Joe Cada – WSOP 2009 Champion

After an action packed heads up final, the World Series of Poker 2009 champion was crowned earlier today in Las Vegas. Joe Cada took a healthy chip lead into the match up against Darvin Moon and, after a few scares including a huge first hand pot, the 21 year old became the latest poker player to go down in WSOP history.

It wasn’t plain sailing for Cada. Moon, who refused to endorse any online poker rooms throughout the WSOP, had his younger opponent on the back foot. The logger from Maryland would often play back at Cada and the chip counts began to even up before Cada took control.

The final hand of the event saw both players racing in a classic coin-flip situation. Cada made a pre-flop raise of 3 million only to be re-raised by Moon to 8 million. The youngster paused and re-checked his cards before announcing “all in”. Moon made the call and the crowd held their breath as the players turned over their hands.

Cada held:
Moon held:

The crowd erupted as friends, family and poker fans alike began screaming for cards on the flop to help out their man.

Flop:

Cada turned away into the arms of a friend, seemingly unable to look at the next two cards which could change his life forever.

Turn:

The sight of a “paint card” had the hearts in the mouths of Cada supporters. The harmless King was no help to Moon though.

River:

The river seals the deal for Cada. Ear splitting noise roars around the arena as a new champion is crowned. Credit must be given to Darvin Moon, though. The man from Maryland shunned the attention of media, played down his own poker abilities and refused lucrative sponsorship deals to prove that the ordinary man can take on the best in the world and give them the fright of their lives.

So, it’s congratulations to Joe Cada. The news WSOP champion. The final two walked away with these cash prizes for their efforts:

1st – $8,547,042 – Joseph Cada
2nd – $5,182,928 – Darvin Moon

The WSOP circus is back in town in summer 2010. In the meantime stay tuned to Poker News Headlines for all the latest WSOP circuit events and your chance to win a seat in those huge tournaments courtesy of our massive rake races.