Dan 'Jungleman' Cates Reigns Supreme At Nosebleed Online Poker Tables In 2014

Between PokerStars and Full Tilt in 2014, Maryland native Dan “jungleman12” Cates topped the online poker world with $3.43 million in winnings, according to tracking from HighstakesDB. He is now up roughly $11.43 million lifetime playing online poker.

Cates is the third most successful online poker player in history behind Phil “Polarizing” Ivey and Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius. Cates’ 2014 allowed him to pass legends Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and Di “Urindanger” Dang on the all-time earnings list.

Cates played roughly 158,000 hands in 2014, which means he won an average of $21.70 per hand played. Most of his winnings occurred during the summer months.

Here’s a look at the top five accounts from 2014:

jungleman12: $2,805,751
punting-peddler: $2,572,989
FinddaGrind: $1,683,538
Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton: $1,541,060
Doug “WCGRider” Polk: $1,077,969

As has been documented throughout 2014, Danish poker pro Gus Hansen’s online poker troubles have continued. Hansen managed to lose more than $5.8 million over roughly 200,000 hands, bringing his lifetime losses on Full Tilt to a staggering $20.7 million. Hansen, along with Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, lost Full Tilt sponsorship late this year, but the firm said it had to do with the site moving in a new direction and didn’t mention anything about either Hansen’s or Blom’s respective lackluster performances on the virtual felt.

The Swede played a whopping 320,000 hands over 2,800 unique sessions and dropped nearly $1.7 million, which brings his lifetime Full Tilt deficit to $3.37 million.

Ivey, who was up more than $19 million under his real name on Full Tilt, has actually continued to lose with his new screen name. Ivey dropped more than $2 million in 2014, which actually moved the Finnish Antonius into the top spot on the all-time web poker list.

Here’s a look at the five worst accounts in 2014:

Gus Hansen: $5,864,263
Polarizing: $2,372,298
Isildur1: $1,698,911
Crazy Elior: $1,222,910
OMGClayAiken: $1,092,098

While online poker’s superstars won and lost big sums during 2014, the online poker action was arguably the slowest it has been since the height of the poker boom. Here is a look at the largest pots won across all sites during the 12 months of last year.

WCGRider: $382,827 at $200-$400 NLH
Isildur1: $372,261 at $300-$600 NLH
luvtheWNBA: $359,187 at $300-$600 NLH
Gus Hansen: $355,145 at $300-$600 PLO
Denoking: $338,760 at $200-$400 NLH

The pot Polk took down, which was a cooler of A A vs. Denoking’s K K, is actually the the tiniest largest-of-the-year hand since HighstakesDB began tracking the high-stakes online poker world.

Here’s a look at the largest pots by year:

2014: $382,827
2013: $553,080
2012: $457,945
2011: $466,967
2010: $644,952
2009: $1,356,946
2008: $723,938
2007: $429,240

In 2013, Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker went on an absurd heater during the fourth quarter of 2013 on Full Tilt to end the calender year up around $6.3 million, one of the top performances in history (best since Ivey’s $7.33 million 2008). The German, however, opted out of having his long-term results tracked on HighstakesDB, something that is becoming more common it seems among the nosebleed regulars, and we thus can’t tell you how he fared at the virtual tables in 2014.

Texas-native Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene falls into the same category. He won nearly $3 million during 2013, which was by far his best year ever, but also opted out of having his long-term results tracked on the site. We don’t know how he performed.

New Hampshire-native Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky was the largest winner in 2012, taking home nearly $4 million, but 2013 was terrible for him. He lost $1.4 million. In 2014, Sulsky dropped another $687,000 on Full Tilt. He is evidence that dominating the high-stakes online poker tables consistently is an incredibly hard feat, something few have been able to do historically.

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