2014 Winners And Losers: Dan Cates +$3.43m, Gus Hansen -$5.86m

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Tuesday, January 6th, 2015 | Written by Charles Washington

Dan “jungleman12” Cates has been grabbing headlines in the poker world since beginning his meteoric rise back in 2008, and last year the US pro managed to win an impressive $3,437,039 playing online cash games to become the game’s biggest winner of 2014. In total, the 25-year-old has now won $11,431,304 throughout his online cash game career, placing him third overall on the money list behind Phil Ivey ($19,242,744) and Patrik Antonius($17,105,691). Here’s how the top five online cash game players finished in 2014:

Dan Cates: $3,437,039
punting-peddler: $2,572,989
Patrik Antonius: $1,683,538
Isaac Haxton: $1,541,060
Doug Polk: $1,077,969

Dominant In Both Cash And Tournament Poker

Dan Cates has been one of the most dominant players in the game for a number of years now, and like most skilled cash game players is also able to transfer his talents to the tournament arena. On the live tournament circuit, for instance, he earned $2,571,145 last year, and whereas he may have cashed in just three events in 2014, each time he finished in top positions to give his life-time tournament earnings a boost to $3,191,841. Counted amongst his three cashes in 2014 was victory at the $100k WPT Alpha8 Johannesburg for $500,000, a runner up finish at the €100k EPT Monte Carlo for €1,283,700 ($1,774,145), and a 4th place finish at the $100k Aria $100k Super High Roller for $297,000.

Biggest Online Cash Earner In 2014

While Dan Cates’ live tournament winnings of $2,571,145 in 2014 is impressive, the sum pales in comparison to Dan Colman’s record breaking year in which he amassed an incredible $22,389,481, picking up an EPT, WPT, and a WSOP title along the way. In terms of online cash games, however, Cates finished almost $1 million in front of his nearest rival.

Dan Cates winnings were spread out across 158,000 hands played gambling at the Amaya Gaming owned sites of Full Tilt Poker ($2,805,751) and PokerStars ($631,288). However, last year’s internet cash game action was probably the slowest post poker boom and Cate’s $3,437,039 is winnings was significantly lower than the $6,190,599 won by Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker the year before. The trend is also reflected in the size of the biggest pot played in 2014 of $382,827, compared to the following figures:

2014: $382,827
2013: $553,080
2012: $457,945
2011: $466,967
2010: $644,952
2009: $1,356,946
2008: $723,938
2007: $429,240

Interestingly, Dan Cates’ biggest pot played of $197,819 happened to be against 2014’s biggest online cash game loser Gus Hansen.

Gus Hansen Biggest Losers of 2014

In poker where there are winners there must also be losers, and in the history of online poker none have been so big as Gus Hansen. The Danish pro first hit the tournament scene in 1997 and has since gone on to become one of tournament poker’s biggest ever earners, and is currently placed 20th on the ‘All Time Money List’ with $11,258,053 in winnings. The 40 year-old’s many list of achievements include capturing 3 WPT titles, and a coveted WSOP bracelet.

Nevertheless, while skilled cash game players are able to turn their talents easily towards playing tournaments, on the other hand top tournament players find the transition much more challenging. One need only look at the examples of Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth, for instance, or indeed Gus Hansen who last year lost a staggering -$5,864,263 at Full Tilt’s cash game tables to top 2014’s biggest losers.

Gus Hansen: -$5,864,263
Phil Ivey: -$2,372,298
Viktor Blom: -$1,698,911
Elior Sion: -$1,222,910
Phil Galfond: -$1,092,098

Hansen Biggest Loser In Online History

Gus Hansen now has the dubious honor of being dubbed the biggest loser in the history of online poker with an enormous -$20,737,007 in losses since 2007. While his downward slide over the past years has drawn a lot of interest from the media and poker enthusiasts alike, in much the same way as watching a train wreck in motion, his enormous losses have also highlight some negative aspects of the game including the difficulty of competing against internet pros, as well as the dangers of gambling addiction and possible bankruptcy. In fact, Hansen has failed to keep up with a game which is now dominated by tech geeks and number crunchers, and giving a clue as to the limits of his evolution as an online cash game player, Hansen confided that:

“I don’t know much about Holdem Manager and Poker Tracker, but it looks like I should learn more.. You just have to be better than the others at your table. Of course, people have been getting better and better. This is not 2003 anymore, and it sure isn’t 1995.”

Possibly keenly aware of the negative publicity his horrific losses were attracting, Full Tilt Poker subsequently ended their sponsorship deal with Hansen in October, as they also did with last year’s third biggest loser Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.