Final Table Takedown: Main Event Champion Joe Cada Wins Second World Series of Poker Bracelet

Joe Cada, from Shelby Township, Michigan, started playing poker around age 15 with his family at home. After his father pointed out that it was particularly suited to Joe’s academic strengths (mathematics and logic), Joe quickly grew to love the game and started playing online. After getting his start online, at age 19 he began playing live cash games at the Windsor Casino in Ontario, Canada. From there he entered tournaments in the Bahamas and Costa Rica. Always a competitive spirit (Joe also played for a championship club soccer team — and still plays for a club team today), Joe wasn’t happy until he was playing for some of the highest stakes online.

In 2009 Joe was able to enter the World Series of Poker and had three money finishes in the WSOP, including the main event. Joe’s main event win makes him the youngest world champion of all-time.

Event: 2014 World Series of Poker $10K No Limit Hold’em Six-Max Event
Players: 264
Entry: $10,000
First Prize: $670,041
Finish: 1st

Hand No. 1

Key Concepts: History with and opponent; Hand combinations; Independent Chip Model (ICM); Stack sizes

Cada raises from under the gun (UTG) to 50,000 holding Q Q. Tran raises to 120,000 from middle position. Cada calls.

Craig Tapscott: Would this be a good spot to reraise an aggressive player like Tran?

Joe Cada: The reason for calling here is I assume J. C. is flatting all his pairs lower then queens here against me. My reason for this analysis is that in a previous hand he flat called my early position raise with J-J. And I’ve seen him flatting other small pairs in our history together. Another reason is there are much shorter stacks at the table. So it would be ICM suicide to run J-J for that many big blinds against an UTG opener at a seven-handed table.

CT: Can you explain please what you mean by ICM suicide? Some newer players might not understand how ICM works.

JC: ICM is referring to Independent Chip Model. It basically stresses the importance of chips compared to payout jumps. For example if I have 40 big blinds (BB) and someone has 20 BBs, the value of getting my chips in after the 20 BB stack is busted is much more valuable. I would prefer getting it in being 46 percent after two people get knocked out versus being 53 percent with two short stacks remaining because of the payout jumps. By avoiding the all-in with the chip leader, I prevent myself from risking going out before the short stacks. Each chip has a value compared to prize pool jumps.

CT: So why the flat call? Is four-betting an option at all?

JC: Well I don’t think he believes I would get in that many blinds with less than 10-10. In regards to four-betting, I would be much better four-betting a hand like A-x, because if I had four-bet my Q-Q, I make all worse hands fold and flip with A-K and occasionally run into A-A or K-K.

Flop: 10 6 2 (pot: 297,000)

Cada checks. Tran bets 126,000. Cada calls.

CT: What are you thinking with this call?

JC: I check/call not wanting any of his bluff hands to fold and to let him keep barreling representing A-A or K-K.

Turn: K (pot: 549,000)

Cada checks. Tran bets 201,000. Cada calls.

JC: Given that there is roughly 550,000 in the pot, I’m getting good odds to call knowing that his range can include a wide variety of hand combinations along with the fact my hand is underrepresented. This is the best card for him to barrel to make me fold hands that include a lot of pairs. In my eyes it’s just as likely for him to have A-J as him to have A-K, so when the turn brings a king there are slightly fewer hand combinations now to make A-K versus A-J, and A-J has to continue to barrel.

River: 5 (pot: 951,000)

Cada checks. Tran checks. Tran reveals A J. Cada wins the pot of 951,000.

CT: So not going for the higher variance play and just flatting preflop you increased your stack significantly.

JC: Yes. If I had four-bet preflop, all I would have managed to do is protect my hand from an ace coming versus losing the potential to pick off bluff hands.

CT: How important was your history with Tran in this hand? Would you have played the hand significantly different if the opponent had been different?

JC: I wouldn’t say my history plays too much in the decision making in this hand for a lot of the reasons I explained before. I don’t want to commit ICM suicide here risking an all-in with hands like A-K, A-A, K-K, and J-J, especially if I think he is going to three-bet and go with it so deep stacked to an UTG raiser seven-handed with shorter stacks in play. I think flatting is a much better play in this situation. This hand is much easier to get in versus a short stack, because they should be getting in a wider range depending on how short they are and my hand is very strong compared to my range.

Hand No. 2

Key Concepts: Stack sizes; Playing versus an aggressive player; Hand ranges and math versus a short stack

Silver opens to 52,000 from UTG. Cada calls from the button holding A J.

CT: Why flat in this scenario against Silver?

JC: The reason I decided to flat this hand is because it still has a lot of value against the style that Max Silver was playing, which was putting a lot of pressure on the table with a bunch of short stacks left. I’m going to have part of his range dominated and I will have position pretty deep stacked. Also with a lot of 15-to-25 BB stacks at the table, my range should seem be really strong to flat.

CT: Please share why it is so important to always be aware of the stack sizes at the table and how that is a constant barometer as to how you will approach the range of hands you choose to play?

JC: It’s very important to always be aware of stack sizes at the table. Players often find themselves in situations where they are getting great math to call with very poor hands, mainly because they weren’t aware of the stack sizes. If they decide to fold say getting 2.5-to-1 on your money preflop, then you allow your opponent to get back in the game while assuming zero risk. You can also put more pressure on smaller stacks at the final table, especially if there are other very short stacks at the table. There is a ton of reasons why stacks sizes are very important. I often see amateurs trying to flop sets against short stacks which is a big mistake.

CT: Could you have three-bet?

JC: By three-betting I open myself up to getting pot stuck in a bad situation against the short stacks and can easily get four-bet by Max, knowing my range of getting it in preflop is so thin. But instead it folds all the way to the BB. He was actually playing relatively tight in the two prior days that I’d played with him. He decides to…

Villain moves all-in. Silver folds.

CT: What is going through your mind at this point? Can you call profitably?

JC: Well I deduced that given he was in the BB that his range would actually be tighter in this spot. I expected him to just call the raise with all his small pairs (deuces-to-sixes), given where the raise and call had come from. I also figured that he would flat his A-10 and lower type hands.

CT: What are the other variables?

JC: Well it now comes down to how often he has the range I believe he has versus how much is in the pot. I expected him to have hands such as K-Q, A-K, A-Q, A-J, and sevens plus. If he had 15-to-16 BBs, it would change the whole hand, because I expect his range of hands to be slightly wider and I’m getting much better pot odds. After figuring I wasn’t getting the correct price and the positions at the table where this all took place, I eventually…

Cada folds. Villain wins the pot of 158,000. Villain No. 2 reveals A 10.

JC: He showed up with A-10 suited, which goes to show the range of hands I expected was wrong.

CT: I am curious. How has your game evolved and adjusted since your WSOP main event win? What have you learned and applied to improve overall?

JC: I think my short stack game has improved slightly mainly due to adjusting how the game has changed over the past few years. My math regarding short-stack play has improved the most. 

CT: And you played a ton online before your big win?

JC: Yes. I actually played higher stakes online before the main event then I do now, mainly because the player pool was a lot bigger and the games were much easier. I game select a lot better than I did in past where I use to play anyone. I played more than two million hands online prior to the main event so it’s hard to improve greatly; it is more about just adapting how the games are being played now. ♠