After winning $15 million in a series of heads-up matches against Ossi “Monarch” Ketola, Dan “Jungleman” Cates released a video this week offering some insight on the series.
Cates walks the viewers through several of the matches. The duo played heads-up freezeouts with escalating buy-ins. They started with €1 million buy-ins and then gradually escalated to €6 million. In other words, Cates was playing one of the largest heads-up matches in history.
“I played some very massive pots,” Cates said. “I played one where we both had at least €15 million on the table.”
The high-stakes pro said he had a small piece of his own bankroll on the line. However, he was still playing for an enormous amount of money.
“I’m not crazy or rich enough … to play for €2.5 million,” he said. “You would have to have like €50 million or so to play for this, especially when there’s some juice on the side. It wasn’t like the most clear-cut edge ever and Ossi Ketola is a smart guy. There were some clear signs that he was learning and I like to pay attention when I play against everyone.”
Cates Assumes Opponents Are Competent
Cates said it is a mistake to assume other players are stupid. Then, he went on to outline some of the bigger hands in the matchup. That included an early cooler where Cates won with pocket kings against Ketola’s A-K.
The next hand saw Ketola short-stacked with K♠6♥. Cates limped in on the button with A♦10♣ and the flop came 6♠6♣6♦, giving the Finnish player quads.
Ketola bet 75% of his stack and Cates called. The turn was the 10♦, giving Cates a full house.
Ketola bet €150,000, less than half the size of the pot and Cates raised to €400,000. Ketola called and the A♠ came on the river. Then, Ketola checked and Cates bet €800,000. Ketola moved all in for just slightly more and Cates called.
Cates Reviews Incorrect Fold
A third hand saw Cates make two pair, kings and fives, as Ketola missed his open-ended straight draw. He applied plenty plenty of pressure by moving all in on the river for more than €1.1 million.
The river shove forced a fold from Cates and Ketola took the pot.
Cates said Ketola “overplays some things,” but that apparently wasn’t a thought this time.
“I didn’t think he would bluff to this size,” said Cates. “I actually thought he’d bluff for a little less, but I stand corrected and made an incorrect fold.”
Cates checked the hand with a solver and it showed the online poker legend made an incorrect fold.
Watch that explanation and more in the video below:
The high-stakes duel lated more than 12 hours at the Onyx Club at Merit Casino in North Cyprus. Cates, known as a highly skilled heads-up player, prevailed in four of the six matches.
Along with his significant cash game winnings, the two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner has $18.6 million in tournament earnings.
On the other hand, Ketola has $4.8 million in tournament earnings and has been a regular in the Triton Poker high-stakes events in recent years. But Ketola didn’t make his money grinding it out on the felt.
He amassed his fortune by launching a crypto online casino after a successful esports career.
