Joe Cada
From Wikipedia
Joseph “Joe” Cada (b. November 18, 1987), also known as “The Kid”, is a 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 Main Event at the age of 21, Cada surpassed Peter Eastgate as the youngest champion ever. Cada had two previous WSOP cashes, both in 2009. He is primarily an online poker player, playing under the name jcada99. He has over $500,000 in online tournament winnings. As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $8,550,000.
Background
Cada is a 2006 graduate of Utica High School. He spent two semesters studying business and accounting at Macomb Community College before ending that pursuit. Against his parents’ wishes, Cada quit school to play poker for a living. After he earned enough to pay for his house, he reconciled with his parents. Cada’s house is a three-story house in Chesterfield Township, Michigan that he purchased before his twentieth birthday.
Career
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.[6] His first online account was with PartyPoker.[7] 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.[8] 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.[8] He is now a regular player who plays approximately 2000 hands per day online at PokerStars under the User ID jcada99.[9] Cada had been a professional poker player for six years at the time of his world championship.[10] Between 2008 and the November Nine, Cada had earned $551,788 online.[5] Prior to the tournament, he had a $150,000 downswing that necessitated him finding a financial backer for the WSOP. Professional poker financers Eric Haber and Cliff Josephy paid his online fee in exchange for half of his winnings.
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.[14] Cada began the final table with the fifth largest chipstack. His winning hand in the Main Event was 9♣ 9♦, which he got “all in” pre-flop against Darvin Moon’s Q♦ J♦ before 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.[10] He was 340 days younger than Eastgate had been at the time of becoming world champion.[19] 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.
