Home / Poker News December 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – Cates at it Again
The Poker Grapevine – Cates at it Again
Posted by: James Carter. - Sat, 2012-12-15 07:42
Daniel Cates has been known for years as an action junkie, in addition to the fact that he’s regarded as one of the best heads-up
NL Holdem players in the world. Cates has the numbers to back up his fame too: he has apparently amassed no less than $5 million in high stakes online cash games. Always hungry for action, he took on Tom Dwan in the latter’s much-hyped Durrrr Challenge, just before Full Tilt got busted on Black Friday, and he finished the challenge more than $1 million in the black.
Rusty from all the slow-paced, low-stakes games which ensued in the wake of Black Friday, Cates launched a challenge of his own last October. The challenge was about a heads-up game for a minimum of €100k which would take place at the Prague Poker Festival. Obviously, Cates found no takers in Prague, but he’s apparently managed to hook a challenger in the US. That challenger is well-known poker pro Brian Rast. The heads-up bout will feature a buy-in of $100k and blinds of $100/$200. It’s been scheduled to take place on February 1 at the Dover Downs Poker Room in Delaware and it will be a public affair.
Rast is obviously quite a poker heavyweight himself, unlike Cates, he seems to be rather handy with tournaments. After all, he’s won 2 bracelets in the 2011
WSOP and he even managed to make the final table of this year’s Big One for One Drop. Cash games are still his favorite roaming grounds though. One thing that may weigh decisively in the match-up is the fact that Rast has much more live poker experience than Cates.
Whatever the result of the bout will be, the bout is certain to shine some welcome spotlight at the venue hosting it.
