2010 was an excellent year for Dan “JungleMan12” Cates; and if his recent performance at the durrrr Challenge is any indication, then it’s likely that 2011 will be great for him as well. In a massive session that spanned for a total of 2,918 hands, Cates managed to get a massive lead of $819,000 over Tom Dwan. The challenge is now a third on its way to completion, with 17,108 of the required 50,000 hands played.

Monster Pots

During the past few sessions, Tom Dwan was actually having something of a winning streak. He was shortening the gap in little increments, slowly but steadily. Cates’ lead of about $700,000 was eventually lessened to a slightly more manageable $500,000. It seemed that, as long as Tom Dwan stuck to small sessions, he would eventually catch up and level the playing field. However, this recent marathon session that he and Cates had propelled Dwan to an even worse point than what he started out with. Instead of winning back $700,000, he now has to win back $800,000. Of course, this heavy number was made possible by several monster pots that spanned throughout the entire session. The biggest one was worth $216,000, a pot that was shipped to Cates after Dwan’s flush fell against Cates’ more superior one. Dwan did get the second largest pot, though, which was worth $181,000.

An Update

This session was a massive loss for Dwan, and it’s putting him at a very tight spot. He is, after all, the instigator of the challenge. So far, Dwan has won 7,019 of the 17,018 hands played, but Cates has already won 9,964. Percentage-wise, Dwan has won 42% of the pots and Cates has won 58%. Of the ten biggest pots in the whole challenge, Cates has won an astonishing eight. Still, they’re only 1/3 done with the whole thing so Dwan still has a chance to jump back if he shapes up. Cates seems to be in his element, though, especially since it was announced that he had the biggest earnings out of all online poker players this year. Fighting back will certainly be pretty hard for Dwan, especially now that the gap has widened even more.

At the end, if Cates wins, Dwan will have to pay an additional $1.5 million to Cates. Then, of course, there’s Hubris – and the price may just be higher for that.

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