“Jungleman” Apologies To Bill Perkins For Cheating, Misses Out Bilzerian

Yet another poker cheating scandal has erupted on social media, this time courtesy of hedge fund manager and high-stakes poker player Bill Perkins.

In an explosive tweet that caused waves in the global poker community, Perkins said a new cheating scandal would make Postlegate “look like a church service“.

Perkins initially fell short of disclosing who the cheat was and where it occurred, but he did hint the scandal took place online, but not on the major online poker sites. The Thirst Lounge founder also said he was “very disappointed” and couldn’t wrap his head around the embarrassing discovery. The tweet sparked widespread speculation as to the identity of the player in question.

Perkins did share some info with regards to how the alleged cheating occurred, saying one poker pro used an amateur account in a private game on a poker app. He said further that while the number of participants was still unknown, there was physical evidence to support the claim, with the player actually admitting to his mistake.

Settlement w/ 1 participant gave my word I would not Publicly reveal UNLESS they lied during questions
Game: Private
App: download for friends
Cheating: pros playing for fish account (so far)
Participants #: unknown now
Investigation: Ongoing
Evidence: confession/physical https://t.co/HoUiPDs7BR

— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) May 24, 2020

The amount of money involved was huge, but Perkins later on conceded that he was “hurt and angry” when he made his first tweet, and that he was wrong to compare it to the Mike Poste cheating scandal. He refused to become the “executioner‘ and chose to just give clues, rather than reveal the true identity of the alleged culprit.

Perkins, who has been playing in high stakes games on a regular basis, initially received flak from other pros in his tweet, for his failure to name names, among them Doug Polk, David Williams and Mike McDonald.

Dan Cates Denies Playing Against Bilzerian

Instagram King and high-stakes gambler Dan Bilzerian eventually was the one who bravely dropped the name of the cheater, who turned out to be Dan “Jungleman” Cates, considered one of the best heads-up players in the world. Bilzerian accused Cates of robbing him and the other participants of their money by using another account named “Sina Taleb“. The alleged cheating took place in the Fun Ocean poker app.

Bilzerian later deleted his tweet but several screenshots had already been taken. Cates responded to Bilzerian’s allegations, saying he never played poker with the actor ever.

I can’t discuss this right now for legal reasons but this is misleading, I haven’t played a hand of poker with @DanBilzerian ever lol. More to come when appropriate but there was rampant ghosted on the site that people have admitted to.

— Daniel Cates (@junglemandan) May 25, 2020

Cates also apologized to Perkins, saying he thought his act was acceptable, given that online high-stakes games are usually filled with pros who are ghosting.

This is not the first time that the 30-year-old has been dragged into a scandal. He also got embroiled in a 2011 cheating controversy involving his close friend Jose “Girah” Macedo.