Cada folded on job, college for poker life

The Detroit News

Joe Cada's path to the biggest poker stage in Las Vegas started in Macomb County when he was attending Utica High School.

Within two years later, he'd quit his job as a busboy, dropped out of college and become a poker professional.

Now Cada, just 21, is the youngest winner ever of the World Series of Poker event that draws international attention -- and bestowed $8.5 million on Cada for taking down a logger from Maryland who was twice his age.

Cada, already a millionaire even before his early victory today, found himself alone with a pile of cash, besting nearly 6,500 contestants to win the coveted Main Event gold bracelet.

"I think it's a lot easier now to talk to people about what I do," he told The Detroit News in an earlier interview.

"When people asked me what I did for a living before all this with the World Series, I would say that I play cards and most people immediately thought I was a degenerate because I gambled for a living. It's easier to tell people you play poker for a living when you already have that notoriety."

Cada was introduced to poker when he split an initial $25 stake in an online game with his brother, Jerome, nearly six years ago. They quadrupled their money, then doubled it again. But Joe then lost it all.

He obviously recovered. He has made $551,788 in online tournaments since 2008, and in the last four months, he's jetted off to major poker tournaments in Los Angeles, Barcelona and London, and received an all-expenses paid trip to Bristol, Conn., for an appearance on ESPN.

Cada's amazing run has earned him a one-year, $1 million contract from the online Web Site, PokerStars.net, and he is closing in on nearly $3 million in combined poker winnings and sponsorship deals over the last two years.

He said he's looking to buy a second home in Las Vegas -- he owns a home in Chesterfield Township -- and has aspirations of opening his own bar soon.

Cada will have to split the pot, though: He needed a professional backer to get into the World Series event he just won. It's common practice in the poker community to get an investor to put up the buy-in fee for a tournament for a share of the winnings. In exchange for fronting Cada the $10,000 entrance fee, Eric Haber and Cliff Josephy will get half of his winnings.