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Jungleman Dan Cates picked up his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet last night, emerging triumphant from a stacked final table to land the top prize of $954,020...
I WON!!! I CAME BACK FROM ONE BIG BLIND AND A GUY FOLDING TOP PAIR IN LHE FOR LESS THAN AN ANTE 😂
— Daniel Cates 🇺🇸 🌎 (@junglemandan) November 6, 2021
Outside of the main Event, for historic reasons, the $50k buy-in Poker Player’s Championship is the tournament every great poker pro wants to win, a mixed game contest that separates the elite from the rest and sees the winner’s name engraved on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.
With 63 entries and 10 players making the money, it was a 5-day slugfest of the highest order, with Daniel Negreanu, Shaun Deeb, Timofey Kuznetsov, David Benyamine, Scott Seiver, Brian Rast and Eli Elezra among the runners.
By the time they reached the fifth and final day, Cates and Elezra were the big names left in, although Chris Brewer, Paul Volpe and Ryan Leng were hardly there to make up the numbers.
Elezra, who courted controversy when his autobiography “Pulling the Trigger” came out two years ago amid claims of highstakes debts, was looking to take down his fifth WSOP gold.
By contrast, Cates – despite his legendary status in the game – had yet to trouble the scorers in the annual Vegas festival of poker, while Volpe had three previous golds to his name, Leng the holder of two, and Brewer another looking for his first.
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
The first thing everyone noticed when the final five started play was Junglemans’ attire, his green-hair and costume apparently a tribute to the fantasy martial arts action comic, DragonballZ!
Leng was the first player to land a big blow, however, his pocket jacks seeing off Chris Brewer in 5th spot in a hand of No Limit Hold’em, and then it was time for old-school legend Elezra to fall in a round of Razz – 4th spot worth $286,983.
Limit Hold’em was the game of choice when Paul Volpe hit the rail in 3rd spot, Jungleman Dan providing the execution when he called off Volpe’s flop re-raise bluff...
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Cates: K♦ 2♠
Volpe: K♠ 6♥
Flop: 10♣ 2♥ Q♠
Turn: 2♣
River: 7♠
That left Cates to face Ryan Leng for the gold bracelet and a huge chunk of money, and it was Limit Hold'em that again provided the breakthrough...
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Cates: Q♣ 3♦
Leng: 10♦ 5♠
Flop: A♥ J♥ 10♥
Turn: Q♥
With Leng praying for a heart on the river, it bricked...
River: 3♠
...and the 2021 WSOP $50k PPC title, gold bracelet and $954,020 was Jungleman Dan’s, who told reporters: “I said I was gonna win, so I won. But it was pretty important because now I have more money to help the world and to continue a career outside of poker."
Final results
| 1 | Dan Cates | $954,020 |
| 2 | Ryan Leng | $589,628 |
| 3 | Paul Volpe | $404,243 |
| 4 | Eli Elezra | $286,983 |
| 5 | Chris Brewer | $211,235 |
| 6 | Josh Arieh | $161,422 |
Speaking of his first WSOP bracelet, Cates said: “...it is pretty cool, especially a tournament that's named after Chip Reese who has passed away."
