Monday featured what could be argued to be the highlight final table of the 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) so far. Event #32: $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em was already considered a fairly prestigious event. It’s one of a dozen $10,000 events this year (a baker’s dozen if you count the Ladies Event) and is, as the name suggests, six-handed, a preferred table size by most pros. As such, as the field – and resulting final table – was small and densely packed with strong players. All that resulted in a bit of history yesterday, as Joe Cada became the first WSOP Main Event Champion in over a decade to nab a follow-up bracelet.
That fact may sound a bit confusing, so let us explain. Certainly, there have been past Main Event winners to enter victory lane again before Cada just did it. Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth immediately come to mind as past champs to win additional bracelets. But not since Carlos Mortensen in the early part of this century has a Main Event Champion won his next bracelet after winning the big one. Mortensen won the Main Event in 2001 and followed it up with a bracelet in 2003. Since then, none of the Main Event winners have been able to grab a second WSOP title in any game, at any buy-in, or on any continent. Joe Hachem, the 2005 WSOP Main Event winner, came the closest, finishing second place in an event the following year. Until Joe Cada yesterday, every Main Event Champion since Mortensen has come up empty at the World Series of Poker.
Cada himself has actually come quite close on a number of occasions since winning his title and $8.5 million in 2009. In 2012, he was the runner-up in $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event, thus matching Hachem, though taking longer to get there. He also finished fourth twice last year, once in another $1,500 No-Limit tournament and once in a $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Event. He also finished 26th in this very same event in 2011.
Thus, Cada has had some success since earning the most prestigious victory in poker, but other than the above listed WSOP results, he hasn’t done much since the 2009 Main Event on the live tournament circuit. In some people’s eyes, he may have seemed like a bit of a fluky champ, but that hasn’t seemed to bother Cada. After the tournament, he told WSOP.com Managing Editor Jessica Welman, “It’s funny when people talk about that, because a lot of people that talk about that aren’t really experienced in tournaments. There’s a lot of variance, there’s so many players in these tournaments. It’s tough to win. It’s tough to go deep and make the final table. You need a lot of things to go right, no matter how well you play. I don’t really let that stuff affect me, I just try to focus on playing every decision how I think is correct.”
The prestige of this specific tournament wasn’t lost on Cada, either, as he said that after the Main Event, it was this one, the $10,000 Heads-Up, and the $25,000 Mixed Max that he wanted to win the most.
As mentioned, the final table was stacked. Cada had to beat solid Italian player Dario Sammartino, former televised poker golden boy Erick Lindgren, the decorated JC Tran, tough Brit Max Silver, and 2012 November Niner and bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus. In the end, it came down to Cada and Ausmus. Ausmus went into heads-up play with the chip lead and actually held it for most of the battle, but after almost 40 hands, they both went all-in, Cada with 8-8 and Ausmus with A-J suited. Ausmus picked up a flush and straight draw on the turn, but couldn’t connect on the river, giving Cada a gigantic pot and an overwhelming 7,380,000 to 550,000 chip lead.
A few hands later, it was done, Cada winning with Queens against Jacks and becoming the second WSOP Main Event Champ from this century to win a second bracelet.
2014 World Series of Poker Event #32: $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Joe Cada – $670,041
2. Jeremy Ausmus – $414,104
3. Max Silver – $273,646
4. JC Tran – $185,971
5. Erick Lindgren – $129,192
6. Dario Sammartino – $91,670
* Photo and tournament information and courtesy WSOP.com.
