Young pro wins poker’s top prize

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 at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

“It gives me a lot of freedom,” Cada said after winning $8.55 million. “I’m going to absorb it and take it in.”

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.

Then he partied with friends and family in an unrentable suite that serves as a high-roller haven at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

Cada stayed level at the table during a nearly three-hour heads up match against Darvin Moon, a 46-year-old logger from Oakland, Md., 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 on the table.

A board of two sevens,
a king, an eight and a deuce didn’t connect for either player and gave Cada the win with two-pair.