Dan "Jungleman" Cates joined an elite list of pros who shipped the WSOP $50K Poker Players Championship more than once, but Cates made history with back-to-back bracelet victories. Cates outlasted 112 runners to win 2022 WSOP Event #56 $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $1,449,103. The final table included Koray Aldemir, Naoya Kihara, Yuri Dzivielevski, Johannes Becker, and Benny Glaser.
Ship it to Jungleman... two times. It was a long slog but Dan Cates prevailed. They call him Jungleman for a reason and the outlandish and eccentric Cates -- dressed up like pro wrestler Randy 'Macho Man' Savage -- stepped into the winner's circle for only the second time at the World Series of Poker, but he pulled off consecutive victories in the prestigious $50,000 Poker Players Championship and gets his named etched on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy for a second time.
The 2022 WSOP Event #56 $50,000 Poker Players Championship attracted 112 runners who generated a prize pool worth over $5.3 million. Only the top 17places paid out with most of the heady cheesecake set aside to the champion with a seven-figure payday.
Notable players who went deep and cashed in this year's PPC included Dan Smith, Scott Bolman, David ODB Baker, Bryce Yockey, Matt Gonzales, John Racener, Phil Sternheimer, Ap Garza, Dan Weinman, Matt Ashton, and Taylor Paur.
Day 4 began in the money with 13 players. When the day ended, only five players were left standing. Paur bubble the final table in seventh place, and Koray Aldemir hit the bricks in sixth place.
The final five in the 2022 50K PPC included Dan Cates, Benny Glaser, Naoya Kihara, Yuri Dzivielevski, and Johannes Becker. They resumed action on Sunday with Cates holding the chip lead, and not shy about his predcition that the victory was within grasp. Cates bagged the lead with 9M, but Glaser was not far behidn with 8M, and Brazil's Yuri was third with 7.5M. German pro Johannes Becker was one of the short stacks with 5.5M, while Japan's Naoya Kihara was the shortest stack with 3.2M.
On the final day, Becker bowed out first in fifth place during a round of N. Becker's Ace-ten was no match against Glaser's Ace-Queen. Becker banked $343,531 for fifth place.
British pro Benny Glaser's run ended in fourth place during a round of 2-7 Single Draw. Kihara took out Glaser, and he hit the bricks in fourth place, which paid out $464,420.
Kihara met his fate in three-handed action during Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. The big stack gobbled up the small stack when Cates won the pot and picked off Kihara, who earned $639,257 for his third-place finish.
With two to go it was USA versus Brazil for the bling and $1.4 million in cash. Dzivielevski trailed 26M to 7.7M when heads-up began. The two battled for over seven hours during an epic heads-up joust. Dzivielevski tried to aligator blood his way to the winner's circle, but he couldn't shake Jungleman.
During a round of NL, Cates finished off Dzivielevski. Short-stacked Dzivielevski made a final stand with 
but Cates made the call with 
. Cates took the lead on the flop when a four hit and he had two pair with eights and fours. The turn and river did not help Dzivielevski, who busted in second place. The Brazilian banked $895K for his valiant effort. Not too shabby, eh?
Cates won $1,449,103 and added a second bracelet to his collection. He had missed out on winning bling before last year when he won his first-ever bracelet in the 2021 WSOP 50K PPC. Cates proved his win last year -- especially with a smaller field of 63 runners -- was not a fluke. Cates shipped back-to-back 50Ks and joined The Grinder and Brian Rast as multiple PPC winners. The Grinder won it thrice in 2010, 2012, and 2018. Rast binked the 50K PPC in 2011 and 2016. But Cates pulled off consecutive victories.
2022 WSOP Event #56 $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Entrants: 112
Prize Pool: $5,362,000
Payouts: 17
Final Table Results:
1. Dan Cates (USA) $1,449,103
2. Yuri Dzivielevski (Brazil) $895,614
3. Naoya Kihara(Japan) $639,257
4. Benny Glaser(UK) $464,420
5. Johannes Becker (Germany) $343,531
6. Koray Aldemir (Germany) $258,812
