Dan ‘jungleman12’ Cates was the biggest online cash game winner of 2010 with over $5 million in winnings. He has continued his stellar online play in the first 10 weeks of 2011 and is up over $1.5 million. He recently was interviewed by Jon Friedberg of PokerNewsDaily about his time in poker.
His impressions of his meteoric rise -
"It's definitely been interesting. But it hasn't been awe-inspiring amazing because it was a gradual process. I didn't just one day wake up beating the nosebleeds."
His perspective of playing at extremely high stakes -
"When I play, I don't think about the money that much. I don't think 'oh I could buy a house with that money'. I think more about it as points, and when I'm winning, I'm winning points. The money is bit detached from it all."
What he does with the money he has won -
"I buy a few luxuries now and then, but I don't spend that much I'd say. I spend money on traveling, and I've been looking into investing. I haven't invested that much yet, but after I get a few things settled, I'm planning to do it."
"I've also been looking into charities, and at some point I'm going to donate a big amount to charity. I want to live a good life, but I don't care too much about spending a truckload of money on too much extra stuff."
His perspective on winning a major tournament -
"Winning a WSOP bracelet wouldn't necessarily say an awful lot about aptitude, because there is a ton of variance in tournament poker. I would like a bracelet, but I can certainly live without it."