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LAS VEGAS — -
After winning enough at poker to buy a house and justify playing tournaments in far-off places, Joe Cada bet on gambling instead of college and started playing cards full time.
Cada's wager paid off Tuesday in a way many players only dream when the 21-year-old from Shelby Township, Mich., became the youngest champion ever at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
"It gives me a lot of freedom," Cada said after winning $8.55 million.
He posed for pictures with his mom, girlfriend and a large stack of cash on a table where he matched wits against eight others during the weekend culmination of a no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament that began in July with 6,494 players.
"Poker-wise, this opens up tons of doors. Everything I do I always strive to be the best," Cada said. "I'm not saying this even makes me close to the best, but it's one step closer."
Cada had won $500,000 playing poker before the main event, helped by backers who paid his $10,000 entry fee in exchange for 50 percent of his winnings.
Cada played nearly three hours heads up against Darvin Moon, 46, a logger from Oakland in Garrett County, who won $5.18 million for second place.
Cada turned over a pair of nines on the final hand after Moon called his all-in wager with a suited queen-jack, setting up an about-even race for most of the chips.
A board of two sevens, a king, an eight and a deuce didn't connect with either player's cards and gave Cada the win with two pair.
"I knew if I could catch, I got him," Moon said. "I just took a shot."
The hand abruptly ended a final table that saw Moon take a dominant chip lead after being down 2-to-1 to start the night.
Moon and Cada traded the lead several times in 88 hands spanning nearly three hours of play, with one 20-minute break.
Moon erased Cada's lead in 12 hands, revealing a pair of queens during a showdown to rake in a pot worth millions of chips. Cada was ahead by less than 4 million chips after 52 hands, with 194.8 million chips in play. But Moon stormed to nearly a 100 million-chip lead shortly after the break, causing a visibly frustrated Cada to make tougher decisions.
An amateur who won his entry into the main event through a satellite tournament in Wheeling, W.Va., Moon had played down his skills throughout the 115-day break before the final table. Heads-up against Cada, Moon seemed to have a psychological edge.
"I'm always calm with my game. I knew where I was with every hand," Moon said.
Fortunes changed when Moon put Cada's entire tournament at risk on a board with two 10s, a nine and a five. After several minutes of thinking, Cada called the bet and flipped over a nine for a pair.
Moon held only a straight draw and didn't hit his hand on the river, giving the lead back to Cada.
"He made a phenomenal call," said Moon. "That's why he's the champion."
Cada set a record for the tournament's youngest winner, breaking the mark set last year by Peter Eastgate of Denmark, then 22.
Cada's wager paid off Tuesday in a way many players only dream when the 21-year-old from Shelby Township, Mich., became the youngest champion ever at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
"It gives me a lot of freedom," Cada said after winning $8.55 million.
He posed for pictures with his mom, girlfriend and a large stack of cash on a table where he matched wits against eight others during the weekend culmination of a no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament that began in July with 6,494 players.
"Poker-wise, this opens up tons of doors. Everything I do I always strive to be the best," Cada said. "I'm not saying this even makes me close to the best, but it's one step closer."
Cada had won $500,000 playing poker before the main event, helped by backers who paid his $10,000 entry fee in exchange for 50 percent of his winnings.
Cada played nearly three hours heads up against Darvin Moon, 46, a logger from Oakland in Garrett County, who won $5.18 million for second place.
Cada turned over a pair of nines on the final hand after Moon called his all-in wager with a suited queen-jack, setting up an about-even race for most of the chips.
A board of two sevens, a king, an eight and a deuce didn't connect with either player's cards and gave Cada the win with two pair.
"I knew if I could catch, I got him," Moon said. "I just took a shot."
The hand abruptly ended a final table that saw Moon take a dominant chip lead after being down 2-to-1 to start the night.
Moon and Cada traded the lead several times in 88 hands spanning nearly three hours of play, with one 20-minute break.
Moon erased Cada's lead in 12 hands, revealing a pair of queens during a showdown to rake in a pot worth millions of chips. Cada was ahead by less than 4 million chips after 52 hands, with 194.8 million chips in play. But Moon stormed to nearly a 100 million-chip lead shortly after the break, causing a visibly frustrated Cada to make tougher decisions.
An amateur who won his entry into the main event through a satellite tournament in Wheeling, W.Va., Moon had played down his skills throughout the 115-day break before the final table. Heads-up against Cada, Moon seemed to have a psychological edge.
"I'm always calm with my game. I knew where I was with every hand," Moon said.
Fortunes changed when Moon put Cada's entire tournament at risk on a board with two 10s, a nine and a five. After several minutes of thinking, Cada called the bet and flipped over a nine for a pair.
Moon held only a straight draw and didn't hit his hand on the river, giving the lead back to Cada.
"He made a phenomenal call," said Moon. "That's why he's the champion."
Cada set a record for the tournament's youngest winner, breaking the mark set last year by Peter Eastgate of Denmark, then 22.
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