2010 World Series of Poker November Nine Profile -- Joseph CheongCheong Rebounded from a Nasty Beat to Make the Final Table |
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As a student at the University of California San Diego, Joseph Cheong used to fund his modest poker bankroll by way of his $12-an-hour job in the college’s literature department.
“I was just printing surveys. I’m not even sure what it was for,” Cheong remembers. “It paid for my buy-ins.”
That part-time gig was the last “real job” the 24-year-old had. After Cheong slowly but surely completed school, the California resident has been playing poker full-time. Coming into this summer, he had collected more than $300,000 in tournament winnings — the vast majority of which had come from online poker.
Cheong started playing poker seriously in his fourth year of college — and that’s when his dedication to his education came to a slow grind. He admits that it was hard to concentrate on his studies as he became more involved with poker.
“I was very slow at getting my degrees, mainly because I started playing poker in my fourth year,” said Cheong, who was in San Diego for six years for his education. “I ended up taking one or two classes per quarter after that. I felt obligated to finish college, but I still wanted to play a lot of poker.”
While many young poker players who taste a bit of success are quick to drop out of school, Cheong stuck it out and now has two degrees to his name — a B.S. in psychology and a B.A. in a joint concentration, math and economics.
Once his diploma was in hand, he was ready to go full throttle.
“Last year I had my breakout year, I guess,” said Cheong. “I won the miniFTOPS $30 rebuy six-max for about $55,000, which helped my bankroll a lot.”
Flush from his big score, he went into the 2009 World Series of Poker feeling confident. He entered approximately nine WSOP events that year, but failed to cash in any of them. But his cash-less WSOP stretch didn’t seem to affect his play. Immediately after the World Series ended, he secured a number of solid results online.
In July 2009, he finished runner-up in the PokerStars $150 Nightly Hundred Grand for $16,828. In August, he final-tabled a $100 rebuy tourney on Full Tilt for $7,462, then completed the month in fine fashion by finishing in third place in the $1k Monday on Full Tilt for $39,840.
After that stretch, Cheong began playing more live tournaments. He played various WSOP Circuit events and a few tourneys at the LAPC before making his first significant live score with a 36th-place finish in the NAPT Venetian main event in February for $16,071. He followed that up with a win in the $300 WSOP Circuit event in Harrah’s Rincon for $17,541 and two cashes in preliminary events in the WSOP this summer.
And then came the main event.
Cheong’s ride to the main-event final table was anything but smooth. His aggressive style had thrust him into some large-pot scenarios, but his poise and experience was clearly benefiting him as he chipped up consistently throughout the tournament. But with three tables remaining, he almost watched his November Nine dreams go up in flames.
After three-betting with pocket aces preflop against Italian pro Filippo Candio, he wasted no time getting the rest of the money in on a flop of 6-6-5. Cheong bet out, only to watch Candio raise him. Cheong decided to push all in, and Candio tanked and eventually called with just 7-5.
Poised to become the massive chip leader, an 8 on the turn and a 4 on the river completed an unlikely straight for Candio. Cheong was a 9-1 favorite to be in prime position for November, and all of a sudden he was fighting tooth and nail for his spot at poker’s promised land.
Cheong barely flinched. He calmly slid most of his chips over to Candio and then began reworking on his new stack. He told Card Player that to stay calm, he just reminded himself how fortunate he was to still be alive in this tournament.
“I just [thought] about how lucky I was to get to this far in the first place,” said Cheong.
With that attitude, Cheong sailed to the final table and now sits in third place with about 23.5 million in chips. He says he hopes the big stacks take care of the smaller stacks at the table in the early going in November so that he can get down to short-handed play, which seems to be an area of strength for the young pro.
“This is amazing,” said Cheong, reflecting on what it means to him to make the November Nine. “I still can’t believe I’m here.”
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