Joe Cada Speaks Out on Internet Poker Prohibition

In an interview with TIME Magazine online, the newly crowned "Champion of Poker", Joe Cada, has spoken out against Internet poker prohibition.  Cada won the 2009 World Series of Poker early Tuesday morning following over 20 hours of grueling play between nine finalists.

"I support the right to play poker online," Cada told Time.com.  "Poker isn't gambling. It's a hobby, an activity, a game. It's not about luck - it's about logic, decision-making, math. We all should be able to play poker on the Web if we want to, and I believe that making it illegal strips us of our rights. This is an important issue, and hopefully we'll see it resolved soon."

Unlike his opponent at the final table, Darvin Moon, Cada has honed his skill playing online poker.

Joe Cada and his buddies call them Poker Sundays -- afternoons devoted to football, fast food and online poker, writes Tammy Stables Battaglia and Korie Wilkins of the Detroit Free Press.

They set up laptops in the Chesterfield Township home Cada bought with poker winnings after he graduated in 2006 from Utica High School.

With sandwiches from Jimmy John's or Arby's and football on a flat screen, they battle to see what they can win.

"It definitely can be a living," Cada said Tuesday from the high-roller, 9,000-square-foot Palazzo Suite at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. "But it's one of those things: You have to be very careful when you decide to make it a living. More people lose than win."

Ace King, Gambling911.com