LAS VEGAS — After winning enough at poker to buy a house and justify playing tournaments in far-off places, Joe Cada bet on gambling instead of college and started playing cards full-time.

Cada's wager paid off yesterday in a way many players only dream when the 21-year-old from Shelby Township, Mich., became the youngest champion ever at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

"It ($8.55 million first prize) gives me a lot of freedom," Cada said after beating Darvin Moon, a 46-year-old logger from Oakland, Md., who won $5.18 million for second place. "I'm going to absorb it and take it in."

Cada matched wits with eight others during the weekend culmination of a no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament that began in July with 6,494 players.

Cada turned over a pair of nines on the final hand after Moon called his all-in wager with a suited queen-jack.

A board of two sevens, a king, an eight and a deuce didn't connect with either player's cards and gave Cada the win with two-pair.

Cada broke a record for the tournament's youngest winner —by 348 days —set last year by Peter Eastgate of Denmark at age 22.