players play different ones of those. It’s either that, or that l adjust better than they do. It’s one of those two things.”

How Dan Cates got his “Jungleman” nickname

Finally, Dan Cates reveals how he got his unusual nickname, “Jungleman”, which also inspired his screen name, “Jungleman12”.
“l was called ‘Jungleman’ when l played live,” Dan Cates says in the video, “because players… because I was, like, kind of a crazy person, and also because l was, like, pretty hairy, l had a lot of hair. l had longer hair, too. So they called me Jungleman just to, like, sort of mock me, and I thought it was a funny name. And yeah, it stuck, for a long time.”

Who is Daniel “Jungleman” Cates? Poker player profile

Dan Cates, 27, from the United States, is one of the world’s leading heads-up poker players.
He plays online under the names “Jungleman12” and “w00ki3z”.
He has made more than $10 million profit on the Full Tilt poker site.
He has nearly $5 million in live tournament cashes.
He often plays cash poker for high stakes in “the Big Game” in Macau and Manila.
He is known for his aggressive style of play.

**Fedor Holz, Dan “Jungleman” Cates and Sam Trickett are just some of the poker pros playing in the exclusive Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro. The Paul Phua Poker team reports**

Is it really just a year and a half since the first Triton Super High Roller Series took place? Already it has become a key fixture in the top poker pros’ calendars, and Day One of the Triton SHR Series in Montenegro shows why.

The Main Event, starting on July 18, is expected to bring out the very brightest stars in poker. We’re now only just on the warm-up tournament: the 6-Max Texas Hold ’Em, with an entry fee of “only” HK$250,000 (US$32,000). And yet some of the world’s finest poker pros are playing already.

The great, late Fedor Holz

Fedor Holz, the likeable German poker prodigy who at 23 has already amassed $23m in live tournament earnings, arrived fashionably late – by three hours! Even so, true to form, he wasted no time in building a commanding stack. He finishes Day One in sixth place, with more than double his starting stack of 50,000.

Three places above him, with 129,000, is Steve O’Dwyer. The US high-stakes specialist, who has $18.5m in live tournament earnings, is now poised to notch up another big win. Pity the Canadian pro Lucas Greenwood, who started the day with the fearsome Steve O’Dwyer to his left – and then, having busted out and rebought, drew the legendary Dan “Jungleman” Cates to his left instead!
Greenwood has a comfortable 64,600 as he enters Day Two. He’s not sitting pretty, however. Who’s that two places to his left? It’s Steve O’Dwyer, yet again!
Other huge poker names who have survived to Day Two include John Juanda, Sam Trickett, Richard Yong, Winfred Yu and Mikita Badziakouski.

Paul Phua Poker interviews the poker pros

The Paul Phua Poker team was at the Triton SHR series too, with cameras at the ready, to bring you live action on Facebook and Twitter (follow @PaulPhuaPoker). We also conducted exclusive interviews with Fedor Holz, Dan “Jungleman” Cates and the British No 1 Sam Trickett – we’ll add those videos to the Paul Phua Poker School in due course – and there will be many more to come as the Triton SHR Series unfolds.

Wish you were here? You can have the next best thing: tweet your question for the Triton poker pros to #PhuaTriton, and Paul Phua will do his best to get them answered.

Maestral, Montenegro, magnificent

Another reason to love this particular Triton SHR Series is the idyllic location. The five-star Maestral Resort and Casino where the tournaments are being held has been comprehensively refurbished over the last few months, and the Montenegrin Prime Minister himself cut the ribbon on its reopening last week. The Maestral now has 183 rooms and 22 suites, all finished to the highest design specifications, with superb cuisine and a Wellness & Spa Centre that already in 2016 had been named Montenegro’s best. It also offers a private beach and an expansive terrace bar overlooking the sea.

Montenegro has some of the most beautiful coastline in Europe, with dramatic hills rising above perfect sandy beaches in tranquil coves. But even by Montenegrin standards this particular stretch is prized as one of the best. In the immediate vicinity of the unique island resort of Sveti Stefan, near Budva with its Old Town and modern nightlife, it is well worth visiting – even without Fedor Holz enjoying a post-tournament dinner on the Maestral’s sea-view terrace a few tables to your right!

For more Triton SHR Series action, follow @PaulPhuaPoker on Twitter, like and follow Paul Phua Poker on Facebook, and tweet your questions for the Triton pros to #PhuaTriton

**In his second video for the Paul Phua Poker School, Dan “Jungleman” Cates reveals why aggression pays. Paul Phua picks the interview highlights.**

If you have been playing poker for as long as I have, you will have noticed that playing styles have become more aggressive over the years. The aggressor is the one able to take initiative, and aggressive raising also gives you “fold equity”, forcing a fold from a stronger hand. These days there are many expert players who 3-bet pre-flop with hands that others might not even call with.
It makes them unpredictable and hard to play against. They might have Ace-King, Ace-Queen or a big pair… but they might also have just suited connectors!

Why Dan Cates 3-bets with 5-3 suited

In his previous video interview for the Paul Phua Poker School, Dan “Jungleman” Cates talked about the aggression that has made him one of the world’s best heads-up players – “I just try to win all the pots I can!” In this second “In Conversation With Paul Phua” video for the Paul Phua Poker School, Dan “Jungleman” Cates talks in greater detail about the hands he likes to 3-bet with.
“If we’re playing in our game,” says Jungleman, “the deep game [high-stakes cash], l’d 3-bet the biggest hands, obviously, but also, like, the bluffs that play the best post-flop, the ‘best bluffs’ so to speak. Like 6-5 suited, 5-3 suited, obviously.”
It may not be obvious to less experienced players that one could raise with 5-3 suited! But that’s what makes Jungleman one of the most successful poker pros around. Dan Cates made more than $10 million profit on the Full Tilt poker site before transitioning to live games, and has since racked up more than $5 million in tournament cashes.

Why 3-bets depend on player and position

As with everything in poker strategy, how you 3-bet will depend on who you are playing against. Jungleman explains: “If someone plays either like tight or aggressive or whatever, l would rather not 3-bet something like AJ offsuit. But if they play passive, and like, just call down or don’t have too many moves, l’d rather 3-bet AJ offsuit a lot.”
And of course it also depends on your position. Jungleman continues: “Or maybe some players I might want to 3-bet more than others, like, if l want to play more in position with them or whatever.”

Why size matters in bluffing

One strategy I have noticed some aggressive poker pros adopt is to deliberately bet more with their bluffs to create a bigger pot. By the time the river comes, the pot is so large that many amateur players will not dare to call with anything much less than the nuts.
In this new Paul Phua Poker School video interview, I ask Jungleman about that. “l think it can make sense to do that,” he agrees. “l mean, l think at least in theory things are quite a bit more complicated, for various reasons.
“l mean, you can manipulate pot stack size if you just know, like, how much they’re going to call on the turn and then fold on the river, if someone just always calls and folds on the river or something. But l think that’s kind of a complicated subject.”
What he means is, this is not something you should try unless you genuinely are an expert player!

How often should you bluff?

Jungleman also talks about when and how to bluff: “The one thing l think about more is how many bluffs do l want to turn up with. In pretty much every situation, basically, you can kind of, like, weight the value of various different bluffs in a lot of the spots and, like, how strong ranges players have. l think about stuff like that…”
And then Jungleman shows that, however aggressive the pro players can be, for the most part they still follow the most simple and fundamental poker advice of all: “But mostly l try to play big pots with big hands

Who is Daniel “Jungleman” Cates? Poker player profile

Dan Cates, 27, from the United States, is one of the world’s leading heads-up poker players.
He plays online under the names “Jungleman12” and “w00ki3z”.
He has made more than $10 million profit on the Full Tilt poker site.
He has nearly $5 million in live tournament cashes.
He often plays cash poker for high stakes in “the Big Game” in Macau and Manila.
He is known for his aggressive style of play.

**Dan Colman, interviewed here for the Paul Paul Poker School, is ranked third in the world in live tournament earnings. Paul Phua picks three key tips on poker strategy from the video**

A few weeks ago the Paul Phua Poker School presented a video interview with Dan Colman, the poker prodigy who has won more than $28m in live tournaments at the age of 26. Watch that video, and read about Dan Colman’s poker career, here.
I am delighted now to put out this second video interview between myself, Paul Phua, and the reclusive young poker pro. These are some of the important lessons to be learned from it:

Adapt to changing poker strategies

Dan Colman’s chief message here is one close to my own heart. You know that famous phrase, “poker takes a few minutes to learn, and a lifetime to master”? It’s true! I have played for years, against top pros like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan and Dan Cates, and still find there is so much more to learn. Part of that is because, as Dan Colman says here, “poker is always evolving”. He doesn’t mean the rules of poker, he means poker strategy.
Terms like 3-bet and 4-bet and Game Theory Optimal, or the software that pros use to analyse the mathematically perfect strategy and the odds in any given poker hand, were unknown when more experienced pros such as Phil Ivey were starting out. Poker strategy is changing all the time. It’s our aim at Paul Phua Poker to help you keep on top of it. If, like Dan Colman, you are prepared to put in the effort to learn, the rewards can be great.

Seek out poker strategy advice

Also, remember that articles and videos are not in themselves enough. You know that old phrase, “two heads are better than one”? It’s a good idea to seek out the advice of friends who also play poker. It’s even better if you can persuade a more experienced player whom you admire to give you advice on problem hands.
I have been lucky enough to play against some of the best in the world. I am still humble and attentive when players like Tom Dwan comment on a hand I have played, and give tips on how I might improve my poker strategy in the future.
Even Dan Colman, despite his prodigious success, is happy to ask for a second opinion. As he says in our video interview, “A big part is having friends that are very good players and even better than you to where you are telling them a hand or why you did something then they can be critical of it and say, ‘No, I wouldn’t do that, I don’t like your play’. Then you can think ‘Hmm, maybe you’re right’ and then work on that. So it’s important to talk poker with other good players.”

Vary your poker playing style

The other thing I enjoyed in this video interview was talking to Dan Colman about poker playing styles. We all evolve a poker playing style that suits our temperament: some are naturally more aggressive, some naturally tighter. Both styles can be effective when used correctly, against the right opponents at the right time.
But sometimes we must vary our poker playing style. As Dan Colman says in our new video interview, “How I play really depends on the players at my table, as well as my stack size and the payouts [in a tournament], because depending on if there’s a big pay jump and my stack is pretty short I might have to really be cautious and try to advance up the pay ladder. But when you have a big stack you can just put on a lot of pressure and win a lot of pots uncontested.”
There is another point to consider. As written in a previous Paul Phua Poker blog, sometimes we must do the unexpected to make money and win the pot. Or, as Dan Colman, memorably puts it, he will “zig when they think I’m going to zag”.
Don’t miss out on future video interviews with the pros. Subscribe for free to the Paul Phua Poker YouTube channel.

Who is Daniel Colman? Poker player profile

Born in 1990, Daniel (Dan) Colman was talent-spotted as a teenager by poker pro Olivier Busquet, who became his mentor
He became the first online hyper-turbo poker player to win more than $1 million in a year
He won his first WSOP bracelet, and $15.3 million, in the Big One for One Drop poker tournament at the age of 22
Daniel Colman has more than $28 million in live poker tournament earnings, ranking him third in the world

Paul Phua gets tips on heads-up poker strategy from Dan “Jungleman” Cates in the latest of the Paul Phua Poker School video interviews with high-stakes pros

Dan “Jungleman” Cates is one of the best heads-up poker players in the world. Under his online poker name of “Jungleman12”, he has made more than $10 million profit on the Full Tilt poker site, putting him third on the HighstakesDB.com list of biggest poker winners.

Who is Daniel “Jungleman” Cates? Poker player profile:

— Dan Cates, 27, from the United States, is one of the world’s leading heads-up poker players.
— He plays online poker under the names “Jungleman12” and “w00ki3z”.
— He has made more than $10 million profit on the Full Tilt poker site.
— He has nearly $5 million in live poker tournament cashes.
— He often plays cash poker for high stakes in “the Big Game” in Macau and Manila.
— He is known for his aggressive style of play.

Full-ring poker vs. heads-up poker

In the last few years, he has also branched out into full-ring poker [multi-player cash games], testing himself in the highest of high-stakes poker cash games against myself and other pro players in Macau, Manila and elsewhere. The swings in “the Big Game” can be huge. After one marathon session in 2015, Jungleman (as we all call him) made headlines in the poker press when he Tweeted: “Sooo Manila didn’t go well, only lost about 38m hkd (5m usd)”.
He has made it back since!
In this new video interview for the Paul Phua Poker School, Dan “Jungleman” Cates discusses the differences between heads-up and full-ring poker. He even admits to an early mistake when he first made the switch:
“There are many more combinations of hands in heads-up rather than ring,” Jungleman says, “so a lot of times you can value-bet thinner, when it’s actually quite a large mistake in ring to value-bet thin when, like, a flush draw completes.”
What he means by “more combinations of hands” is that you should play a very much wider range of starting hands in heads-up than in full-ring poker. The winning hand at showdown is also likely to be no bigger than a pair; sometimes even just Ace or King high. Heads-up therefore suits an aggressive style of playing poker, which Dan Cates certainly has!

Aggressive poker playing strategy

One tip I like in this Paul Phua Poker video interview is where Jungleman says, “I guess one strategy for heads-up that I have is I just try to win all the pots that I possibly can. I’d see where people let me take pots from them and where they don’t.”
You see what I mean about an aggressive poker style! Jungleman is constantly attacking and probing for weakness, which puts less experienced poker players on the back foot. They are scared to call his raises unless they have a very strong hand, and in heads-up it’s rare to have one!
Interestingly, Jungleman has found that this skill is transferrable to full-ring. Trying to win many pots helps with the ring poker game, says Jungleman, “because sometimes ring players are so used to having stuff, are so used to playing against strong ranges, that they forget about little pots that they can pick up.”

Poker lessons to be learned

That is something I believe we can all learn from. Many of us get too comfortable playing poker the safe and “proper” way: wait for a premium starting hand, and be prepared to fold if you don’t hit the flop. As Jungleman puts it, you end up folding “because you have, like, Ace-10 off-suit under the gun. ‘Oh, well. It’s under the gun, I have to fold now!’”
But if you apply a bit of the heads-up poker aggression to ring, some of those guerrilla-style tactics of hitting hard with unpredictable hands when your opponents are least expecting it – or representing those hands when you don’t have them! – then you can take down a lot of small pots against opponents who aren’t prepared to take a risk.

Pre-flop strategy from Dan Cates

Pre-flop, Jungleman reveals in the video interview, “I prefer to 3-bet a hand like 5-6 suited more so than, like, Queen-10 suited. But I also try to balance calling and 3-betting with a hand like Ace-Queen off suit because… It’s more of a subtle thing, but if you call so much with Ace-Queen off suit it becomes a really obvious hand that you have.”
The key here is variation. Adjust your poker playing style to whether your opponent is loose or tight, and don’t always play the same hand in the same way. An unpredictable poker player is hard to beat. And they don’t come much more unpredictable than Dan “Jungleman” Cates.
More videos from the poker pros can be found on the Paul Phua Poker YouTube channel. Subscribe if you don’t want to miss out on future releases. It’s free!

Paul Phua introduces the first in an exciting new series of videos for the Paul Phua Poker School YouTube channel featuring some of the world’s top pros

If you want to improve your poker and become a winning player, there is no better place to start than by watching strategy tips from the top pros. Phil Ivey, Dan Cates and Dan Colman have very generously given up some of their valuable time to film this video for the Paul Phua Poker School – and with these high-stakes cash and tournament players, “valuable time” is not merely a figure of speech!
Phil Ivey is a ten times World Series of Poker bracelet winner, and one of the most fearless and creative players of the game. Dan “Jungleman” Cates passed the $10 million online cash earnings milestone nearly three years ago. And Dan Colman has graduated from internet poker (he rose to fame in 2013 as the first hyper-turbo player to win $1 million on Pokerstars in a year) to take down $28 million in live tournament play.
The Paul Phua Poker School YouTube video team caught up with these players at the Triton High Roller Series in Manila this February, and their tips for beginners are just as insightful as you would expect. And it’s not only beginners who can benefit from their strategy advice.

Phil Ivey tells players that “an important thing is to be able to manage their money”. This is very true: many a player has gone bust by moving too quickly to levels they cannot really afford. For more detailed advice, see my previous Paul Phua Poker School blog on bankroll management.
Dan Colman recommends that you should “get out of your comfort zone”, and “play in difficult games”. This may seem strange: why choose a difficult game if you can find one with poor players instead? But this is something I myself did when starting out in poker. I challenged myself to play with some of the world’s top pros in high-stakes cash games, not because I arrogantly thought I could beat them, but because I humbly felt I could learn from them. If I have any skill at poker (and Phil Ivey has been kind enough to say that “Paul Phua is probably the best non-pro I’ve ever played poker against”), it is thanks to learning from the best.
And if you do find yourself up against more experienced players, Dan Cates’ advice in the video may prove especially valuable. He says, “The first tip for beginners would be to play tighter than they think.” Unless you are sure you can outplay everyone else around the table, you should pick your poker battles with care, going armed with only the best starting hands.
Those are just a few of the useful tips in the video that will improve your poker game. Watch it now to discover more, and subscribe to the Paul Phua Poker School YouTube channel so as not to miss new videos in the series. It’s free!

Do you want to watch poker tips and poker strategy advice from Phil Ivey, Dan Colman, Dan “Jungleman” Cates and many more top Texas Holdem players? Of course you do!

Hi, it’s Paul Phua here with some very exciting news. My new series of “Tips from the pros” and “In Conversation” videos is almost ready for you to watch! Three months ago I released a series of poker videos on my YouTube channel, and I noticed that the two “Paul Phua In Conversation With Tom Dwan” videos were the most watched, with more than 20,000 views.

So when some of the world’s finest poker players joined me in Manila this February at the Triton High Roller Series, I asked my video team to capture some of their best poker tips and strategy advice. Which poker pros will appear in the video series over the next four months? Watch the trailer video on this page, or read on:

Phil Ivey. That’s right, Phil Ivey! Phil is an incredible player, absolutely fearless, brilliant at reading his opponents. He has ten World Series of Poker bracelets and nearly $24 million in live tournament cashes, even though he primarily plays high-stakes cash games.
Dan Colman. Dan Colman ranks above even Phil Ivey in the list of the ten biggest live tournament earners, having defeated Daniel Negreanu heads-up for a massive payout of $15.3 million in the Big One for One Drop at the 2014 World Series of Poker, only a few days after his 24^th birthday. This February he won the 2017 Triton Super High Roller Series Manila HK$ 250,000 6-Max Event, and then, just two weeks later, he won the Aria $25,000 High-Roller as well.
Dan Cates. Also known as Daniel “Jungleman” Cates, after his online poker name, Dan passed the $10 million online cash earnings milestone nearly three years ago. His famously aggressive playing style has made him one of the most formidable heads-up and shorthanded players in the world.
Timofey Kuznetsov. Playing under the name “Trueteller”, Timofey Kuznetsov is another online poker specialist. He hit the headlines in 2015 for a marathon 30-hour high-stakes heads-up session against Phil Ivey on PokerStars during which they played nearly 5,000 hands, and last week he was revealed to be the biggest online winner of the year so far.
Winfred Yu. As President of the Poker King Club, Winfred Yu runs the world’s highest-stakes cash games, in Manila and Macau. He is, of course, a terrific player himself, and has been active on the poker circuit for more than a decade.
Wai Kin Yong. Poker is in Wai Kin Yong’s blood – he is the son of the businessman and high-stakes player Richard Yong. In November 2016 he took down one of the biggest prizes in tournament poker (over $2m) at the Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event in Manila.
Rui Cao. Rui Cao emerged nearly a decade ago as one of France’s strongest players. He built his reputation online as “PepperoniF” before challenging the Macau high-stakes cash games as far back as 2011.
Go subscribe now to the Paul Phua Poker YouTube channel, so as not to miss a thing. It’s free!

As we wrote about, many of the best players in the poker world arrived in Manila to play the Triton series in February.

The first tournament played over the first two days was the smaller of the two when it came to prize money. But it had a great field and a really exciting finish between two of the best players in the world. The third day though saw the start of the big one. There were 39 buy ins (from 29 players) into the HK$1,000,000 (approx. USD 128,800) main event. Would Dan Colman be able to repeat his good performance? Or would we see different faces at the final table than the ones we saw at the 6 max in the first couple of days? The answer was – as so often in poker – the latter. Different days, different outcomes.

The Main Event was a three-day affair. The first two days were all about getting to the money – whittling the 29 players down to the final six.

And some big names didn’t survive the process. 6-Max champion Dan Colman, poker legend Phil Ivey and the 2016 one drop winner Elton Tsang all didn’t make the final six.
There were two clear chip leaders, and therefore favourites, at the start of the money levels: Sergio Aido from Spain with 2,490,000 and Germany’s Koray Aldemir with 2,420,000, both a long way ahead of their four rivals. Would they be the last two standing? In third was Wai Kin Yong (1,705,000) who won the November 2016 version of this same tournament. Dan Cates (1,475,000) was also there (as he so often is), as were Devan Tang (1,045,000) and Bryn Kenney (615,000), who finished second in 2016 to Wai Kin.
With those sorts of numbers Bryn Kenney was clearly the most vulnerable with his smaller stack. He had just 20 big blinds. Would he play safe or go for broke? But, actually, he wasn’t the first player at the final table to go to the rail. That, very surprisingly, was Wai Kin Yong, previous winner and third chip leader.
Yong had been playing a lot of hands – losing pots as often as winning them – so he was unable to make much ground on Aido and Aldemir who were pulling away from the rest of the field. And he came out on the wrong side of a couple of hands with Bryn Kenney, who was valiantly getting his way into the game despite starting at such a huge chip disadvantage to the rest of the finalists.
In fact, he wasn’t the next person to fall away either. That was Devan Tang. He flopped two pairs, but was blown away by Aldemir who made an Ace High straight with a ten on the turn.
Bryn Kenney’s run did end, however: he was the next to go. Having started the final table with just 615,000 chips he had done incredibly well to get his way up to over a million. But he lost out to Cates on a close hand.
That win for Cates meant the last three players all had similarly sized stacks – 3.5m for Aldemir, 3.2m for Aido and 2.9m for Cates. Cates had done very well to pull his way back to almost level terms with Aido and Aldemir. And he was feeling confident enough to reject a prize money sharing deal between the last three at the start of the 3-way hands, proclaiming “I feel like a gamble!!”
He may have regretted that a few moments later, coming out second best in a series of hands, first to Aldemir, then in a big one and a half million chip pot to Aido. Cates then did agree a deal with the other two – which meant that he would take 28% of the winnings, Aldemir 35% and Aido the remaining 37% no matter the result from then on. Good work for all. But there was still the trophy and HK$400,000 the three players kept aside to make things interesting.
Just as well that Cates struck the deal, as he busted out a few hands later, as his king jack off suit lost out to Aido’s king queen suited with the kicker.

So we were left with Aido and Aldemir, the two chip leaders when the final table started.

Aido had a 6 million to 3.7 million chip lead at the start of the heads-up, but that didn’t end up being the insurmountable advantage it appeared to be. Aldemir soon caught up – taking two pots in the first ten minutes of heads up play. He never looked back, taking pot after pot from Aido – and within the hour the trophy was his. What a comeback! An amazing hour of play from the German. Though he has had a string of good results since the summer of last year, this was Aldemir’s first major title in his career. We’re sure there will be more.
It was really exciting action, with some of the top players from around the world. And although we saw some big bets and pots, it wasn’t just about the winnings. Like the One Drop, the Triton Poker Series has a charity aspect too. The series donates a percentage of the prize pool to a number of charities, including: women’s cancer support group, project pink and the Red Cross. Giving in poker is something that players are increasingly passionate about. Players really want to do something outside the poker community, and to donate to causes that they feel strongly about. Winning means a lot to these players – but it isn’t everything.

When two of the best players in the world end up capturing the first and second prize in a contest that is not even the main event, then you know you have a great tournament on your hands.

That’s precisely what took place at the Triton Series in February at the Solaire Resort in Manila. Dan Colman, Dan Cates, Phil Ivey and others came to play at what is now one of the most established dates in the Asian poker calendar.
The Solaire is a great venue for this tournament. If you haven’t been, it’s a very new development right on the sea. The attention to detail in the rooms, the tables, and the restaurants is incredible. All in a friendly environment with excellent service. It’s a great place to spend a few days.
The pros arriving from all corners of the world had two bites at the cherry. One a 6 max tournament with a HK$ 250,000 buy in over the first two days. And then a HK$1,000,000 main event which took place after. The winners of both would have to beat some of the greats of the game – players firmly established in the all-time money earning list.

Triton poker tournament manila — Triton Poker Tournament at the Solaire in Manila

The first tournament had 43 entries (including eight re-entries) each withtheir eye on the HK$3.6mn prize.

At the start of the second day fresh faced Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov was the early chip leader. Paul Phua fell away early, as did great players like John Juanda and Dan Cates. Rainer Kempe was the beneficiary. He quickly built up a big stack and got to second place.
Other players who fell away included Koray Aldemir, who would have a much better time of it at the higher buy in event starting the next day. You never want to be the bubble in a poker tournament but the tournament organiser Richard Yong graciously performed that role by bowing out in eighth place!

The last seven players left in the tournament congregated at one table to play out the remaining action.

Mikita Badziakouski lost to a pair of Kings with his ace-ten. The popular Italian player Mustapha Kanit was next.
Kuznetsov, who had done so well early on day two, went to the rail in fifth place – a prize of US$92,040 equivalent still not a bad return — losing almost all of his chips in just two consecutive hands. A tough sudden turnaround for the young Russian. Sergio Aido was next, narrowly missing out on a place on the podium.
So the last three players were Rainer Kempe from Germany – who had done so well during many of the early levels – against two Americans, Eric Seidel and Dan Colman, who are 2^nd and 4^th on the all-time money list. That shows you just how strong the field was at that last table in Manila.
Kempe was the first to go. His pocket queens were no match for Colman’s ace-six suited. A six appeared on both the flop and the turn too – leaving Colman with the winning hand.
So then it was Colman versus Seidel – two of the biggest poker prize winners in history facing each other off in heads up action. Colman started with almost twice as many chips as his opponent. But that was by no means the whole story. The lead would change more than once.
Seidel caught Colman bluffing for jack-high. But then Colman bravely called his opponent soon after and the lead went back to the young American again. The tournament ended in great style – the sort of hand you would want the first prize to be won with in this sort of company. Colman began what would be the last hand with ace-jack suited. His eyes must have lit up inside when he got two jacks on the flop. And, you guessed it, he scored an ace on the turn! With the full house in Colman’s hands, the six max came to an end, with the HK$D 3,641,600 (USD 473,408) prize going to the young American star.
However, despite the action-packed finish, that was only the starter to the main course that would get underway the following day. The million Hong Kong dollar 10 max tournament with unlimited buy-ins on day one. Another very strong field – but with a totally different outcome.