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#916 – Heads-Up with Joe Cada, Part II

Posted by Editor | Filed under Cada-Joe, Darvin Moon, Heads-Up, Live Reporting, WSOP 2009 Main Event, WSOP 2009 Main Event Final Table

To win the match Joe Cada had to let Darvin Moon back in. His best way of closing out Moon was to let Darvin over-extend himself on a bluff or a marginal hand.  But because Moon was betting so often, this also put Cada on the path to having to make some expensive lay downs. Maybe Joe made some mistakes on these hands but he had a plan – I think a very smart plan and he was doing his best to execute it.

On hand #298 Cada raised to 2.5 million, Moon called, and the flop was A-A-4. Cada bet 2.5 million, and Moon raised to 7.5 million. Obviously, Cada didn’t have an Ace. It also appeared that the doubted Moon had one either. It was exactly the KIND of situation where he could expect Moon to toss in a bluff. Instead, he folded, likely recognizing there was a substantial likely hood that Moon would not stop betting a mediocre hand (which could have been better than what Joe had) or that Darvin could have an Ace this time.

Despite what I considered Cada’s overwhelmingly superior play the match was tied when they took their first break. This was because Darvin Moon got short enough that he could force the action pre-flop. By putting in third or fourth bets before the flop on hands#320, #323 and #324, he was able to make Joe Cada fold.

After the break, Darvin Moon actually opened up a substantial lead. He did it because Joe Cada was taking his strategy too far. By assuming that Moon always had nothing, he called some pretty big bets with practically nothing. On the second hand back from break (hand #330), Cada made it 3 million before the flop, but after a flop of 8d-4d-As, Moon led out by betting 6 million.  As was his habit when he thought Moon had nothing, Cada quickly called. After the seven of diamonds on the turn, Darvin bet 8.5 million and Joe again insta-called. After the Jack of hearts on the river, both players checked. Moon showed an eight and Cada mucked, apparently not able to beat – despite calling more than 14 million in bets – third pair.

On the very next hand (hand #331) Moon raised and both players checked the flop of Ah-4s-10c. After the nine of hearts on the turn Cada bet 4 million but Moon raised to 12 million and took the pot.

This gave Darvin Moon a substantial lead, which grew larger after he bet Cada out of several pots. This was the only time I doubted whether Joe Cada could win. He was short enough that he could get unlucky in one hand and bust. Of greater significance to me, I wondered if he was having doubts about his strategy. He had lost so many chips calling and eventually folding that I was concerned he would either loose his head of just give up on the strategy and get all his chips in pre-flop, which would not allow him to take advantage of his greater skill.

Joe waited out the storm. As I described in “Magic Time Heads-Up” Cada finally got his payoff when Moon moved all in after the turn as a huge underdog to even a marginal hand and Joe had the guts to call.

I assume Joe Cada will take a lot of heat for how consistently lucky he got to make it heads-up. Some people will also likely discount his victory because of Darvin Moon’s weak play. To me, however, Joe made a very strong showing heads-up. Although he made some mistakes, it was overall a skilled and mature performance.

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Permalink | November 17th, 2009 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

One Response to “#916 – Heads-Up with Joe Cada, Part II”

  1. social casualty Says:
    November 22nd, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Great Blog. Hey Michael, can you ship me $500k so I can play some cash games with durrrr. LOL. Classic FTP beggars. Well done.

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