Daniel "jungleman12" Cates' run-ins with Viktor "Isildur1" Blom have evolved into some of the most followed duels in high stakes poker. In a new interview, Cates talks about his opponent and his game.

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom and Daniel "jungleman12" Cates are arguably the hottest names on the high stakes scene right now, constituting a high-profile rivalry between two of the games' biggest talents.

The two have had countless epic encounters on the online felt, most recently in PokerStars' SuperStar Showdown version three, which saw Cates and Blom lock horns in a 2,500-hands duel of $50/$100 NLHE.

Blom here came out a winner, adding around $50,000 to his profits as a Team PokerStars pro, at the same time securing himself his second SuperStar Showdown win from three tries.

In a new interview with TwoPlusTwo's Pokercast podcast, Cates briefly discussed the most recent run-in between the two as well as the inherent rivalry that has become a part of their relationship.

"We get along fine. We both have respect for each other's game," Cates said when asked about his personal views on Blom and his approach to the matches.

"I think we get along fine. I met him at the PCA briefly, and we didn't have any issues," he added.

Cates first got to know Blom in the late moths of 2009, when the young Swede managed to take off almost $500,000 from the then-up-and-coming Cates.

Since then, a lot has happened and today Cates admits that he sees Blom develop as a player as the months go by.

"From the first time I've played him, I feel like his game has improved a lot. But of course there is rivalry. Viktor wants to beat me, and I want to beat him," he said.

Daniel "jungleman12" Cates was last year's biggest winner in the high stakes action, ending 2010 in $5.5 million worth of profits.

This year "jungleman12" has had more problems finding his way to profit, and he is currently down $409,000, according to the most recent numbers from Highstakesdb.com.

Source: Poker.org