Things you might not know:
- Cada is from a family of card enthusiasts although his parents initially disapproved of his becoming a poker pro.
- Cada's mother is a blackjack dealer.
- Cada is a big University of Michigan fan.
- Cada enjoys playing indoor soccer in his down time away from poker.
- Cada's agent dubbed him "The Kid" 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.
- Cada shared an account with his brother, but bust their account on PartyPoker.
- Cada then moved to UltimateBet and developed into a 6max and Heads-Up specialist with great success.
- Cada dropped out of Macomb Community College when he realized school wasn't for him, but poker was.
- Cada was averaging playing over 2,000 hands a day prior to heading out to Las Vegas for the 2009 World Series of Poker.
- Cada has always concentrated on cash games online and considers Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan his favorite players.
- Cada earned over $550k online in the year prior to his Main Event win.
- Cada went on a $150k downswing prior to the WSOP in 2009 and need to get a backer for the series.
- Poker pros and financiers Eric Haber and Cliff Josephy paid for all Cada's WSOP tournament entrances in exchange for half of all his winnings.
- Cada cashed in two events for roughly $28k prior to playing the main event.
- Cada was the tournament chip leader after playing Day 1C, but came into the final table in fifth position.
- Cada earned a $1 million contract, prior to his final table victory, with PokerStars that pays for all of his hotels, travels, and some of his buy-ins.
- Cada was the most active player at the final table. Once getting down to just 4 big blinds, but then he won several all-in double ups to regain momentum.
- Cada's final hand was 9's versus the suited QJ of Darvin Moon on the 88th heads-up hand.
- Cada had to do roughly three hours of interviews, photos and autographs after his all night playing win.
- Cada had about 100 friends who flew out to Las Vegas to support him at the November final table.
- Cada outlasted 5000 players in the 2010 WSOP Main Event but didn't make the money.
Joe "jcada99" Cada has handled his responsibilities as a poker ambassador well for someone so young. His results have suffered, which he claims is simply variance, but he is currently deep in the 2011 WSOP Event #46 that will be the first event to award over $1 million to the winner in this series.
Three videos; one of the WSOP Heads-up battle with Darvin Moon, Cada's appearance on David Letterman and an interview with Cada well before the final table:
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