The Muck: Jungleman Wants to Know Your Top Five Craziest Poker Moments

Will Shillibier
Managing Editor
5 min read
"Jungleman" asked the poker community for theircraziest poker moments, and boy did they deliver!

At times, poker can be a crazy game. Whether you're winning or losing, you're sure to come across some truly one-of-a-kind moments whilst at the poker table or grinding online. Well Dan "Jungleman" Cates wanted to hear from the poker community what their top five craziest poker moments were, and they did not disappoint!

Cates got responses from the great and the good of the poker community. They included WSOP bracelet winners Doug Polk, Daniel Strelitz, Ronnie Bardah and Brandon Shack-Harris, WSOP Main Event final tablist Alex Livingston and WCOOP Main Event winner Steven van Zadelhoff.

Read on to find out what each of their top five craziest poker moments were!

One Drop Victory Tops Polk's List

Doug Polk 2017 High Roller for One Drop

According to Doug Polk, his number one "craziest moment" was winning the WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop. Polk took home $3,686,865 after topping the 130-player field back in 2017.

Here are Polk's other four craziest moments:

  • Defeating Ben "Sauce1234" Sulsky in a HUNL Challenge
  • Losing over $1,000,000 to Viktor "Isildur1" Blom in a single session
  • Losing 27 $25/$50 buy-ins to Dan "Jungleman" Cates in a single session
  • Turning $100 into $10,000 over three years

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Two Deep Main Event Runs for Livingston

Deep runs in the World Series of Poker Main Event account for not one, but two of Alex Livingston's craziest poker moments. After finishing 13th in the 2013 Main Event, he then finished third for $4,000,000 in the 2019 Main Event.

His other moments were flopping a Royal Flush on his third ever casino session (aged just 19!), "punting it off" with 10x5x in the 2009 Main Event, and allegedly playing a 115-hour week of $25/$50 PLO during 2016, and still managing to get two rounds of golf in!


Big Victories Stand Out for Smith

Dan Smith

With over $36 million in live earnings, Dan Smith was always going to have some big results on his top five moments. They include $3.5m in the space of two days at the 2016 WSOP. After finishing third in the 2016 WSOP $25,000 PLO, Smith max late-regged the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, finishing second for over $3m.

Smith also included his 2012 Sunday Million win, where he won more than first prize, his deep run in the 2014 WSOP Main Event and the WPT Five Diamond - although it's not clear whether he's referring to his 2013 Main Event win for $1.1m or his 2017 $100k SHR win for $1.4m.

However, not all his moments were good ones, with his final one being at the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl, that Smith bubbled after being a massive chip leader.

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Check Out the Others

Who else really wants to hear about the bluff he doesn't want to share?


Andy Barham's top memory comes from the Moneymaker's Road to PSPC in London, where the final hand was dealt by Chris Moneymaker himself!


Henrik Hecklen prides himself on not only his deep WSOP Main Event runs, but the former EPT Prague High Roller winner is also proud of his ability to get a bluff through on someone from Brazil.


Want to share your top five craziest poker moments? Let us know in the comments below!

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Will Shillibier
Managing Editor

Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.

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