Why Entrepreneur Banned 'Jungleman' from His Private Poker Games
Table Of Contents
Jason Calacanis, co-host of the All-In Podcast, is getting ready to compete in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, where he hopes to eventually face Dan "Jungleman" Cates and "take his head off."
The wealthy entrepreneur will face Tyler Montoya, a $1 million mystery bounty winner at the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP), in the first round. Calacanis refers to his blond-haired, young first opponent as "Frosty." But the angel investor and poker enthusiast is equally focused on a potential late-round matchup against Jungleman, whom he told PokerNews is forever banned from playing in his private games.
Calacanis Trashes Poker Star
Calacanis, who is friends with Poker Hall of Famer Phil Hellmuth, met Cates at a Formula 1 race in Miami, where he hosted a private poker game. The 54-year-old dot-com era millionaire explained why he kicked Jungleman out of his game before he ever played a hand. But the poker legend tells a different story about how things went down.
"Yeah, so we had a great poker game in Miami at F1, and so (Cates) walks in like he owns the place, and he said, 'Where's the poker game?', Calacanis said. "Talking to me like I'm the maitre d'. I have no problem being the maitre d', but he says 'Where's the poker game?' and I said 'What poker game?' He said, 'The big game,' and I said, 'That's my game. I'm Jason.'"
"I'm Jungleman," Cates responded, according to Calacanis.
Calacanis was unaware that Jungleman was a top-notch poker pro with a reputation as one of the best online players in the world and a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner.
"He's 70 years old, but he's dressed like he's going to the club and he's 19," Calacanis said of Jungleman, who is 35.
Calacanis said he then explained to the high-stakes poker pro that only certain people can compete in his private games. But the game host claims Jungleman insisted he was told by "three people in the game" that he was invited.
"I said, well, it's my game and I don't have a seat for you, but you're welcome to watch," Calacanis recollects. "Then he proceeds to come up to me every 20 minutes to demand a seat. And he's getting more and more obnoxious with my team, my staff, and belligerent about he needs a seat."
Calacanis said he then informed Cates that "not only do you not have a seat in this game, you're never going to play in any game I'm at."
Jungleman Tells a Different Story
Cates and Calacanis only agree on one thing, and that is the ban. But Jungleman told PokerNews his side of the story, which differs from the host's recollection.
Jungleman, who won the WSOP Poker Players Championship in back-to-back years (2021 and 2022), claims he was taken aback when Calacanis told him he couldn't play.
"I was told for multiple days, and even before I came, that I could play in the game by somebody else, you know, on multiple occasions," Cates said. "Then, the first day when he ran the game, it wasn't there and he wasn't there also, and so I came on the second day and I was also told basically I could play by someone who knows most people there pretty well."
Jungleman claims he then learned that Calacanis ran the game, but "I didn't really know anything about him, just that he was running it." So, by his account, he asked Calacanis if he could play, but the game runner told him he couldn't. Jungle even told us he was ready to walk in and lose and wasn't trying to hustle some recreational players. He just wanted to play some poker.
"I actually thought he was joking because it was so adamant that I could play before, and he was kind of making fun of it," Cates said of being denied entrance into the game."
He was kind of making fun of me, and I thought it was funny. He was making online jokes of being part computer, or a super nerd, or being a super autist, or whatever it was.
Cates thought Calacanis was just joking around, and when he was told that he couldn't play he "asked as nicely as I can" why he couldn't get in the game. But, according to the high-stakes poker pro, Calacanis "freaked the f**k out."
Jungleman said the game wasn't even that big, and he noticed some major celebrities had arrived, such as motivational speaker Tony Robbins and actor Timothée Chalamet.
He denied acting as if he owned the place.
"Think about it logically, also. Do you think there's any kind of chance I'm going to walk into f*****g F1 with all these A-list celebrities or whatever and pretend that I own the room? Why would I care or do that? Does that sound like me?" Cates asked.
Jungleman said Calacanis told him he didn't want any pros in the game. But he also denies having acted high and mighty to the wealthy entrepreneur.
"I don't know why I'd pretend to be some hot s**t in comparison to billionaires and super successful people to which I'm nothing to," Jungleman explained.
Cates and Calacanis might not see eye-to-eye, but one thing they agree on is they don't like each other. You can watch both poker players compete later this year in the $25,000 buy-in National Heads-Up Poker Championship on Peacock. PokerGO will air the 64-player tournament in 2026.
