Three bizarre tales from the world of poker including a change of direction for Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates, the former World Heavyweight Boxing Champ, David Haye, breaking his duck, and Hellmuth and Esfandiari in taser war.
Daniel Cates is expanding his brand after the Jungleman posted a photograph of a deep meditation surrounded by 15-naked ladies, followed by a soft-porn video of him playing poker with said naked ladies.
Here is the photo.
And the video.
I wasn’t sure it was possible to have more questions about a photo/video than yesterday but somehow I do. @junglemandan w/ the greatest game selection in the history of poker, a softcore sex scene, jungle slowrolls w/ AA & then gets a naked dance….. WTF!!! pic.twitter.com/9t6JrDo8R8
— Joey Ingram 🤙🏻🤙🏻 (@Joeingram1) May 6, 2019
I managed to catch a word with Jungleman as a masseuse rubbed his feet during downtime at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro where he told me that the images come from a photoshoot for Playboy filmed in the South of France (yes, the Jungleman will feature in Playboy magazine).
It seems the feared online poker velociraptor has a team of people thinking of ways of elevating the Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates personal brand to the status of Mozart, those beautiful elks that lead the herd, and Dan Bilzerian.
Talking of Bilzerian, rumour has it that the Playboy shoot could be a jab at the King of Instagram after the pair traded blows on Twitter back in March.
Dan Bilzerian – “How nice it would be if social media shut down for a month.”
Daniel Cates – “Wasn’t it because of social media that you became famous in the first place?”
Dan Bilzerian – “Definitely, won more money than your arse in poker, that’s a fact.”
Keep your beady eyes on Jungleman’s social media channels for more super sexy updates.
Phil Hellmuth v Antonio Esfandiari (with a taser)
The PokerGO production team had better carve out a slot because it looks like Phil Hellmuth has accepted a heads-up challenge against Antonio Esfandiari where the winner gets to taser the loser.
The feud began at the turn of the year, with the pair clashing during the season-finale of PokerGO’s Friday Night Poker on Facebook when Hellmuth told Esfandiari that he would smoke him heads-up.
“If you think you’re going to smoke me, why won’t you play me?” Asked Esfandiari.
Hellmuth reminded Esfandiari that he beat the Magician in the semi-finals of the defunct NBC National Heads-Up Championship back in 2005.
A small sample size, Phil.
Cue tumbleweed.
Quite how the latest salami slapping began is a mystery, but it has ended with Hellmuth agreeing to get it on, this year, with the winner not only banking a bucket full of Billy but also having the opportunity to taser the other player.
Let’s make this happen in 2019: @MagicAntonio vs PH, loser gets shot w a taser gun! NBC Heads Up format works for me, or maybe we make the levels 10 mins or 20 mins longer? #POSITIVITY #HellmuthVsMagician https://t.co/b1T8cpSG2u
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 4, 2019
David Haye breaks his duck
David Haye didn’t win one World Heavyweight Boxing Championship, he won two, and in entirely different classes. So when the former Cruiserweight and Heavyweight Champion of the world, speaks about his excitement of cashing in a poker tournament for $739, you have to think he has a thing for the game.
Haye turned to poker as a way to release aggression in the wake of his retirement with Grosvenor Casinos offering him a sponsorship deal.
It hasn’t gone that well, with his appearances in the Goliath turning out to be more ‘David’, but he has finished ITM for the first time, finishing 28th in the $530 Monster Stack event during the Asian Poker Tour (APT) in Manila.
“I strangely was more excited and proud to cash my £532 poker winnings then my last few multimillion pound PPV boxing purses,” Haye posted on social media.
Haye wasn’t the only boxing star competing in the APT. The former boxing Olympic gold medal winner, Audley Harrison, also featured, finishing second in the same event for a $14,130 score.
It turns out that Harrison has given Haye some poker lessons, as have Grosvenor’s Joe Beevers and Jeff Kimber. Haye may have his first official ITM finish, but he still doesn’t have that coveted Hendon Mob flag as the results haven’t reached the Maltese HQ. Harrison, on the other hand, has a decent Hendon Mob CV winning close to $230,000, including $90k after finishing 3/502 in a $2k at the Venetian back in 2010.
