Gossip Column: Phil Galfond Triumphs Over Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, Books €86K Profit in Mini Challenge

Run It Once (RIO) founder Phil Galfond seems to have acquired the ‘Midas Touch’ in poker challenges. He just doesn’t make a wrong move. Just as he was beginning to lose steam in his challenge against ‘ActionFreak’ aka Ioannis Kontonatsios, Galfond took a break to play a ‘mini challenge’ against Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates and is now €86,870 richer!

Being one of the most respected PLO players in the world, Galfond yet again proved that his skills are second to no one. Galfond and Cates played 750 hands of €100/€200 PLO at the former’s poker site, Run it Once. The loser is required to post a video praising the winner and admitting he is a better poker player.

Me vs. @junglemandan begins in 30 minutes.

I’ll be streaming live on https://t.co/KRUFxvuviw, but I have no idea why anyone would watch my stream instead of Jungleman’s. pic.twitter.com/WKIm7lmJlx

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) May 6, 2020

It’s finally time to take Mr Falcons down from the sky! https://t.co/8MzhP6jCOo

— Daniel Cates (@junglemandan) May 6, 2020

Almost 4,000 poker fans, including past WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb, watched the mini challenge on Twitch.

Loving the @junglemandan vs @PhilGalfond really hope they hold off for their actual match until last so both can show hole cards

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) May 6, 2020

Early on, Cates’ competitiveness gave him the edge, and he was in the lead through the first 100 or so hands. But then Galfond took over and finished the match with more than €90,000 in profit. On the positive side for Cates, he managed to take away a significant portion of the lead to make it more respectable. Galfond was up by over €150,000 at one point.

At the time of writing this report, Cates has not yet posted the required video. These two high-stakes poker pros will eventually play a full Galfond Challenge, and Wednesday’s hands won’t count toward that competition. No date has been set for the rematch as Galfond is currently focused on his matches against Bill Perkins and ‘ActionFreak.’