Joe Cada | |
---|---|
![]() Joe Cada after winning the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. | |
Nickname(s) | jcada99 (online alias), The Kid |
Residence | Shelby Charter Township, Michigan |
Born | November 18, 1987 |
World Series of Poker | |
Bracelet(s) | 4 |
Final table(s) | 12 |
Money finish(es) | 66 |
Highest ITM Main Event finish | Winner, 2009 |
European Poker Tour | |
Title(s) | None |
Final table(s) | None |
Money finish(es) | 1 |
Joseph Cada (born November 18, 1987) is an American professional poker player from Shelby Charter Township, Michigan, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
By winning the 6,494-entrant Main Event at the age of 21, Cada surpassed Peter Eastgate as the youngest champion ever. Cada had two previous WSOP in the money finishes, both in 2009. Cada had been a regular online poker player for several years prior to winning the live WSOP event. He is primarily an online poker player, with more than $500,000 in online tournament winnings at present. [1] As of October 2016, his total live tournament winnings exceed $10,460,000. [2] Cada became a representative of Team PokerStars in 2009 in the weeks prior to becoming World Champion. On June 18, 2012, he lost heads up in the 2,811-entrant $1,500 No Limit Texas hold 'em event at the 2012 World Series of Poker.
Cada is from a family of card enthusiasts, although his parents disapproved of his chosen profession. His agent dubbed him "The Kid" (although this is already Stu Ungar's nickname), [3] and he has also taken on the role as a statesman of the profession in the media and political circles, where he is a proponent of legalization of gambling.
Cada started playing online poker at about the age of 16. He twice staked accounts but lost all the money in the accounts that he shared with his brother Jerome. [4] His first online account was with PartyPoker. [5] Although he was not legally able to play in casinos prior to age 21 in the United States, he could play in Canada at age 19 and play online. [6] After a brief sabbatical from the game subsequent to losing his money, he began to play at a casino in Windsor, Ontario across the Canada–US border from his Detroit-area home. [4] He earned enough to enter contests in the Bahamas and Costa Rica. [6]
At the time of his WSOP success, he was playing approximately 2,000 hands per day online at PokerStars under the User ID jcada99. [7] Cada had been a professional poker player for six years at the time of his world championship. [8] Between the end of 2008 and the 2009 November Nine, Cada had earned $551,788 online. [9] Prior to the tournament, he had a $150,000 downswing that necessitated him finding a financial backer for the WSOP. Professional poker financiers Eric Haber and Cliff Josephy paid his entry fee in exchange for half of his winnings. [9] [10]
Cada enjoys playing the "Sunday Major" tournaments at various online sites and says he honed his skill pursuing the knowledge and experience of better players at online training sites. He typically hosts many poker playing friends on Sundays to keep each other company while going through the grueling Sundays of playing the various majors. [11] Usually, on Sundays, Cada hosts about fifteen friends to play online at his house. [9] According to his CardPlayer magazine profile, Cada used several similar aliases to play with various online poker hosts: jcada99 and Joe Cada on the Full Tilt Poker website, jcada99 on PokerStars, and JCADA99 on Absolute Poker. [12]
Year | Cashes | Final Tables | Bracelets |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
2011 | 2 | ||
2012 | 3 | 1 | |
2013 | 3 | 2 | |
2014 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
2015 | 3 | ||
2016 | 6 | ||
2017 | 7 | ||
2018 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
2019 | 8 | 1 | |
2022 | 8 | 1 | |
2023 | 5 | 1 | |
2024 | 4 |
Year | Tournament | Prize (US$) |
---|---|---|
2009 | $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event | $8,547,044 |
2014 | $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold 'em six handed | $670,041 |
2018 | $3,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout | $226,218 |
2018 | $1,500 The Closer No Limit Hold'em | $612,886 |
At the 2009 World Series of Poker, he had three in the money finishes (all in No limit Texas hold 'em): 64th in the 1,088-entrant June 5–7 Event 13, $2,500 No Limit Hold'em, which earned him $6,681; [13] 17th in the 2,095-entrant June 16–18 Event 35, $1,500 No Limit Hold'em, which earned him $21,533; [14] and 1st in the 6,494-entrant July 3–15, November 7 and 9 Event 57 $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em, which earned him $8,546,435. [15]
Prior to his final table victory, Cada earned a $1 million contract with PokerStars that pays for all his hotels, travels, and some of his buy-ins. [9] His signing with Pokerstars resulted from an interview on ESPN with Phil Gordon where he expressed an interest in signing with that specific company. His agent had already procured him offers from UltimateBet and PokerHost as a result of his November Nine qualification. Cada was represented by agent Dan Frank. [16]
In the main event, Cada was the tournament chip leader after day 1C, [17] which was the third of the four opening day sessions, but he began the final table with the fifth largest chipstack. [18] In the 122nd final table hand Cada's stack was reduced to 2,275,000—enough for only four big blinds and about 1.2% of the combined total stack at play—due to calling Jeff Shulman's "all in" pre-flop with against . [19] No community cards hit either player, and Shulman was rewarded by his better high card. Cada later went all in twice pre-flop with small pocket pairs and was dominated by higher pocket pairs on both occasions, once with vs. and the other with vs . Both times Cada flopped the winning three of a kind. [20] By the time the field was reduced to two players he had 135 million chips to 58 million for Darvin Moon. [17] During the final heads-up duel, Cada surrendered the chip lead, but he eventually climbed back to 120.1 million before the last hand of the heads-up with Moon. [21] He regained the chip lead on the 80th hand. [22] His winning hand was , which he got all-in pre-flop against Moon's , which was a classic race situation prior to the flop. The board ran . [21] This hand was the 88th hand of heads-up play between Cada and Moon. [23] [24]
These three events account for his total cumulative career live event earnings of over $8.5 million. [2] With the November 2009 victory, which occurred just over a week before his 22nd birthday, Cada supplanted Peter Eastgate, who won at age 22, as the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion. [8] He was 340 days younger than Eastgate had been at the time of becoming world champion. [25] In the week following the WSOP win, Cada made numerous publicity appearances as a poker ambassador. His media events included appearances on CNN, CBS News, CNBC, Late Show with David Letterman , numerous ESPN outlets including First Take , The Scott Van Pelt Show , ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Inside Deal, and ESPN.com as well as a taping for SportsCenter that was never aired plus a visit to WWE Raw . During the publicity run, Dennis Phillips served as Cada's advisor. [26]
Cada finished second in the 2,811-entrant June 16–18, 2012 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event #31, which earned him $412,424. [27] He won a bracelet in the 264-entrant June 14–16, 2014 $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship Event #32, which earned him $670,041. [28]
At the 2018 World Series of Poker, Cada earned two more bracelets and a fifth-place finish in the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event, which earned him more than any of his non-main event bracelet victories. He won the 363-entrant May 31 – June 2, 2018 $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout Event #3, which earned him $226,218. [29] When Cada made the 7,874-entrant July 2–14 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event final table for the second time (earning $2,150,000), he became the first former champion to do so since 1995 winner Dan Harrington reached the 2004 main event final table (although 2001 champion Carlos Mortensen made the unofficial final table in 2013, finishing 10th). [30] [31] After being eliminated from the main event, Cada entered the 3,120-entrant July 12–15, 2018 The Closer – $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels) – $1 Million Guarantee Event #75, which he won for $612,886 for his 4th career bracelet, and his 2nd of 2018. These finishes gave him a third-place finish in that years WSOP Player of the Year, behind Shaun Deeb and Ben Yu. [32] [33]
Ann Cada, Joe's mother, was a blackjack card dealer at the MotorCity Casino. [4] Cada has an older brother, Jerome, [4] two older sisters Theresa and Jillian, and one half little sister Alex. Cada's father, Jerry, was affected by the late-2000s recession when his automobile industry job was eliminated in a layoff. [10] During the 2009 World Series of Poker's November Nine, dozens of Cada's fans wore T-shirts with Michigan Wolverines team colors (maize and blue) with the words, "PokerStars Michigan Joe Cada 'The Kid'" emblazoned across the front and Michigan baseball caps with "The Kid" on the back. [6] [34] His agent came up with the nickname "The Kid". [11] In an interview in Time , Cada estimates he had about 100 friends in his cheering section. [8]
In the Time interview, Cada expressed his thoughts on legislation related to the legality of gambling: "I support the right to play poker online. Poker isn't gambling. It's a hobby, an activity, a game. It's not about luck—it's about logic, decision-making, math. We all should be able to play poker on the Web if we want to, and I believe that making it illegal strips us of our rights. This is an important issue, and hopefully we'll see it resolved soon." [8] Outside of poker, Cada also plays indoor soccer. [35] As of 2009 [update] , he was considering purchasing a second home in Las Vegas, Nevada and possibly opening a bar. [9]
Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship. He is the first and only player to win both the WSOP Main Event and $50,000 Players' Championship.
James Gary Bechtel is an American cotton farmer and poker player, now based in Gilbert, Arizona. He is best known for winning the 1993 Main Event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). At the time of his WSOP win, he lived in Coolidge, Arizona.
Lee Watkinson is an American professional poker player, originally from Longbranch, Washington.
Joseph Hachem is a Lebanese-Australian professional poker player known for being the first Australian to win the World Series of Poker main event, which earned him $7.5 million, then a record for all-time biggest tournament prize.
John Gale was an English professional poker player based in Bushey, Hertfordshire.
Jan Vang Sørensen is a retired Danish football player, turned professional poker player from Odense. He has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker.
Mark Vos, also known as 'pokerbok', is a professional poker player from Australia. Vos was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and attended Waldorf High School in Constantia. He excelled at mathematics olympiads while in high school, and represented his province in the interprovincial olympiad. Vos permanently deferred his actuarial studies at Macquarie University, to play poker full-time. Starting out online with limit hold'em in mid-2004, Vos soon turned his attention to no-limit games, and in short time, earned a reputation as being one of the world's top online poker players, such that he can often be found playing in the most expensive cash games and tournaments online. When not travelling the world playing poker, Vos plans to divide his time between Australia and South Africa. In January 2006, Vos finished 8th in the main event of the Crown Australian Poker Championship, winning A$83,600. As of May 2006, Vos represents the Full Tilt Poker online poker cardroom as a friend of Full Tilt Poker. His name is reflected in red on Full Tilt tables.
The 2007 World Series of Poker was the 38th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, the series featured 55 poker championships in several variants. As a WSOP custom since 1976, each of the event winners receive a championship bracelet in addition to that event's prize money. The series culminates with the $10,000 No-Limit hold'em "Main Event", which has attracted thousands of entrants since 2004. The winner of the WSOP Main Event, who wins a multimillion-dollar prize, is considered to be the World Champion of Poker.
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.
Dario Minieri is an Italian professional poker player from Rome, Italy who won a bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker at the age of 23, is a member of team PokerStars, is an online poker player who was the first person to collect enough Frequent Player Points to buy an automobile with them, and is a three-time European Poker Tour final tablist.
Grant Hinkle is an American poker player who won the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. He earned $831,462 at the event, bringing his total live tournament winnings to $1,640,843.
Davidi Kitai is a Belgian professional poker player who won the 2008 World Series of Poker $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for $244,583, becoming the first Belgian to win a WSOP bracelet. He also has won 2 other bracelets and has an EPT title and a WPT title, along with numerous other big scores and titles.
Sanghyon "Joseph" Cheong is a Korean-American professional poker player who is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner and a former finalist at the WSOP Main Event.
Matthew "Matt" Jarvis is a Canadian professional poker player from Surrey, British Columbia, known for his November Nine appearance in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. He earned his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker.
Athanasios Polychronopoulos is a Greek-American professional poker player who won World Series of Poker bracelets at the 2011 and 2013 World Series of Poker.
Antoine Saout is a French professional poker player who made the November Nine in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing in third place.
Joseph McKeehen is an American professional poker player and mind sports player from North Wales, Pennsylvania. In 2015 he won the World Series of Poker Main Event, earning $7,683,346.
The 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the 49th annual tournament, and took place from May 30 to July 17 at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. There was a record 78 bracelet events. The $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event began on July 2 and concluded on July 15.
Upeshka De Silva is a Sri Lankan-American professional poker player from Katy, Texas. A three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, in 2020 he made the final table of the WSOP Main Event.
Joseph Hebert is an American professional poker player from Metairie, Louisiana. In 2020, he finished runner-up in the World Series of Poker Main Event.