During the WSOP 2009, all eyes were on the youngest main-event champion in history. With hardly a year past since he had edged past Phil Hellmuth to become the youngest player to ever win poker’s most prestigious title, Peter Eastgate was making an incredible run to contend for what could have been his second consecutive world championship.

With barely a hundred players remaining from an original field of 6,494 at the WSOP 2009, Eastgate was poised to finish his second run as champion. Interestingly enough, in his journey deep into the 2009 WSOP main event, the reigning world champ played several hours with another talented young pro, Joe Cada, who didn’t shy away from engaging in a little playful trash talk with the champ.
“I happened to be at his table on day 4 and day 5, and I was joking around with him about it — how I have a shot at breaking his record,” said Cada, who may just supplant Eastgate of his record just a year after he established his mark. “It would be pretty amazing if I did.”

The 2009 World Series of Poker was the 40th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and occurred May 27 to July 15. There were in total 57 bracelet events, culminating in a $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. The “November Nine” concept returned for the second year, with the finalists of the Main Event scheduled to return on November 7.

While Eastgate’s 2009 main event performance fell shy of a return trip to the November Nine as he got knocked out in 78th place, Cada’s miraculous run is yet to conclude. With 13.215 million in chips, he will enter November’s final table in fifth place.

Cada’s startling and rapid ascension to the top of the poker world is nothing short of remarkable. Although he’s only been legally allowed to play in poker rooms in Las Vegas for a few months now, Cada’s game and his attitude exude both confidence and experience.

“When I was younger, I played a lot of poker and grinded a lot,” said Cada. “I haven’t played as much this year.”

Cada won Full Tilt’s $750,000 guarantee in January 2008 for $147,488, and followed it up with a win in the Sunday Mulligan for $49,590 last October. He has seven tournament cashes of at least five figures online in his career. Yet he considers himself a cash-game player rather than a tournament specialist.

“I’m primarily a cash-game, heads-up player, but I play tournaments on Sunday,” said Cada.

Previously, Jeff Lisandro had become the first player to win a bracelet in each of the Stud disciplines in the same World Series. With that achievement, he was the first player to win three WSOP bracelets in the same year since Phil Ivey achieved this feat in 2002. Apart from Lisandro, Ivey, Brock Parker and Greg Mueller won multiple bracelets during the series. Ville Wahlbeck, who won Event 12, became the first Finnish player to win a bracelet while Peter Traply, who won Event 41, became the first Hungarian player to win a bracelet.

Peter Eastgate is the third defending champion in the last five years to be the last remaining champion in the Main Event. The 2004 champion Greg Raymer was the last remaining champion in the 2005 Main Event, which was won by Joe Hachem, who was the last remaining champion in the 2006 Main Event.