Joseph Cada Wins 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event

I like Moon's attempt to leverage his lack of experience by playing big pots with the young pro-Cada once heads up and 5 million in the bank. That was his BEST strategy. Sometimes the coin lands heads and sometimes it lands tails. Nuff Said.

Cada won so now Moon can chop-chop doubt he will return next year.

I wish Moon would have won so Joker Stars wouldnt have another puppet in there stable of puppets to parade around for the next year. However it is a risky choice to drop out of school to pursue a life in poker and Im glad for Joe Cada that it worked out for him. However now there will be thousands more kids that will try to do the same and fail. They really should not emphisize the fact that he quit school for this.

Darvin left with a total of $5.1 million, not an additional $5.1 million. Each of the November Nine was paid ninth place money of $1.2 million months ago, right?

i know you dont get to see the whole thing ,but doesnt it seem like the overall play was pretty pathetic

ESPN does nothing for the advancement of poker. Can't believe I waited 3 months to watch this complete donkfest. I don't know what;s worse, watching an hour of fluff pieces and personal player interviews or watching Cada suck out all night long. He was roughly 50 BB deep when he gambled it all with 22 against QQ. Sickens me to see people play so bad and get so lucky. I feel bad for Ivey, Saout and Schulman, IMO the only three who played well enough to win.

watching that was like taking a glob of stinky poo poo out of my butt and putting it it my mouth

I wanted to throw up in my mouth and all over my two dogs watching that complete bingo-fest. What a piece of crap final table, and even crappier coverage by ESPN. Highly dissapointed and may boycott it next year.

Yeah Jerkstore the hand you mentioned is pretty disgusting - a total misread with Cada trying to make a big bluff - now if cada calls and catches his set and busts saout it becomes a pretty good hand for Cada, they were deep enough for Cada to call there and take a flop, and he can get away from it cheap and easy if he doesn't catch - you know when he was short stacked I can't blame him for putting it in with those little pairs, but I guess it was no fluke as he continued to overplay small pairs even after he got chips - I used to play on Full Tilt and saw alot of people doing the same type of stuff in 6 handed No Limit games. Cada just got insanely lucky, Jeff should have eliminated him when he overplayed his little pair AGAIN and ran into the Jacks. Jesus Christ, Schulman had the tightest image at that table and Cada's reraise was suicidal - and they're trying to pass this kid off as a PRO?? please...

I don't like Ivey's play with the Jacks after Saout 3bet - I think that's a great spot to get your money in with Jacks as a short stack but hey, it is Ivey and I guess he thought he was making a great laydown in a marginal situation. It's one of those genius or insanity things - if Phil folds the Jacks and Saout DOES have Queens, Kings, or Aces, Phil's looking like a super genius. Plus I remember reading that some Pros were getting on his case for getting married to Jacks Preflop too much, maybe that had something to do with it, either way, wrong read.(The Ace-Eight hand really sucked too, BTW.)

No matter what, It's pretty disgusting to see it be that cold at the main event final table, it reminded me of a bunch of drunks playing $100 No Limit at the Commerce Casino - but look at the bright side, maybe some of the viewers of that broadcast will take their money to a table where(hopefully I)will be sitting and think they can play like that! Sounds good to me..

P.S. Dear Joe Cada - Don't even THINK about going and playing on the show High Stakes Poker on GSN...
(on second thought, it would be a treat to watch you get thoroughly decimated...have at it!)

some of you are just so.. close minded, and can not think like logical adults. Sure, cada did get Very lucky at the table. But, you could also say he got unlucky. Your semibluffs will work a percentage of the time, and each time he tried one his opponent held a premium pair. Saout was all over the place at the final table, he could easily raise there with K9, A8, Q10, and of course fold to a push. I agree it was a poor play, but to categorize Cada as a terrible player on those two-three plays, is just Stupid and proves how stupid you are. He has been an accomplished online pro for some time now.

A much more interesting take on Cada winning the WSOPME is that he is just barely old enough to play in a casino. But is well now on the internet poker sites and been playing there for 4 or 5 years already. Can see all the anti internet poker politicians using this as a legitimate reason for not making it legal. Or a criminal offense.

AdamY...LMAO AT YOU!! You obviously know nothing about poker or Joe Cada, check his stats anywhere jcada99 is his name online. lol you'll probably eat your words, cause hes been winning for sometime now, he's backed by Bax and sheets, but you probably have no idea who they are because your ignorant to Real Poker. Yea, he got lucky made some poor decisions, but what got him to that position... he was flawless throughout the tournament and wasn't all in once until the final table with 7 left, but he was short stacked most of short handed play. He will go on High Stakes and Crush just like he does online!! Get your facts right then make a post, congrats to the new Ambassador of Poker JCADA99!!

Cada is the worse thing to happen to poker since the poker revolution. He is proving to those who want to ban poker that it is gambling and should be treated as such. Pokers players alliance is rolling in their grave. Poker is a pure form of gambling in which one can make educated decisions that can effect the outcome. If ivey or shuman wins, it would have been lawyer data to use that poker is skill. This Cada donkey put his money in bad at last 15 times in the tournament and won every one.

22 vs QQ, Ak vs 88. Winning every race. What a donk. And I mean that as a compliment. He was just gambling. Unless poker is taxed heavily it will never be legal in america. Thanks alot Cada Donk.

pl2000... really? people like you amaze me. Mrivleague had it right. 15 times? more like, 3 times. And like he said, he was never Once allin in the ENTIRE tournament prior to the final table. Why dont you research him as a player before you jump on his case about how bad he is before judging him off of a few ESPN hands? Cada winning is bad for poker in NO way! and the PPA is 'rolling in their grave'? really, you are a fool...

and you probably think he put his money thinking he was good wanting a call. He was making a play and chose a bad spot! we all do it. He was trying to put a lot of pressure on his opponents in a high pressure, high stage environment. unlucky for him, they held premium hands. you are a fOOOL!!!!

I drives me nuts that all the news was posted EVERYWHERE!! On the radio, internet (Yahoo! main page) about who won.

I would have liked to try & watch the broadcast not knowing who was going to win! Some of the hands Cada won with 22 vs QQ and 33 vs JJ would have been more interesting to watch if I didn't know he was going to suck out a miracle win on those hands.

Also, heads up was over 3 hours? And how long did we see? 20 minutes? Must have been pretty boring for the majority of the time.

Basically the FT resembled a SNG turbo online.

Lol TonyZ, the heads-up match was determined early Sunday morning, the winner was crowned Monday, and it was broadcast on Tuesday. If you're mad that a legitimate news event was covered as news WHEN IT HAPPENED, then I don't know what to tell you. Card Player is a news site. If a tennis site wrote a story about the winner of Wimbledon but you had it DVR'd and hadn't watched it yet, would you really be angry? Or if you hadn't watched it but went to Google News and saw it? That's your own damn fault. If you really want to avoid the news, that's YOUR prerogative and you need to avoid the entire Internet, frankly.

Didn't get to watch the whole match, but the few that they did show, here is my takes:

1. Joseph cada -mostly horrible plays with the exception of one play when he called Moon's poorly disguised bluff. Don't think the kid would get much respect in the poker world for winning.

2. Moon - played very well imho, with the exception of that poorly disguised bluff when he was headsup with cada. Wish he would have won, he would be a good spokesman for poker.

3. phil ivy - didn't play any better than any avg Joe on wsop. I don't know how he got so much respect. I have watched him play in poker after dark and on various broadcasts. Nothing about his plays has impressed me so far.
On the other hand, the way he busted out last year's wsop leaves me a deeper impression of him (not the good way). He fell right into the trap, went all in with nut flush, but the board just paired at river. Lookes more like an amateur on that play than a pro.

Mrivleague:
I checked jcada99's record online, they are not impressive. Sure he is a winner online, but not by much.
Sharkscope:
Played 1680 tournaments, he won an avg of $1. Total win $2,083.

pokertablerating: played 8686 hands, won less than 5000 dollars.

These are winning records, but nothing impressive in any way, especially when you compared them to wsop caliburs.

Tom dwan's record would be impressive, so was his plays.

Alwayslearning7, where to start.. first of all, do not search joe cada on pokerstars.. because he plays on fulltilt. 35$ avg. profit, 25% ROI with over 120k profit. So if you want to throw out stats, at least get them right..
Also, how can you say you dont see anything special about phil "IVEY"'s play? you really are a moron.. Poker after dark, while entertaining to watch, probably portrays the least amount of skill out of all the poker programs. please, wikipedia him and read all of his amazing accomplishments.. you are a Fool.

brunnell0407,

1.record on pokertablerating is for all the sites, not just pokerstars. His record is totally unimpressive in cash games.

2. Are you implying the record on pokerstars is not his? Either way, his record on fulltilt is good when compared to you and me, but just average for standard of wsop.

3. I stated the facts about phil ivy's plays that I have seen. If you want to refute that, at least attack the argument. None of the plays i mentioned are better than average (wsop standard), let alone the fact that he mucked his winning hand for failing to read his own hand properly at show down.
If you want to act like a moron and call names, go ahead. But that ain't go to give you more credibility

brunnell0407

one more thing,
ivy is being constantly referred to as best player in the world by some.
That my friend, has a lot left to be desired from what I have seen when he does play on tv.
Accomplisments, there are quite a few that has great accomplishments, like poker brat, like scotty nyguen, like vannessa rousso at the age of 26 and so many others. He is in the same leaque, but not the best imho. And the plays that he made as mentioned previously is certainly amateurish.

Alwayslearning7, i believe you should start learning more grammar so it is less difficult to read your posts. The fact that Phil IVEY (with an E) is regarded by the majority of his fellow poker pros, as the best player in the world, should tell you all you need to know. Not by judging him off of a Very small sample of Television hands. Comparing phil ivey to scotty and vanessa is just insulting, while they are very good players, they are nowhere near Ivey's level. And no, this is not an opinion.... ; )

You like to confuse facts with opinions is up to you.
Grammar or not, facts are clear. Just you cannot refute fact and you try to smear it and divert attention elsewhere.
Phil Ivey is NOT THE BEST PLAYER. Not by a mile. And that is a fact, using your definition of a fact.
The best player don't shove all in when the board pairs at river. What did he think the guy called him with? That is an amateur play. The same goes for not checking your hand before you muck.
Being bluffed off the best hand at the final table put him in the same leaque as most of his colleagues. He is a good player, but not the best by a mile
Go watch Tom Dwan play, then you know what calibur you should compare with. But then, you like to base your opinion on other people's opinion, not on facts

I can't understand all the nasty criticism the two finalists are getting for their supposedly "bad" play. Just the few key hands that made it to the TV screen hardly are a big enough sample to comment on any player's skills.

Moon obviously had a game plan that made the best of his strenghts and hid his weaknesses as good as he could. And being able to continuously show courage in the face of adversity shows a lot of character, too.

Cada's aggressiveness and courage probably were the reasons why he made the final table. He lucked out
when caught stealing - so what? He certainly made the final table becaused his aggression with similar moves earnt him a lot of chips.

Was there any luck involved? Sure. When you go over 5 sets in tennis for 7 matches, there will be some funny bounces of the ball, too. But no one would ever question that a US Open or Wimbledon champion is ... a champion.

Well done, and congratulations to both players.

MRivyleague -
You need to get off Joe Cada's dick. Real Poker? They played REAL poker at that final table, and his REAL reads REALLY sucked. Fuck that online bullshit, REAL poker is when REAL people sit around a REAL table. Calling Schulman all in w/ AJ??(when if he loses he will have less that 1% of chips in play left and be all but guaranteed to be out)LMFAO at you for worshipping this kid. How old are you, about 16? He made so many bad reads and decisions at this table it was a laughingstock. The luck he needed(and aquired, of course) to come back from that chip deficit was astounding - it was equivilant to a lottery win.

If he attempts to go and play for hundreds of thousands or more against the best high stakes cash game players in the world it will be the worst decision of his(young)life, trust me. His best plan would be to keep playing the high buy-in tournaments online and live, he's got a great 'roll now. I think he seems like a nice kid, and I am also a Michigan native, so I enjoyed Cada's supporters in their maize and blue T-shirts - but as a poker player, I was rooting for Jeff Schulman and Ivey - and Ivey let me down, his fold of the Jacks in that key hand wasn't the worst fold ever, but if someone is going to be praised as the best poker player alive(possibly ever) his fucking reads better be almost telepathic, consistently. IMO, you take late-80's Stuey Ungar when he was in his prime and put them together heads up for 100 matches(NLHE), I'll bet Stuey whips his ass 75 times and I'll give you 2-1 odds!(LOL) Ivey may be the best all around player in the world today, but he IS NOT the best Hold 'Em player, not today or any other time. His best games are Stud and Omaha and H/L varieties, and his bracelets reflect this, he doesn't own a bracelet in Hold 'Em yet(although he has taken down some other large tournaments).

I truly wish Cada the best. And when you get old enough, we can head down to which ever casino you choose and play some REAL poker.

I should clarify the second half of that post was more directed towards brunell0407 :-)

THE TRUTH MOST LIKELY IS
THE FIELD IS TO LARGE FOR ANYONE TO DOMINATE !
THE GAME LIKES NEW BLOOD !
THE BANK AND NINES SHARE AN ASSOCIATION !
THE IMAGE OF A PLAYBOY IS JOE CADA !
CHICKS WANT GUYS LIKE HIM TO HAVE $$$$ !
THE EXPRESSION "CARDS TALK" HELD SWAY AS NONE OF THE PLAYERS REALLY SAID ANYTHING INTERESTING
EACH YEAR LIMIT THE FIELD SIZE
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
ABRAHAM GODS RIGHT HAND MAN

So the argument about CADA comes down to the ultimate question about poker. Luck or skill?

It takes an amount of skill to get that deep in the WSOPME. It takes an amount of luck as well. From the big hands Cada won on the final table he needed all the luck he could get. That doesn't mean he didn't play skillfully in the days, levels, and stages leading up to the final table.

The numerous players who win time after time in different events play "xmall ball" for a reason. They can induce more mistakes and make less themselves than a huge percentage of the players.

Whoever was defending Cada's play against Shulman with 33 as a move gone wrong, i don't disagree. Was it a profitable move longrun against Shulman? No way at all. Shulman's range was tighter than a nun. That's cada not considering the player. about five times out of 100 (if that often) is shulman gonna be on anything but a pocket pair bigger than 33, AK AQ or maybe KQs or AJs. Cada has to know he is either racing for all his chili, or dominated. most of the hands Shulman can hold hes dominated. The only hands he can have that he folds everytime are KQ AJ. Butin typical internet fashion he goes for blind aggression knowing at worst hes a 4 to 1 dog.

Against Saout with 22? A better player to try it against. Yet still if you get called you're a coinflip at best for your tournament life. With so many BBs tho why take a chance against the 3 bet with 22? The only reason this "Move" is any better here is Saout will be raising with a much wider range and fold a much higher %of hands to the reraise. But his 3 bet means strength more than 50% of the time so why risk an all 4 bet?

IMO players like Moon and Cada who push so big preflop are trying to negate their ability to play 4th or fifth level poker after the flop.

Barry Greenstein said it best "I think High Stakes cash game players can adapt to tournament play more easily than tournament players can adapt to high stakes cash games."

Ivey plays both at the highest level. Cada may get there but he's six bracelets and A LOT of hours of live cash away from reaching Ivey's belt line.

The problem with criticizing Ivey's play when you can see his cards on HSP is we don't understand what level he and his opponents are playing on. Those plays go way beyond:

what do i hold and what kind of range does my opponent have in this spot?

Its like rock paper scissors. You learn over time how your opponent plays, how he adjusts to your plays, what he thinks you think he is going to do etc...

we can't understand the depths of a move made on that show:

- with sponsor's money
- in a cash game setting with static blinds,
- while having perfect information of seeing the hole cars,
- not knowing the history of hands the players involved have with each other.
- etc etc.

When the people who win the most bracelets as well as the people who play in the biggest cash game setting in vegas both consider someone the BEST. It ain't cause they consistantly push bad with a little pair preflop and hit a set.