Jungleman12 Wins WPT Alpha8 Johannesburg

Daniel ‘jungleman12’ Cates won the WPT Alpha8 High Roller Johannesburg event for $500,000, besting a field of only nine players.

This weekend, the Johannesburg stop of the WPT $100,000 Alpha8 High Roller series took place at the Emperors Palace Casino. Three stops had been held before, all with at least 20 participants; this time, however, only nine players entered, essentially turning the event into a high stakes SNG with an illustrious line-up: Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, Cates, Jason Mercier, Max Altergott, Philipp Gruissem, Erik Seidel, Jeff Gross and South African businessman Kinesh Pather sat around the table.

On Day 1, two players got eliminated: Altergott moved preflop all-in with pocket queens, meeting Cates’ aces. A queen arrived on the flop but the turn gave ‘jungleman12’ an ace and the nut set. Ivey was also railed: after playing as shortstack for long, he pushed his 17,700 remaining in chips on the 300/1,000/2,000 level with K-Q. Esfandiari called with A-J and won.

After Esfandiari also got eliminated and then re-bought, the following seat draw was set for Day 2:

Seat 1: Jason Mercier – 175,000
Seat 2: Philipp Gruissem – 62,000
Seat 3: Antonio Esfandiari – 102,000
Seat 4: Erik Seidel – 25,500
Seat 5: Kinesh Pather – 204,500
Seat 6: Jeff Gross – 114,500
Seat 7: Daniel Cates – 317,000

Play continued on Level 10 (500/1,500/3,000) and Esfandiari was out first, going 4-bet all-in on a flopped flush draw. Pather called with top two pair and the Big One champion’s outs never came.

Soon, it was made sure Gruissem would not win his third Alpha8 title; he shoved from UTG+1 with 28,000 in chips on A-3 and Gross called with K-T. A ten arrived on the river and it was only five players left. Seidel came next, his sevens getting cracked by Cates’ tens, and then the field reached the three ITM finishes on Level 14 (1,000/4,000/8,000): Cates min-raised from UTG, Gross moved all-in with 145,000 from the Button and Cates called.

Cates: 8 8
Gross: A 8

Board: Q T 5 J 3

The eights held out and Gross was eliminated.

Mercier finished in 3rd place for $200,000: he moved all-in on T-7 from the SB, Cates called with pocket aces and the board came neutral.

Kinesh Pather – 164,000
Daniel Cates – 836,000

Pather had been doing well against the top pros but Cates had a massive lead in the heads-up, which is clearly his main domain anyway. Pather only had 64,000 left by the last hand on Level 15 (1,000/5,000/10,000), which he shoved and Cates called.

Pather: K_h J
Cates: J T

Board: T 9 7 J T

Cates had his full house and won the event for his largest career live tournament score.

The end results are as follows:

1st: Dan Cates – $500,000
2nd: Kinesh Pather – $275,000
3rd: Jason Mercier – $200,000