When I Was A Donk: Joe Cada

In this series, Card Player asks top pros to rewind back to their humble beginnings and provide insights regarding the mistakes, leaks, and deficiencies that they had to overcome in order to improve their games.

oe Cada burst onto the live poker tournament scene in 2009 when he won the World Series of Poker main event for just more than $8.5 million. The Michigan native could have easily been a one-hit wonder, but he has since gone on to make four additional WSOP final tables.

In 2014, Cada picked up his second career bracelet by winning a $10,000 buy-in six-handed no-limit hold’em tournament at the Rio, banking $670,000. In total, the 27-year-old poker pro has earned over $10.3 million on the live tournament circuit.

Here, Cada takes us back to his early playing days and explains how he was able to get away with playing one dimensional poker.

“I started playing poker about 10 or 11 years ago and I remember that I was a super nitty player back then. You just couldn’t get me to open up for the longest time. I’m amazed that I ever got paid off, because almost every time I made a bet, it was because I had it.”

“The problem was that I wasn’t staying balanced with my play. That is crucial to your success whether it is in tournament or cash games, because otherwise people are just going to stop giving you action if you never bluff, or call you every time if you are always bluffing.”

“Another issue I had was with online play. I used to be obsessed with the “bet pot” button. No matter what the situation, if I was betting, I was betting pot. Now, there are some advantages to this. When you are consistently betting the same amount, nobody can tell what your bet size means.”

“However, I found that on certain board structures, I was wasting money by not varying my sizing. On boards where I was just taking a stab, I realized that a small bet was often just as effective as a large bet, and that I didn’t have to risk those chips for no reason. On boards where I had a strong hand, varying my bet sizes was essential to getting maximum value.”

“Luckily for me, these mistakes came at a time in poker where I could get away with being so one-sided. The majority of players just weren’t paying enough attention to their opponents back then. If I got into poker today with that same playing style, there’s no way I would ever survive long enough to make it as a professional.” ♠