Newsmaker

Dropout wins $8.5 million poker jackpot

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-11 09:08

LAS VEGAS: A 21-year-old college dropout won the World Series of Poker early yesterday, completing the biggest comeback in the tournament's history to earn an $8.5 million jackpot.

Joe Cada, 21, is the youngest champion ever in the World Series of Poker. [Agencies]

Joe Cada, the youngest champion in the 40-year history of the game's richest and most prestigious event, won with a pair of nines after about 90 hands head-to-head against second-place finisher Darvin Moon.

Cada squandered a huge lead at the start of play late on Monday against 46-year-old Moon before barreling back in a finale of constant betting. It was played before an audience of more than 1,500 people at the Rio Hotel-Casino at a table stacked with bricks of cash. A diamond-encrusted championship bracelet gleamed on the side of the table.

Cada's triumph was particularly stunning because he was down to just two million chips out of 194.8 million on Saturday but came back to finish as the chip leader.

Moon earned $5.1 million for his second-place finish. The lumberjack eschewed the spotlight and had never been on a jet until he won entry to the World Series by winning a tournament at a local casino that cost him $130 to enter.

The top two outlasted a field of 6,494 who played down to nine finalists in July.

AFP