Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates has been in this game for as long as it’s been legally possible.
Starting as a teenager he worked his way up the online ranks, became one of the best heads-up hold’em players in the world, played for millions and won back-to-back WSOP bracelets in the prestigious $50K Poker Players Championship in 2021 and 2022.
He even competed in one of the highest-stakes games ever televised, winning $15 million in a single day.
He must have some stories to tell.
And thankfully for us, that’s just what he intends to do. His new memoir, written with Rick Maese of The Washington Post, is scheduled to drop May 4, 2027 and traces his journey from those earliest online games to the peak of poker’s high society.
Cates has close to $20M in recorded live tournament earnings.With the title of Pokerworld: At the Table with Cheats & Saints, the book also offers the tempting promise of a closer look at some of the most scandalous moments, and opponents, from his decades playing cards for a living.
Because while saints may get the people’s hearts, it’s usually the cheats that get their interest.
The book will be published by Simon & Schuster, one of the largest publishing houses in the English-speaking world, which claims that Cates’ book will ‘pull back the curtain on the quirky, high-pressure universe that made him one of the most successful and unconventional poker players in the world.’
The publisher also states that the book will focus on areas around decision-making and uncertainty, and how ‘discipline, emotional control, and humility matter more than bravado.’
Who is Dan Cates?
Cates has always been one of high-stakes poker’s more fascinating, and sometimes contradictory, characters.
A self-confessed introvert who often seizes attention in unexpected ways — such as dressing in costume at the table — Cates is always watchable. Appearing on TV shows such as Poker Night In America or Game of Gold, he’s often struck a unique chord as a seemingly guarded figure who still seeks out the limelight.
Cates dressed as the wrestler 'Macho Man' Randy Savage to win the 2022 WSOP Poker Players Championship.Are his remarkable skills as a heads-up player — being able to truly get inside the heads of his opponents — possibly connected to his autism? I’m not qualified to comment from a neurological point of view, but from a poker perspective I know what I’ve seen, and that’s one of the best live readers of players in the game. Those making the argument that ‘autism is a superpower’ may have a stronger case with him in the room.
Why ‘Jungleman’?
His famous nickname, Jungleman, originated with his choice of screen name in his early years playing online, but has stuck with him in a way you don’t find with many other high-profile players.
The word ‘jungle’ does not exactly bring to mind his native Maryland, but it does conjure up other associations. Aggression, competition, survival in a cutthroat environment. Cates continues to embody these qualities as a relentless competitor, long after moving beyond the screens of online poker and into the live arena.
And he doesn’t leave them at the table. High-stakes poker is a supremely cerebral activity, but Cates — possibly one of its deepest thinkers — has also been known to climb in the ring to compete on a more physical level.
That fighting spirit may also be behind a more recent passion: publicly calling out those in the poker community he believes are scammers.
It doesn’t take much to imagine how he might deal with the ‘cheats’ in his upcoming tales from the tables. Perhaps the stories of the ‘saints’ will reveal a more unexpected side?
I, for one, am looking forward to learning more, and you can read it for yourself — and, of course, the PokerOrg review — when the book is published next May.
Cates joined PokerOrg’s Craig Tapscott for an in-depth 90-minute interview last year. Check out the full video below or catch it on Spotify or Apple podcasts.
Additional images courtesy of Simon & Schuster/WSOP.
