'Jungleman' Wins Three Consecutive Heads-Up Poker Matches for $15 Million Profit
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What a day for Dan "Jungleman" Cates, who dusted off a relentless opponent in two consecutive €5 million buy-in ($5.8 million USD) heads-up poker matches during the Onyx Super High Roller Series Cyprus. He then followed that up with a €6 million match win.
The largest poker game ever publicly witnessed attracted thousands of viewers on the Onyx Live YouTube channel for hours on Tuesday. Ossi Ketola, known as "Monarch" in the Counter-Strike world, fearlessly took on the poker legend in six nosebleed stakes matches at Merit Royal Diamond.
Cates won the first €2 million match (€1 million a piece), but then dropped the second contest for the same buy-in.
Monarch came back in the third match, this one costing €3 million to enter, and ran hot, coolering Jungleman in back-to-back hands before using his big stack to perfection with some timely, key bluffs en route to a second straight win.
But the high rollers weren't ready to call it quits. They returned to the felt for continued livestream coverage to play for a €10 million pot. The livestream appeared to show the players were competing for millions of USD, but they were reportedly buying in for EUR instead.
What a Day of Poker for Jungleman
Cates, who appeared tilted a bit entering the fourth match, continued his bad run once again. Monarch slowed down his pace of play and mixed up his style of play a bit, and it may have thrown the two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner off.
The Finnish poker player came out swinging in Match 4, played a $25,000/$50,000 cash game stakes, quickly opening nearly a 2:1 advantage. Those watching the stream may have felt as if Jungleman was on the ropes. But the pendulum swung the other way and Jungleman would win the game.
A rematch would follow at the same stakes, but this time it was a dominant performance from Cates, mostly from start to finish. Jungleman won an early pot with third pair, catching Monarch bluffing for $750,000 on the river with king-high. The $2 million pot created an early deficit.
Ketola would fall to just $350,000 about an hour into the match, trailing the $950,000 Cates had in his stack. The Finiish poker player won a race to double back to $700,000, a step in the right direction.
Monarch then jammed with 9♠7♦ from the button preflop, and his opponent looked him up with Q♦J♣. The flop came out Q♠2♦Q♥, leaving the short stack drawing dead.
Monarch isn't Ready to Quit
Ketola, who lost €2 million to Danish high roller Kayhan Mokri in a frustrating match on Monday at Onyx, wasn't ready to give up despite being down €7,000,000 overall in five matches. He challenged his opponent to a rematch, and this time for €6,000,000 each and $30,000/$60,000 blinds.
The sixth game began similarly, with Cates taking a chunk out of Ketola's stack early. But then a monster pot would arise as Monarch, holding A♣J♣, would hit two pair against Jungleman's A♥8♣, just top pair as the A♦ appeared on the river.
Ketola, with the pot already nearly as big as one full stack, moved all in on the river in the four-bet preflop hand. Jungleman went into the tank before correctly folding, seconds after he began chomping down on what appeared to be a churro (or, maybe a breadstick).
Jungleman had fallen back to just better than a 2:1 deficit before rivering a flush and getting maximum value against ace-high. The poker legend, a few hands later, hit a Royal Flush with 10♣9♠ after the A♣K♣Q♣J♣ appeared on the board, causing Monarch to say, "it feels rigged."
Monarch would run into some trouble with "The Robbi" (aka jack-four) as he flopped top pair but against a better kicker. He would inevitably lose a 35-big blind pot.
A key pot that ended up with 80 big blinds in the middle occurred about two hours into the match when Monarch's flopped two pair was cracked by Jungleman's turned better two pair. After Monarch began to rally, Jungleman hit him with an ace-high bluff for a $1.8 million pot, forcing bottom pair to fold the best hand.
Jungleman then began successfully getting value with his small pairs and had dwindled his opponent's stack down to just $1.5 million against his $10.5 million. Monarch's stack would continue to drop even further when he moved all in with Q♥3♥ and was called by A♦8♥. The board ran out 8♠J♥A♣7♣3♠, and that was the end of it.
Jungleman won enough to buy an actual jungle, taking down four of six matches for a €13 million profit (approximately $15.1 million USD).
Jungleman Vs. Monarch Results
| Match | Buy-In | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Match 1 | €1,000,000 | Jungleman |
| Match 2 | €1,000,000 | Monarch |
| Match 3 | €3,000,000 | Monarch |
| Match 4 | €5,000,000 | Jungleman |
| Match 5 | €5,000,000 | Jungleman |
| Match 6 | €6,000,000 | Jungleman |
