WSOP 2009 Heads-Up Final Table Videos
Like many young aspiring poker pros, Joe Cada realized that college wasn’t for him. The Shelby Township, MI native took the leap toward becoming a professional poker player shortly after beginning classes at Macomb Community College. And while most dropouts find the transition difficult, Cada’s decision to leave school turned out to be the most lucrative of his young life: a short time later he became a member of the 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine.
On July 15, Joe Cada earned a spot at the final table of the WSOP Main Event, which resumed on November 7, as he outlasted a field of 6,494 players to guarantee himself a payday of at least $1,263,602. He had his eyes set on the first-place prize of $8,546,435 and a gold bracelet when the tournament wrapped up on Monday, November 10th.
WSOP 2009 Final Table Head's Up Joe Cada vs Darwin Moon part 1:
WSOP 2009 Final Table Head's Up Joe Cada vs Darwin Moon part 2:
WSOP 2009 Final Table Head's Up Joe Cada vs Darwin Moon part 3:
Joe Cada - WSOP 2009 Winner:
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. His first online account was with PartyPoker. Although he was not legally able to play in casinos prior to age 21 in the United States, he could in Canada at age 19 and play online. After a brief sabbatical from the game subsequent to losing his money, he began to play at a casino in Windsor, Ontario across the Canadian border. He earned enough to enter contests in the Bahamas and Costa Rica. He is now a regular player who plays approximately 2,000 hands per day online at PokerStars under the User ID jcada99. Cada had been a professional poker player for six years at the time of his world championship. Between 2008 and the November Nine, Cada had earned $551,788 online. 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 online fee in exchange for half of his winnings.
WSOP 2009:
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; 17th in the 2,095-entrant June 16 — 18 Event 35, $1,500 No Limit Hold'em, which earned him $21,533; and 1st in the 6,494-entrant July 3 — 15, November 7 and November 9 Event 57 $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em, which earned him $8,546,435.
In the main event, Cada began the final table with the fifth largest chipstack. 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-flopwith A♦ J♣ against A♣ K♥. No community cards hit either player, and Shulman was rewarded by his better high card. However, Cada eventually climbed back to 120.1 million before the last hand of the heads-up with Darvin Moon. His winning hand was 9♣ 9♦, which he got all-in pre-flop against Moon's Q♦ J♦. The board ran 8♣ 2♣ 7♠ K♥ 7♣. This hand was the 88th hand of heads-up play between Cada and Moon.
These three events account for his total cumulative career live event earnings of over $8.5 million. 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. He was 340 days younger than Eastgate had been at the time of becoming world champion. Prior to his victory, Cada earned a $1 million contract with PokerStars that pays for all his hotels, travels, and some of his buy-ins.