Daniel “Jungleman” Cates Net Worth & Poker Career Earnings

Read about Daniel Cates’ extraordinary journey from McDonald’s worker to elite poker professional, his career highlights, playing style, controversies, personal life, and Jungleman’s net worth.

As of 2025, Daniel Cates — best known by his online alias “Jungleman” — has an estimated net worth of around $22 million.

He has earned $18,896,741 in live tournament winnings and his online cash game winnings exceed $11 million..

Known for his sharp analytical mind and fearless style of play in high-stakes cash games, Cates has also added live tournament success to his record.

Two prestigious World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets followed a pair of victories at the Triton Super High Roller.  He also racked up a pair of World Poker Tour (WPT) wins earlier in his career and a single success on the European Poker Tour (EPT) completes the set.

Read on for the details of Daniel Cates’ net worth, poker career, playing style, controversies, personal life, and recent developments.

Quick Facts Table

Daniel Cates Net Worth

Daniel Cates boasts a net worth of around $22 million as of October 2025.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest heads-up online cash game players ever, amassing more than $11 million profit at the highest stakes.

And that is pure profit, unlike tournament winnings from which the entry fees must be deducted. This performance record is thought to be the third largest of all time, behind Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius.

In live tournaments, Cates has won $18,896,741. This is not only an impressive total for a cash game specialist, but he only has six seven-figures scores on his record.

Aside from Cates’ poker winnings, he has earned well from numerous sponsorship and ambassador deals with leading brands, such as GTO Wizard.

Career Earnings & Highlights

Dan “Jungleman” Cates’ career earnings total over $30,000,000 as of October 2025. His major career milestones include:

• Maiden High Roller Win: $1,776,127 for 2nd place in the 2014 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final.
• Back-to-back WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship titles in 2021 and 2022.
• Triton Poker Series Results: Career-best score of $3,528,000 for 2nd place in the 2025 Triton Super High Roller Jeju and $1,940,000 for 3rd place at Triton London in 2023
• Online poker earnings: Over $11 million in tracked heads-up cash game profits on Full Tilt Poker (“jungleman12”) and PokerStars (“w00ki3z”), ranking him #3 all-time for online cash winnings.
• Career-best single day: Around €13 million profit in a historic high-stakes heads-up session in Cyprus, August 2025.
• Multiple ambassador roles with GTO Wizard, British Poker Series, and various esports ventures.

Early Life & Background

Born and raised in Bowie, Maryland, Daniel “Jungleman” Cates’ early life was marked by the challenges of being diagnosed with autism at age 12.

Despite this, he discovered a passion for poker in his teens where this diagnosis would shape his analytical and unconventional approach to the game.

After losing several thousands dollars in the early days of his poker career, his parents froze his bank account, leading Cates to take a job at McDonald’s to rebuild his bankroll, an experience he credits with instilling discipline and humility.

Daniel Cates’ Poker Career

Daniel Cates’ poker career is one of only a few of a remarkable standard that stands out for its blend of both online cash game dominance and significant live tournament success.

In the early days of his fledgling online career, Cates adopted the online screen names “jungleman12” and “w00ki3z,” famously practicing a strategy he called “reverse game selection” where he would deliberately target stronger opponents rather than easier games to accelerate his growth.

Cates quickly rose through the ranks as an online cash game specialist, earning over $11 million in winnings by 2014 alone.

He was the biggest online winner of 2010 with more than $5.5 million earned playing against the toughest high-stakes players, including an aborted heads-up match against Tom “durrrr” Dwan in the famous “Durrrr Challenge,” where Cates netted over $1 million.

In these early years, Cates regularly battled and defeated many poker greats online, including Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Phil Galfond, establishing himself as one of the elite.

Black Friday and the lack of willingness of Tom Dwan to resume the challenge left Daniel Cates with a lack of options to continue his career at the pinnacle of the game.

At this point, just like with most of the top players, there was a pivot towards live tournaments and private high-stakes cash games, particularly those in Asia.

While results from private cash games are rarely made public, Cates has more than proved his quality against the best live tournament players in the world.

He has earned $18,587,047 in live tournament winnings as of October 2025, including impressive scores at Triton Poker Series, European Poker Tour (EPT), and multiple high roller events.

His largest live cash is a second place finish from Triton Jeju from March in the $100,000 NL Hold’em Main Event, where he won $3,528,000.

Perhaps most famously, in 2021 and 2022, Cates won back-to-back WSOP bracelets in the prestigious $50,000 Poker Players Championship.

This mixed games event is said to be the greatest test of a poker player’s skill in the tournament format. Cates’ ability to adapt across all of the popular variants proves that he is a top-tier player.

Most recently, Cates took on Finnish casino owner Ossi “Monarch” Ketola in a heads-up battle where he scooped €13 million for his investors.

Playing Style and Reputation

Daniel Cates has one of the most innovative playing styles witnessed since the beginning of the poker boom.

His ability to think outside of the box is almost unrivalled as he continually comes up with creative lines against quality players.

From the moment that he burst onto the scene, Cates has steadfastly sought out the toughest games, never backing down from a challenge. This, combined with his quality, has earned him the highest respect of his peers.

Controversies & Public Feuds

While largely well-regarded, Cates has been involved in a couple of pieces of poker drama over the years.

The most famous is his long-running feud with Tom “durrrr” Dwan after their aborted heads-up challenge began in 2010.

Cates built a solid lead of $1.2 million over the first 19,000 hands when Dwan backed out for a break. The deal was that if Dwan was behind after 50,000 hands he would pay out $1.5 million.

Unfortunately, though, Dwan never resumed the match and disappeared into the murky realm of Asian private cash games.

The details over Dwan’s unethical behaviour become a bit of a soap opera in the poker community. We later learned that Dwan had agreed penalties for the delays.

Eventually, in a 2025 public appearance, the saga was ended but the match remains unfinished.

Cates did no wrong in that piece of drama but in 2020 he was found to have ghosted Sina Taleb’s account in a private app game.

Poker celebs Bill Perkins and Dan Bilzerian publicly accused Cates, causing a massive uproar.

Cates later admitted his role in the scandal and apologised, though he did claim that the practice of ghosting was common in those games.

Personal Life

Daniel Cates keeps his personal affairs private and little is known about his life outside of poker.

His philanthropic efforts include the Dan Cates Foundation which he started in 2020. It aims to provide food, water, clothing, and educational resources, among other goals.

Its flagship “Project Rise” supports young adults affected by gang involvement or difficult circumstances, offering tailored opportunities and mentorship for growth and entrepreneurship.

Latest News & Updates

Daniel Cates remains a dominant force in high roller tournaments across the World Series of Poker and the Triton Super High Roller Series.

At 35 years old, his peak years as a player are likely still to come if he remains dedicated to his craft.