Sign up with Google
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2003
- Messages
- 66,740
A 21-year-old from the Detroit area and a 46-year-old lumberjack
who had never been on a jetliner until this year reached the final
of the World Series of Poker here early Sunday.
The unlikely duo, Joe Cada and Darvin Moon, outlasted seven
other competitors in a marathon 17-hour session that took 276 hands
of poker and will now meet on Monday for an 8.5 million dollar
jackpot.
"I just got really lucky, but that's part of the game," said
Cada, whose mother works at a casino in Detroit and tried to
dissuade him from gambling. "It's just really amazing that I'm
here, though."
Coming in third and earning 3.5 million dollars was 25-year-old
Antoine Saout of St. Martin des Champs, France, a former
engineering student who was eliminated when Cada produced a pair of
kings.
The World Series of Poker's Main Event is a No-Limit Texas Hold
'Em contest that is the most prestigious and richest gambling
tournament of the year.
The nine finalists who met this weekend outlasted a field of
6,494 entrants and each received at least 1.26 million dollars.
Cada is now in first place with 135.95 million chips to Moon's
58.85 million, a dominant position all the more surprising because
eight hours earlier he was in last place with just 2 million chips.
He then began a stunning run of good cards in big hands. If he
wins the tournament on Monday, he will be the youngest ever to do
so, eclipsing the record set last year by then-22-year-old Peter
Eastgate of Denmark.
Cada said he began playing on the Internet when he was 18.
Moon's survival is less surprising because he began the day with
a dominant chip lead. But his journey is no less intriguing, coming
from a rural area outside of Washington DC where he and his wife
live in a small manufactured home and he operates a lumber company.
He gained his entry into the World Series by winning a poker
tournament that cost him 130 dollars in a casino near his home.
"I'm just going to relax for the next day and see what happens,"
said Moon, who doesn't have a credit card or use the Internet and
sat with his head in his hands looking impassively throughout the
lengthy game.
Even when he won a hand, his face showed no reaction.
Cada and Moon outlasted a tough final nine that included Phil
Ivey, the 32-year-old superstar who is second on the list of
all-time poker winnings and was a favorite of fellow poker
professionals.
Since the poker boom began earlier this decade with the
popularity of playing on the Internet, a well-known pro has not won
the game's biggest prize.
who had never been on a jetliner until this year reached the final
of the World Series of Poker here early Sunday.
The unlikely duo, Joe Cada and Darvin Moon, outlasted seven
other competitors in a marathon 17-hour session that took 276 hands
of poker and will now meet on Monday for an 8.5 million dollar
jackpot.
"I just got really lucky, but that's part of the game," said
Cada, whose mother works at a casino in Detroit and tried to
dissuade him from gambling. "It's just really amazing that I'm
here, though."
Coming in third and earning 3.5 million dollars was 25-year-old
Antoine Saout of St. Martin des Champs, France, a former
engineering student who was eliminated when Cada produced a pair of
kings.
The World Series of Poker's Main Event is a No-Limit Texas Hold
'Em contest that is the most prestigious and richest gambling
tournament of the year.
The nine finalists who met this weekend outlasted a field of
6,494 entrants and each received at least 1.26 million dollars.
Cada is now in first place with 135.95 million chips to Moon's
58.85 million, a dominant position all the more surprising because
eight hours earlier he was in last place with just 2 million chips.
He then began a stunning run of good cards in big hands. If he
wins the tournament on Monday, he will be the youngest ever to do
so, eclipsing the record set last year by then-22-year-old Peter
Eastgate of Denmark.
Cada said he began playing on the Internet when he was 18.
Moon's survival is less surprising because he began the day with
a dominant chip lead. But his journey is no less intriguing, coming
from a rural area outside of Washington DC where he and his wife
live in a small manufactured home and he operates a lumber company.
He gained his entry into the World Series by winning a poker
tournament that cost him 130 dollars in a casino near his home.
"I'm just going to relax for the next day and see what happens,"
said Moon, who doesn't have a credit card or use the Internet and
sat with his head in his hands looking impassively throughout the
lengthy game.
Even when he won a hand, his face showed no reaction.
Cada and Moon outlasted a tough final nine that included Phil
Ivey, the 32-year-old superstar who is second on the list of
all-time poker winnings and was a favorite of fellow poker
professionals.
Since the poker boom began earlier this decade with the
popularity of playing on the Internet, a well-known pro has not won
the game's biggest prize.
