The squeaky wheel gets the grease, or in the case of Joe Cada, the squeaky wheel gets $8.5 million. After nearly 90 hands of heads-up play in the overnight hours on Monday, Cada emerged as the youngest WSOP Main Event Champion ever.
His 22nd birthday is one week from Wednesday and we suspect that his party will be one for the ages. Last year, Peter Eastgate shattered Phil Hellmuth’s longstanding record to become the youngest winner of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament, a distinction Hellmuth held for 19 years. Cada had over 150 of his closest friends and family rally behind him at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio. On his troops, Cada told WSOP officials, “They meant everything to me. They cheered me on when I was very low on chips. Then, I got down by 3:1 tonight and they were still sitting there cheering and going crazy. That helped me to get back in this and focus. Momentum is a big thing in poker. A lot of these people took off of school and work and came out here just to support me and I am so grateful.”
Cada’s faithful were decked out in neon yellow long sleeve shirts and hats in a scene reminiscent of a University of Michigan football game. Many had questioned whether Moon, a logger from Maryland, would be a viable ambassador for the game. On his new role as the face of the 2009 WSOP, Cada told reporters, “I will embrace it. I hope to help poker grow and represent it well.”
Cada donned a PokerStars logo throughout the Main Event final table after holding out for a logo deal from the world’s largest online poker site. In July, he could be spotted in images with Ultimate Bet gear on. Since Chris Moneymaker in 2003, PokerStars has procured four Main Event Champions to its ranks: Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), Eastgate (2008), and now Cada.
Rallying him over the weekend were Cada’s parents, Ann and Jerry. The latter could be found taking pictures in earnest in a WSOP press conference on the Masquerade Stage at the Rio on Monday afternoon. His mother, Ann, shared her thoughts following her son’s $8.5 million score and WSOP bracelet win: “I’m elated. I’m dumbfounded. It’s just a dream. We wanted him to get his education first but when he started doing well, we wanted him to follow his dream. He loves it. How many people can say they love what they do?”
Amid rising unemployment and a professional football team that is 1-7 in 2009 and went a record 0-16 last year, Cada’s win marks a watershed moment for the state of Michigan and city of Detroit. Cada’s father echoed the point and added why his son has been so successful on the live and online poker felts in such a short amount of time: “I think where he really has talent is in the math area. When he was a kid, we used to just throw numbers at him and he would give us the answer right back. He knew percentages. Then, he got into poker and bang! It all came together.”
Among those thrilled for Cada is PokerStars, which asked Cada about playing Moon heads-up. Moon had run hot for much of the tournament, but, like his fortunes at Texas Hold’em Bonus at the Rio on Monday, his luck finally turned for the worse. Cada told PokerStars, “Darvin played a great game. He put me in a lot of tough spots. He did really well. Props to Darvin. He played great. He had my back against the wall, but luckily I came through.”
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2009 WSOP Main Event results and coverage.
