At close to 1.45am Tuesday, in the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Joe Cada, from Shelby Township, MI, was crowned the youngest World Series of Poker champion in the event's 40-year history. Once the bracelet was wrapped around his wrist and the whooping of his supporters had temporarily abated, PokerStars Blog sat down with Cada for his first exclusive interview since that momentous victory in Las Vegas.

PS Blog: You're the new World Champion. How does that make you feel?
Joe Cada: I feel great. I mean it's a pretty sick feeling, but everything is positive.

PSB: What was going through your mind at that final moment?
JC: I can't picture it any different. It's a dream come true. It really didn't hit me after I won it, and it still hasn't really hit me yet.

PSB: How long do you think it will take to sink in?
JC: A few weeks.

PSB: What did you make of Darvin Moon, your heads up opponent?
JC: 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.

PSB: You explained that you were petrified of losing, but did that affect your game?
JC: I mean, the fear of losing sucks, but you just have to play your game. And you can't think about what's at risk. You just have to play correct poker and I just tried to ignore first place at the time.

PSB: Can you just remind us of your online name?
JC: It's JCada99.

PSB: And the nines played quite a big part in tonight's proceedings, didn't they. [Cada's winning hand was pocket nines, but he also lost the first pot of the evening with the same hand against Moon's queens.] Did you look down on the nines and fear the worst?
JC: Yeah. But he was reraising a lot. At first I wouldn't have been so comfortable with him reraising there. But he was reraising a lot and it was an easy hand to ship. Fortunately I won the race.

PSB: How are you going to celebrate?
JC: Party it up with all my friends who came out here to support me.

PSB: Any final words?
JC [admiring bracelet]: PokerStars takes another one down.

There are people who cannot succeed without adversity. They need pressure. They require potential disaster to force them beyond even their own expectations. The poker world is just getting to know Joe Cada, but it's clear the new World Series of Poker champion thrives on the edge. In a heads-up battle versus Maryland logger Darvin Moon that lasted nearly three hours, Cada started ahead, teetered on the brink of elimination, and once again came back.

Now Cada has no one else to beat. With a tear in the corner of his eye and his lips pursed to hold back obvious emotion, Cada lifted his new bracelet above his head and accepted his role of ambassador to the poker world.

In 1989, Phil Hellmuth surprised both opponent Johnny Chan and the poker world when at 24 years old he became the youngest-ever WSOP Main Event champion. There were people (chiefly Hellmuth) who thought the record would never be broken. That changed after 24 years when the then 22-year-old Peter Eastgate stepped into the Rio's Penn and Teller Theater and won the 2008 WSOP.

Then came this year's Main Event and the battle between 6,494 people from all over the world. The two-week fight led us to the Penn and Teller Theater where only one player was young enough to break Eastgate's record. Cada is 340 days younger than Eastgate and has proven to be no ordinary kid. By the time the Michigan native was 19 years old, he had enough money to buy his first home--in cash. An online whizkid, Cada went to his first WSOP and cashed in two events before sitting down for the big one. Then he went and made the final table.

Still, when he started November Nine play, Cada was fifth in chips. Making his odds even longer, at one point during the final table Cada held only 1% of the chips in play. It would've been tough to find a bettor anywhere in Vegas who would've put much money down on Cada walking away with the bracelet.

But this is Las Vegas. This is the World Series of Poker. This is a place where the unlikely is expected and the longshots prove reason for hope. This is the place where Joe Cada came back from the brink of an early finish and won the biggest and most coveted prize in the world.

Coming into heads-up play tonight, Cada had a 2.3-1 chip lead on Darvin Moon and a boatload more tournament experience. Moon doesn't play online, doesn't own a credit card, and had never been on a plane before the WSOP. Cada, meanwhile, probably plays more hands a year online than Moon has played in his life. Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein predicted a 28-hand heads-up battle, and there were a lot of smart people willing to take the under.

On the very first hand of play, however, Moon took a nice chunk out of Cada's stack in a pocket queens versus pocket nines battle (read about the hand HERE). Those pocket nines would come back around again, but not before Cada found himself in an unenviable position.

Within a few minutes of play and a couple more big hands, Moon had taken over the chip lead. Suddenly, all the people who were ready to simply give the bracelet to Cada before the event began were shifting in their seats.

Was it possible that the Maryland logger under the New Orleans Saints ball cap would find a way to deny Cada his place in history? Would conventional wisdom be as worthless as it had been through most of the final table play? Cada would have none of that. It took him less than 15 minutes to come back and reclaim the exact same lead he'd had at the start of play. And then, again, he lost most of it back.

Cada had been down in chips before. This was the place he knew. This was like home. And he knew just what to do.

When Cada raised to three million, he got a call from Moon. The flop came out [Tc][5s][9h]. Both players checked to the [td] turn. That's when Cada came in for three million again. He had to be a little surprised to see Moon push all-in, well enough to cover Cada and well enough to put on the rail in second place. This was the place where the younger man simply had to be right. Wrong, and he's gone.

Finally, Cada announced call and turned over [jh][9d] for second pair. He was right.

Moon held [7s][8s] for the open-ended straight draw. Moon had seven outs to the river and none of them came. Suddenly, Cada held the chip lead again. And this time he wouldn't give it up.

Just a few hands later, Cada made it his standard three million and Moon raised to eight million. This time Cada pounced and put it all-in. Moon barely thought at all before waving his hand and saying, "Call." The hands?

Moon: [Jd][Qd]
Cada: [9d][9c]

There were those nines again for Cada. On the first hand of heads-up play, they cost him a huge pot. On the last hand? Well, on the last hand, the board ran out [8c][2c][7s][kh][7c] and made Joe Cada a champion.

When it was over, the young man was gracious. He congratulated Moon, saying his opponent played "absolutely great." He thanked his friends and fans who made up a big percentage of the crowd. "I'd like to think all my fans for coming out and supporting me. A lot of them took off school and work to come here. I really appreciate that."

But in front of the assembled crowd, that was about all Cada could choke out. Unlike a lot of the young ones who came up on the internet, for Cada this was not a ho-hum-ship-it moment. This was real. That was a dream come true before before Cada got old enough to realize that it was an impossible dream. At 21 years old, he was the envy of the poker world, a great deal wealthier, and free to dream even bigger.

When Joe Cada's fans walked into the Rio two days ago, they all wore bright shirts that bore the legend "The Kid." They all now need new shirts, because henceforth, Joe Cada will be called "The Comeback Kid."

He will also answer to "2009 World Series of Poker champion."

This hour began shortly after a 20-minute break, and Darvin Moon seemed by far the more refreshed. He was the aggressor in all of the early pots and took most of them down, regularly making reraises of about five million, which was consistently too rich for Cada.

The Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, watching from the wings, was impressed by Moon's attitude in the early stages, and told our video blog team how he saw the opening salvos, a video that sets the tone for the action to follow. Here's Greenstein, interviewed during the break.

The action that followed, though, showed that Cada is made of stern stuff. One key pots hauled him right back in it. The next one won the title. Check out the action:

The last hour of heads-up play did not contain any huge, huge pots. That said, at the end of the second hour of play, Darvin Moon held the chip lead.

They started play with blinds of 600,000/1.2 million and a 200,000 ante.

Here is a hand-by-hand account of the past hour.

* Darvin Moon raised to 3.1 million, and Joe Cada called. The flop came down [Qc][2h][6s]. Cada checked, Moon bet 5 million and Cada folded.

* Cada raised to 3.1 million and Moon called. They saw a flop of [td][8h][5s]. Both players checked to the [7c] turn. Moon led at it for 5 million and Cada folded.

* Moon rasied to 3.1 million and Cada folded.

* Cada rasied to 3 million. Moon re-raised another 5 million and Cada called. The flop fell [kc][7s][6h]. Moon bet 5 million and got a call. The turn came [3s]. Moon moved all-in without blinking and Cada folded.

* We missed the action here, but it was irrelevant. Cada's jack-high beat Moon's ten-high for a small pot.

* Cada raised to 2.5 million and got the call. The two men saw a flop of [7d][8s][5h]. Moon bet 3 million and Cada folded.

* Chip counts at this point

Moon: 83,750,000
Cada: 111,050,000

* Cada made it 3 million, Moon called, and they saw a flop of [tc][9c][7s]. Both players the [8c] turn and [kc] river. Moon held jack-nine and it was good.

* Moon made it 3 million and Cada folded.

* Cada bumped it up 2.5 million and Moon called. Flop [8s][Qc][4h] Both players checked to the [3h] turn. Moon checked and saw Cada bet 3 million. That was enough to make Moon fold.

* Cada raised to 3 million, Moon re-raised to 8 million. Cada thought for 1,2,3 seconds before mucking.

* Moon raised to 3 million and took down the pot

* Cada raised to 3 million and Moon folded

* Moon raised to 3 million and Cada pushed out 10.2 million. Moon grabbed for a few stacks and bumped it up to 25 million. Cada went deep into the tank. Finally, with a rueful smile, he folded. Moon assured him after the fold, that he was willing to go all-in.

*New chip count:

Moon: 97,650,000
Cada 97,150,000

* Cada rasied to 3 million and Moon barely hesitated before making it 8 million. Score another one for Moon.

* Cada picked up 7 million off Moon.

* Cada raised to 3 million and Moon called. The flop [Jc][3d][9d]. Cada checked to Moon who bet 6 million and took it down.

* Cada raised and took it down.

* The players took a break with these chip counts.

Moon: 95,500,000
Cada 99,300,000

* Moon raised and picked up the pot.

* Cada came in for a raise, Moon called [8d][4d][As]. Moon led at the pot for 6 million and Cada called. The turn was the [7d]. That drew an 8.5 million bet from Moon. Cada quickly called. The river, [jh], forced Moon to check. Moon held an eight in his hand, good for one pair, and the win.

* Moon raised to 3 million and Cada called. On the flop of [Ah][4s][9c]. Cada checked and Moon checked to see the [9h]. Cada bet 4 million. Moon raised to 12 million and got a quick fold from Cada.

* Chip counts:

Moon: 122,600,000
Cada: 72,200,000

The opening hour of final table play was certainly tense but it was anything but tight. There was a huge pot on the very first hand, won by Moon, and the Maryland man ended up taking the chip lead after winning the first few.

But Cada won two decisive big pots to haul himself back into the lead, and the hour ended with the approximate counts as follows:

Joe Cada: 131,050,000
Darvin Moon: 63,750,000

Here are the major incidents from an hour where the blinds and antes were 500,000-1,000,000 (150,000).

Hand one
Wow. That could easily have got even more nasty than it did. On the very first hand, Darvin Moon called Joe Cada's big blind, but the youngster took his option to raise, making it 2,500,000 more. Moon called. The flop came [3s][ks][2d] and Cada bet 3.5m. Moon bumped it up to 10m and Cada called. The turn was [ad] and Cada this time check-called Moon's 10m bet. The river was the [kc] and now both players slowed down, each checking. Moon flipped pocket queens and Cada showed pocket nines: two premium heads up starting hands that sends the first notable pot in Moon's direction.

Hand four
Cada won a small pot back from Moon, when he raised pre-flop to 2.5m and Moon called. The flop came [qs][2h][qd] and when Cada led out, Moon let it go.

Hand seven
Cada made it 2.5m pre-flop, as he has done more than once. Moon called for a flop of [8s][6c][4h], which both of them checked. The turn was [ac] and after Moon checked, Cada bet 3.5m. Moon made it 5m more, which Cada called, but he was forced to let it go when Moon fired 7.5m on the river. Two big pots for Moon at the start of heads up play drew the chip stacks close to even.

Hand 11
Joe Cada flopped the nuts. He had [kd][9d] and managed to extract about 5m out of Moon on an ace-high, all diamond board. He checked the flop and bet small on turn and river. Moon called and mucked.

Hand 12
This hasn't been the case for a while, but Darvin Moon is the chip leader of the World Series Main Event. They got to a flop of [6s][5d][jc] and after Cada bet 3.5m, Moon raised another 5m on top. Cada called. The turn came [qd], which both players checked, but Cada called Moon's 7.25m bet on the [2h] river. Moon showed [qh][8s] and Cada mucked. With that, Moon moved to more than 100,000,000 and Cada just shy of that.

Hand 15
Darvin Moon makes it 3m to play, to which Cada is amenable. The flop comes [qc][js][7d] and they both check. The turn is [10h], checked again. The river comes [5h]. Cada bets 1,750,000, Moon calls, but Cada's pocket tens are better than Moon's eights. A small chunk back to Cada.

Hand 17
There's the massive hand we've been leading up to, and it goes in the favour of Joe Cada. Moon made it 3m pre-flop and Cada called. The flop came [jc][4h][2d] and Moon bets 4m at it, which Cada calls. It all gets nasty on the [qh] turn. Cada checks, Moon bets 6m and Cada now comes to life, making it another 10m or so. Moon calls that one and they see a [5c] on the river. Cada says no more checking, and leads out 35m. Moon slumps back in his chair, then folds. Cada regains the chip lead.

Hand 27
Darvin Moon showed down a couple of strange bluffs during Saturday's play and Joe Cada has just caught him at another one. Moon raised pre-flop to 2.5m and Cada called. They then checked it all the way down to the river: [10d][ah][3h][6c][4s]. Cada bet 3m but Moon now raised 10m more. Cada seemed perplexed but made the call and trapped Moon's hands in the cookie jar. Moon showed [jh][5h] for jack high, while Cada had [js][10h] for a pair of tens.

What's the big deal about $8.5m? I don't know*, but the bundle of money that currently sits between Joe Cada and Darvin Moon in the Penn and Teller Theater is certainly attracting a good deal of attention. It was around 10pm yesterday that it made its first appearance, tipped out of about seven silver briefcases by seven burly security guards. It then sat on a glorified coffee table for the next umpteen hours as seven players saw their chances of acquiring it go up in smoke.

Flash forward to this evening and the money has now been deposited centre stage, on the middle of a single green battleground. Men in suits spent about 30 minutes arranging it in carefully-crafted random piles, then a clutch of dealers posed behind it, arms around the swag whose ultimate destination will be decided by their work tonight. All this took place in the moments before play began this evening, but now those heads-up competitors are out there, slugging it out across the baize for the right to call themselves world champion.

Moon v Cada. Cada v Moon. They're the two fighters now going at it bare-knuckled. Check back here soon for full information about the first hour; the jabs and the ducks, the swipes and the parries. Someone might even be on the canvass. We'll let you know.

In the meantime, share the thoughts of PokerStars' Joe Cada. He's our horse.

*I do really.

After losing almost everything he had in front of him in the biggest game he'd ever played, PokerStars player Joe Cada figured he was destined to finish in seventh place and become just another asterisk in the World Series of Poker history book. Tonight, Cada has to beat one more player in his quest to be the youngest ever WSOP Main Event champion.

Cada, the fresh-faced 21-year-old from Michigan, holds a 136,925,000 to 58,875,000 chip lead over plain-spoken Maryland logger Darvin Moon going into tonight's 10pm heads-up match. To get there, he rode a bungee cord of emotions and fortune on Saturday night. (all chronicled in our WSOP live coverage).

Though we spoke to Cada Saturday night, it was after a marathon session and after he'd done a million and half interviews. So, just a couple of hours ago, we caught up with the man who might be champion and asked him to reflect a bit on what it took to get this far.

We will once again be reporting live from the Penn and Tell Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas beginning at 10pm tonight.


Join us as we watch to see whether Cada can hold off Moon and make WSOP history.

There are some poker commentators on World Series final table day who end up sounding like an little league soccer coach. "You're all winners!" they insist, citing the fact that each of the November Nine, who reconvened at the Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, today was guaranteed at least a million dollars before a card was even dealt.

But the format of final table play -- nine down to two today; two to one on Monday -- always meant we would never be able to crown a winner in this first passage of play. And that means there always had to be seven players leaving Las Vegas who felt like losers, despite their bulging wallets and an achievement that they will inevitably look back on with pride.

Before we get too negative and list that unfortunate handful, let's focus on the two who are still in with a chance of entering the most prestigious winners' enclosure in poker. Our heads up duo, decided after a marathon 17 hours play, are these:

Joe Cada, USA, PokerStars player: 136,925,000 chips
Darvin Moon, USA, 58,875,000 chips

They were the survivors from the buffeting of a spiteful day, enduring what by anyone's standards was an exacting, fatiguing session at the felt. Cada in particular will be the first to admit he might be watching this one from his hotel room. He was all in with pocket threes against Jeff Shulman's jacks mid-way through the day. The three in the window kept him alive. And when they were down to three players, he was all in with deuces against Antoine Saout's queens. Yep, that's a deuce on the flop right there.

"I wouldn't change much," Cada said of his day. "Some of the situations were unfortunate. Luckily I sucked out, but that's part of the game."

Cada also won a crucial flip three-handed, rivering a king with his [ad][ks] to finish the job against Saout and his pocket eights. The Frenchman missed out by a whisker after a day that has done wonders for his reputation. But Cada, who was at one point down to two million, proved that PokerStars' finest never give up. And now look at him. He's massive chip leader playing heads up poker for the World Championship. It would make him the youngest ever.

As for Moon, he knows all about the chip lead. He held that accolade for two months, finishing the summer's passage of play with almost a third of the chips in play and returning here with a nonchalant and enviable attitude of: "If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose."

Moon just played his game today, and that meant putting his chips to work and doing his fair share of eliminating opponents, chief among them Phil Ivey, many spectators' tip for the title. Moon's ace-queen downed Ivey's ace-king. The self-confessed recreational player took out the pro.

His reward, like Cada's, is to return to the Penn and Teller Theater on Monday night to see who picks up the bracelet. And, oh yeah, $8.5m.

To get to those two, we had to lose seven, and they fell in the order best displayed on the payouts page. The short version of how they went out looks a bit like this: