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The 2018 World Series of Poker FInal table has been set with 2009 champ Joe Cada among the mix.
Seat 1 Artem Metalidi 15.475m
Seat 2 John Cynn 37.075m
Seat 3 Alex Lynskey 25.925m
Seat 4 Tony Miles 42.75m
Seat 5 Nicolas Manion 112.775m
Seat 6 Aram Zobian 18.875m
Seat 7 Michael Dyer 109.175m
Seat 8 Joe Cada 23.675m
Seat 9 Antoine Labat 8.05m
Leading the way, courtesy of a huge pot and near double-knockout in the night's last hand is a relative poker unknown in Nicolas Manion, a Michigan native who will find himself, on Friday, on the biggest poker stage of all.
Cada is looking to become the first player to accomplish two WSOP Main Event wins since Johnny Chan accomplished the feat in 1987 and 1988. Cada doing so would prove all the more impressive due to today's much larger playing field.
Cada famously came back from the brink of elimination to win that 2009 Main Event, and with three bracelets and over $10.3 million in lifetime WSOP earnings, he'll be the star attraction for Friday's Day 8.
"Oh, my gosh," said Cada, referring to the night's stunning conclusion. "I thought the thing was going to go all night. Everyone here was playing great poker; everyone was awesome, and no one was going to give any chips up. You needed something like that to burst this bubble.
"It was a lot more of a grind this time," added Cada, comparing this to his 2009 run. "I respect the tournament more, I knew it was a long, long eight days here, and I felt like I had room to come back. I had 9K at one point in this tournament, and I was grinding a short stack. I had one-fifth average [chip stack] for almost this entire tournament. I had to pick my spots, shove on people who were raising too much, and try to pick up some hands." That strategy worked out well for Cada this week, tough grind though it was.
As for his thoughts about repeating as Main Event champ, Cada simply said, "We'll see, we'll see how it goes."
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
