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Phil Galfond’s poker training site Run It Once (RIO) recently got a significant glam boost. Dan Cates – one of the most successful poker professionals in the business – is the latest addition to the elite line-up of coaches at the poker training site.
Dan AKA the “Jungleman” Cates, was at one time considered to be one of the best heads-up no-limit players in the world. An aggressive force to be reckoned with, Cates will now be sharing his strategies and hand-review sessions with RIO subscribers.
Galfond broke the news on Thursday. In a tweet, he said – “A serious issue in the poker community has come to my attention: It seems that, while many of you consider me superior to “Jungleman,” some actually feel the opposite way. In order to remedy this, I’ve become his boss.”
A day later, Galfond tweeted again, sharing a video where, true to his style, Cates enacts Patrick Bateman’s monologue in the movie American Psycho. Galfond wrote in the post – “Welcome to the team, “Jungleman! Everybody else…welcome to the jungle!”
Welcome to the team, @junglemandan.
Everybody else… welcome to the jungle. pic.twitter.com/PW7DAITA64
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 16, 2021
If you watch Cates in the video, you’d say this is hardly an understated announcement!
Cates joins accomplished players like Jason Koon, Sam Greenwood, Joni Jouhkimainen, Ben Sulsky, Chris Kruk, Tyler Forrester, Kevin Rabichow, Brian Rast, Stephen Chidwick, Elias Gutierrez, Patrick Cronin, and Daniel Dvoress as a Run It Once coach.
For starters, his first session is already out on the site. Cates can be seen reviewing the grind session of an anonymous player in a pre-recorded video, and he reveals the players’ identity at the end of the session.
Working With Galfond
Dan Cates, famous as the “Jungleman,” is arguably one of the most successful heads-up players, his forte being online NLHE. Cates gained superstar status in the early 2000s. His online winnings at Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars as of 2014 ranged at $11 Million, and one of his best years as a pro was in 2010 when he won over $5 Million, becoming the year’s winningest player.
Interestingly, this collaboration comes just a month after Cates called out Galfond to take him on in the Galfond Challenge. This was shortly after Galfond had won his fourth heads-up challenge against Brandon Adams. Cates came out with a video claiming he’d turn Galfond, the “nice guy,” into a “shish kebab” if they played!
Held off on posting this bc I wasn't sure that @junglemandan was serious about battle. Don't open at work or w/ children. Pod: https://t.co/jUmJy0l3mE . Best part is when jungle describes his life during match w Phil (think Russia training in RockyIV, except in a basement). https://t.co/0JohbHE3x4 pic.twitter.com/3qfbqwrW54
— Brandon Adams (@badams78) August 18, 2021
The duo had already played a mini-challenge last May, and Cates had lost that one, along with €86,870 to Galfond. Their upcoming duel was the talk of the poker town, with Jungleman posting a post-match video where he claimed he’d rip Galfond apart – before listing out why Galfond is the better man!
lmao The Joker meets Macho Man @junglemandan video to @PhilGalfond on why he is the better man after Phil won the mini-challenge. pic.twitter.com/bZswldurXt
— Joey Ingram ?????? (@Joeingram1) May 11, 2020
So, you can very well imagine what ensued once Galfond accepted Cates as his next opponent in the famous Galfond Challenge! Though we’re not sure when they’ll be going heads-up, the match specifics have been laid out – they’ll play 7,500 hands of €100/€200 PLO, with the side bets yet to be decided.
As the RIO coach, Cates will be working closely with Galfond. It’ll be interesting to see both players working on the same team.