What was he thinking? To win

Joe Cada had pocket 3s in the small blind and re-raised all in against an overpair, risking his tournament life in the 2009 World Series of Poker $10,000-buy-in main event at the Rio Hotel.

Cada’s move drew criticism, but a year later he maintains “there are reasons for what I did.” Whether you agree with his play or not, here is Cada’s thinking at that final table.

To recap, five players remained, blinds were $300,000-$600,000 plus a $75,000 ante, and Jeff Shulman opened under the gun for $1.75 million. Action folded to Cada.

“Five-handed means there are fewer players, so there are fewer hands that are going to be dealt,” Cada said. “The blinds are going to come around more often, so your opening range opens up a bit. If it was nine-handed and he opened under the gun or second under the gun, it would’ve been an instant fold.

“At that point, I started thinking about what his opening range would be. He’d open with K-Q, he’s opening K-J, he’s opening A-J, he’s opening A-K and A-Q, of course, which is the majority of the call range if I do get a call because there are 16 ways to make A-K and 16 ways to make A-Q, but only six ways to make pocket pairs. My 3s are basically playing like 4s, 5s, 6s and 7s because he’s folding those hands to my shove. I look at it like my hand plays like 8s.

“I had about 16 or 17 big blinds left. I know I would’ve chipped up about 27% by moving all in. He has me covered, but he’s the second-shortest stack, so if he makes this call and loses, it hurts him a lot. If a guy has a lot more chips, it’s easier for them to call me.”

Cada moved in. Shulman called and showed pocket jacks.

“Even when a guy wakes up with a hand and you’re a 4-1 dog, you’re still not out of it,” said Cada, one of the pros from the PokerStars online site. “I was playing for the win. I wasn’t looking to chip up in the money.”

The flop came 3-4-8, two hearts, giving Cada a set. When the turn came the 7 of spades and the river came the queen of hearts, Cada doubled up and was on his way to becoming the youngest main event champion, which makes it easier to shrug off criticism.

“A lot of it came from spectators and viewers and people who play smaller,” Cada said. “I talk with a lot of people who play tournaments and play at higher levels, and a lot of these situations are pretty standard.

“But it’s the main event, and it looks different. People see I just shipped it in with 3s. But it’s just another tournament and you have to play it out the best way you can. I can’t sit there and fold for two hours and hope I get a hand, because if I don’t get a hand, what am I going to do?”

Table talk

Set: Three of a kind when one board card matches a pocket pair.

srosenbloom@tribune.com