Cates Crushes All-Star Showdown

Cates Crushes All-Star Showdown

Monday, 5 November 2012

Daniel Cates has long been touted as one of, if not the, best heads-up players in the world and yesterday he went a long way to confirming that.

After progressing through to PokerStars' All-Star Showdown final thanks to wins over Alex “Sussie Smith” Roumeliotis and Phil Galfond, only the online world’s biggest winner this year, Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky stood in his way.


With the skill differential between them being so small there role of luck was going to inevitably rear its head in different forms for each players. Indeed, after two hours of back-and-forth, Cates eventually enjoyed a breakthrough when the mistress of fortune blessed him with a series of pots.


His first slice of positive variance came when he rivered a flush against Sulsky’s top pair in a pot worth $93,600. That was a mere aperitif though for the feast of fortune he would later enjoy. After min-raising on the button from Cates, the pair managed to get $200,000 in the middle following bets and raises on all three streets of the 2c-5a-9c-5c-7c board.


When the hands were revealed Sulsky confidently showed pocket deuces for a full house. However, Cates was to scoop the pot when he showed 9h-5d for a bigger full house.


The momentum was now firmly in Cates’ favour and despite a handful of mini-comebacks from Sulsky, Cates eventually scooped the remainder of his opponent’s chips after a total of 3,179 hands. The win not only furnished him with the first All-Star Showdown title but $550,000 in prize money.


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Tags: Daniel Cates, All Star Showdown, Ben Sulsky, Phil Galfond