In what was one of the most, like, annoyingly repetitive and difficult to transcribe interviews in the history of poker, Daniel Cates was asked whether he believes the popular opinion that Tom “durrrr” Dwan is, like, the best cash game player in the world. The video appeared on PokerTube yesterday, and if you’d, like, care to watch it for yourself, click here.
In reference to my absurdly monotonous use of one particular word in the preceding paragraph, I gave up counting just how many times Jungleman12 used the word “like” in his dialogue, and for the benefit of our readers, I’ve also omitted most of them from the quotations below. You’re welcome 🙂
Getting back on topic, Cates’ initial reply was less than hesitant. “I would have to strongly disagree that Tom Dwan is the best cash game player in the world. That is just not true,” said Daniel, appearing somewhat baffled by the assumption that Dwan could possibly be that domineering on the felt.
In an effort to avoid looking like a complete elitist, he quickly added, “I don’t even consider myself to be the best. But in my opinion, he takes many risks in games where he thinks he’s a favorite but he’s not, as it happens, which is very bad in my opinion.”
Daniel wasn’t completely insolent in his estimation of his ongoing Durrrr Challenge opponent. He struggled to come up with some sort of compliment towards Tom. “One thing he is good at is he is good at, like… He does… He is good at putting himself in good spots, like, he does get in, like, really good games and he’s… He’s a really smart guy… In spite of him making some decisions that seem really stupid. He does some things right.”
Sorry, I left some (not all) of the “likes” in that perpetually vacillating commentary, but only to emphasize Cates’ intense struggle to dictate a proclamation of encomium towards Durrrr.
The interview went on from there as Jungleman12 was asked, if not Dwan (or Cates himself), “who is the best cash game player?”
After a moment’s thought, Cates responded, “It depends, are we including full-ring and 6-max?”
An affirmative, “Yeah”, from the Italian interviewer brought about the following, cyclically hesitant answer. (I won’t put you through the um’s and like’s this time.)
“Okay, then I would not choose myself, I think. I guess I would choose… Sauce,” Cates eventually referred to Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky. “Sauce is really good.”
After a moment’s reflection, Jungleman12 praised his own heads-up abilities, stating “Sure, I think I’m one of the best at heads-up”. He then went on to elaborate on his evaluation of Ben Sulsky, somewhat back-peddling on his prior statement. “At full ring and 6-max, especially live… Well, live, I wouldn’t even call Sauce one of the best at live. It’s easier to play live, and he’s lost infinite. Probably sucks at full-ring too, but he’s probably good at 6-max.”
So which is it Cates? Is Sauce123 the best overall cash game player? Is he the best at 6-max? Is he just “good” at 6-max? Daniel did point out that “everyone has their strengths and weaknesses”, and asserted that the best live full-ring player is probably “someone you wouldn’t think it would be”.
To make an incredibly long story short, Daniel Cates finally gave his straightest answer to the original question (remember, it was “who is the best cash game player?”) when he closed his interview with: “It’s hard to say.”
