Although it actually took place on Monday night, the battle between the final two players of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event field was aired on ESPN last night and it did not disappoint fans who have been waiting for months to see the November Nine be whittled down to one.

After nearly three hours of heads-up play, poker pro Joe Cada took down amateur Darvin Moon to win $8.55 million and the poker world’s most coveted bracelet. And for the second year in a row, a record was set for the youngest Main Event champion ever. Cada is 340 days younger than last year’s Main Event winner, Peter Eastgate, who overtook the 20 year old record from Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth.

The Main Event was as popular as ever this year, drawing 6,494 players when the tournament began back in June. It also received a lot of hype because the final table featured arguably the greatest player in the world in Phil Ivey, who was knocked out in 7th place on a bad beat. And while Ivey received all the pre-final table hype, it is Cada who gets to bask in the spotlight of poker’s biggest spotlight.

So how does it feel to be 21 years old, a multi-millionaire, and the winner of poker’s most popular tournament?

“I’ve dreamed of winning this tournament, and to do it the first year out of the gate is unbelievable,” said Cada on the WSOP Web site. “This is just amazing.”

Image Source: Guardian.co.uk

But Yang came away the top money maker in Las Vegas when he won $8.25 million at the World Series of Poker.

Yang, a 39-year-old psychologist, only began playing poker two years ago and got his way into the tournament after winning a $225 satellite tournmanent at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California.

Just looking at that stack of cash with Yang, above, makes me want to take up poker and retire from go-fish.

Source: Fox Sports