Poker News Daily: Congratulations on the big win in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. How are you feeling after the victory?
Joe Cada: It hasn’t quite hit me yet, but I’m feeling really good.
Check out the audio: [audio:Joe-Cada-PND-WSOP.mp3]
PND: How were you able to handle the busy schedule prior to taking to the felts?
Cada: Before the final table took place, there was a long gap in between and I tried to not think about it too much. Instead, I tried to continue my normal lifestyle. Fortunately, I ran really well and, going into heads-up play, went from a big underdog to a big favorite.
Darvin was playing great poker and took over the chip lead relatively quickly. I came in with a game plan of playing a lot of hands in position and playing a lot of small ball poker waiting for him to make mistakes. It blew up in my face. He just wanted to play big ball poker, put me in a lot of tough spots, and played really well. It was rough at the start, but I tried to remain focused and turned it around.
PND: Darvin Moon took a 3:1 chip lead heads-up after re-raising on a board of A-5-3 and you folded. Tell us about that hand.
Cada: It’s one of those things that heads-up, you’re playing a lot of hands. More times than not, you’re not going to make a lot of hands. Darvin likes to trap a lot and check-raise a lot. I never played back at Darvin during the course of the heads-up match. I raised pre-flop, the flop came A-5-3, he decided to lead out, and I took a shot. I made a raise, but every time I tried to raise or bluff, it backfired. That was another example of that happening.
PND: You doubled heads-up after calling all-in with J-9 on a board of 10-5-9-10. Tell us about your thought process there.
Cada: I raised pre-flop to the standard two and a half big blinds and he called. The flop came 10-9-5 and he loves to check-raise, so I checked behind for pot control. The turn brought a ten. The board was 10-9-5-10 with two clubs and he decided to check again. A lot of the hands weren’t checked down to the river. I bet three million into a six million pot and then he jammed all-in. I took a lot of time to make decision and didn’t see him open-jamming the way he had been playing with a ten. There were hands like 7-8, J-Q, and clubs – random hands I could see him jamming with – and I opted to go with the correct call even though I wasn’t happy about it, but it worked out.
PND: What went through your mind when you realized you had become the 2009 WSOP Main Event Champion?
Cada: I was glad it was all over. I knew how important it was, but was happy to get the match over with. I gave as many props as I could to Darvin because he played great poker.
PND: Your father told us that he wasn’t completely behind your poker career to start with. Tell us about your relationship with him and how it’s evolved.
Cada: My parents weren’t totally against it, but they weren’t 100% supportive. I worked for a long time and had a job for four years, but decided to quit since I had made a significant amount in poker over a long period of time. Once I quit my job to do poker full-time, I continued to have a lot of success. Then, I traveled to tournaments in places I could play like the Bahamas, Costa Rica, and Aruba. College interfered and I had to go one way, so I put money aside in case poker didn’t work out and decided to play full-time.
PND: How big was the crowd support at the Penn and Teller Theater?
Cada: Having the support of these guys was great. Some of them missed school and work and none of them have voices left. They cheered me on the whole time, whether I was down or had chips. It was great having all of that support.
PND: Tell us about signing with PokerStars and wearing a Poker Players Alliance (PPA) logo.
Cada: PokerStars is a great website. They’re the biggest known site out there. I was very grateful for the opportunity they gave me. I’m very supportive of the PPA being an online player. The least I can do is support the PPA.