Congrats to ESPN! For the second year in a row, the sports network earned a Grammy nomination for its coverage of the World Series of Poker Final Table. Read more.

The Final Table event was held at Rio Las Vegas in November, and Joe Cada took home the top prize. Find out who that guy is!

WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada at the exact moment he realized he'd need a much bigger wallet.

Learn more about the World Series of Poker. This year’s installment happens May 27 to Jul. 17.

The World Series of Poker is putting up a million bucks to award during the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. The tournament will take place during the 41st Annual WSOP at the Rio. Learn more.

To sweeten the pot, ESPN will air the event in a special two-hour telecast on Aug. 3.

Known as "pocket aces," this poker hand has been known to make grown men weep tears of joy.

Just 27 players will participate in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, with 20 players selected by voting from the public. Voting will remain open until Jun. 15.

To qualify as one of the 20 eligible fan-voted participants, players must be a WSOP bracelet-holder. All living WSOP bracelet holders are able to receive votes, and currently there are 521 eligible players.

The three previous WSOP Tournament of Champions winners gain automatic entry, plus the reigning WSOP champion and the reigning WSOP Europe champion get seats at the table. The five shoo-ins are Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, Joe Cada and Barry Shulman.

Play will start at the Rio on Jun. 27, and will stop once the final nine players are reached. Those nine return on Jul. 4.

The World Series of Poker runs from May 27 to Jul. 17. Find out more about the world’s premier poker event.

The Holy Grail for poker players, a WSOP bracelet. The Holy Grail was, sadly, not available for a photo.

We love the free stuff, don’t you? That’s why we consider it our job to find it for you!

Which leads us to this sweet giveaway: Total Rewards (the world’s most buff player loyalty program) and the World Series of Poker (the universe’s premier name in poker) are joining forces to give away some goodies like a 16 GB iPad, two 8 GB iPod Touches, five WSOP poker chip sets and 10 $25 Total Rewards gift cards.

The World Series of Poker comes to Vegas May 27 to Jul. 17, by the way.

After you enter the giveaway, get World Series of Poker Hold’Em Legend game for your mobile device. This fast-paced game gives you the true World Series of Poker experience, with real-time multi-player gameplay, among other great features. You can even play in some of your favorite real-world casinos.

Entries for the giveaway will be accepted until Apr. 16. Enter now.

It was a weekend of firsts for women! Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar for “The Hurt Locker,” and poker pro Annie Duke became the first woman ever to win the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The event was held at Caesars Palace.

The Heads-Up Championship finals came down to Annie Duke and Erik Seidel, with Duke taking home the $500,000 in prize money. NBC will air 12 hours of event coverage, starting Apr. 18, for six consecutive Sundays.

Factoid: Annie Duke moonlights an instructor at the World Series of Poker Academy.

In addition to her many poker accomplishments, Anne Duke was also a finalist on “Celebrity Apprentice,” going head-to-head with arch-nemesis Joan Rivers in one of the most memorable installments of the show ever.

Read more about Annie Duke’s victory in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship here, here and here.

If you’re like most poker fans, you’re champing at the bit for the World Series of Poker this summer. Registration is open, so find out more about the event at Rio Las Vegas, May 27 to Jul. 17, and get in the game.

We were saddened to hear about the passing of World Series of Poker bracelet winner Amir Vahedi. He passed away on Jan. 8.

Poker's Amir Vahedi.

Vahedi was an accomplished player, born in Iran, and even became a tutor for Ben Affleck when the actor first became interested in poker.

Amir Vahedi be missed, and as his fellow poker pro Phil Hellmuth wrote, “Amir was one of the nicest, gentlest guys on the tour and everyone loved him.” Read more.

Here’s a nice article about the future of the World Series of Poker, 2010 and beyond.

This year’s World Series of Poker Champ, Joe Cada, makes an appearance on CNN. Enjoy the video.

"It hasn't fully hit me yet," says Joe. It hasn't fully hit US yet!

Overheard on Twitter: On Tuesday night, World Series of Poker champ Joe Cada will be a guest on Late Night with David Letterman. Read more about this poker phenom.

The excitement of the recent World Series of Poker Final Table is still keeping Las Vegas, and the world, abuzz. One of the questions about this year’s champion has been, “Who IS that kid?”

We’re here to help. Here are some interesting facts about 2009 world poker champ, Joe Cada:

Joe Cada, a professional poker player, is from Shelby Township, Michigan (30 miles from Detroit). Cada is pronounced “kay-duh.”

He’s the youngest world poker champion in the 40-year history of the WSOP. His 22nd birthday is Nov. 18. Cada started playing card games at an early age, including euchre and pinochle. By age 19, Cada had won enough money playing online poker to pay cash for a house.

Somebody's gonna need a bigger money clip.

Cada’s mother (Ann Cada) is a blackjack dealer at a casino in Michigan.

His big break came two years ago when he won a major online tournament and collected about $150,000. He has since won other tournaments online, but the 2009 World Series of Poker was his first live tournament victory.

Cada collected first-place prize money totaling $8,547,042. For his victory, Cada also received a gold and diamond bracelet, symbolizing the ultimate achievement in the game of poker.

Best. Bling. Ever. They still call it bling, right?

Cada says he had financial backers consisting of online pros who helped him enter the tournament, as well as providing strategy advice. Cada said that one backer will receive nearly half of his prize money winnings.

This video provides a glimpse into the last few cards of the Final Table.

Visit the official site of the World Series of Poker for more about this singular event.

Our best wishes go out to the newly-crowned prince of poker. Hey, don’t spend it all in one place!

Lots of folks are still reeling from the explosive Final Table of the World Series of Poker. Read more.

Today’s poker trivia: Heads-up play between winner Joe Cada and Darvin Moon lasted 87 hands.

Joe Cada, 21, has defeated Darvin Moon to become the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion in the tournament’s 40-year history. He takes home $8.5 million ($8,547,042 to be exact) and the World Series of Poker Main Event world championship bracelet.

After his victory, Joe bought a celebratory round of drinks. For the entire country of Finland.

For his second place finish, Darvin Moon earned $5,182,928.

An emotional Cada acknowledged his opponent and addressed the crowd after WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack presented him with poker’s most coveted prize.

Just more than a week before his 22nd birthday, the young poker pro said, “I want to thank my friends and family for taking time away from work and school to be here. I’ve dreamed of winning this tournament, and to do it the first year out of the gate is unbelievable. This is just amazing.”

Amazing is right! The action at the Penn & Teller Theater at Rio Las Vegas went into the wee hours of the morning, with the chip count going back and forth for a nail-biting finish to this year’s World Series of Poker.

ESPN will televise the Final Table tonight. Get all the WSOP scoop about poker’s biggest night (and morning) on the official World Series of Poker site.

It’s down to the final two at the World Series of Poker!A logger from Maryland and a 21-year-old poker pro will compete Monday night for poker’s most prestigious prize and a payday of more than $8.5 million.

Darvin Moon, 46, is playing in his first WSOP event and Joseph Cada is a 21-year-old poker phenom hoping to become the youngest Main Event champion ever.

The two survived the longest U.S.-based Main Event Final Table in World Series of Poker history (a grueling, 14-hour-plus marathon session) for the chance to win the champion’s bracelet and the $8.5 million first-place prize. (The runner-up can look forward to a not-too-shabby $5.1 million.)

ESPN will air the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table on Tuesday, Nov. 10 from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. (Eastern).

Read more at the WSOP’s official site.

The action is heating up at Rio Las Vegas, as the November Nine go head-to-head for poker glory! Get minute-by-minute updates on the World Series of Poker official site here.

This is gonna get ugly. Hopefully!

Get instant updates on Twitter by following @wsop.

Play poker with Vince Neil and his celebrity friends for your shot at $50,000 in prize money, and help support a great cause at the same time. Rio Las Vegas will host Vince Neil’s 5th Annual “Off the Strip” Poker Tournament, Nov. 8.

Bonus Vince Neil trivia: He had a cameo in "Police Academy VI."

As part of the World Series of Poker Main Event festivities, this tournament will benefit the Skylar Neil Foundation. The Foundation has raised millions of dollars for medical research organizations working to cure cancer, AIDS and other diseases. Learn more.

Witness history as the “November Nine” compete for one of the largest prizes in WSOP history in November! Heads-up play on Nov. 9 begins at 10:00 p.m.

The best bracelet stand EVER.

Witness every hand live at the Penn & Teller Theater at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. This event, sure to garner worldwide attention, is open to the public and tickets are free.

The November Nine are: Darvin Moon, ($58,930,000 in chips); Eric Buchman ($34,800,000); Steven Begleiter ($29,885,000); Jeff Shulman ($19,580,000); Joe Cada ($13,215,000); Kevin Schaffel ($12,390,000); Phil Ivey ($9,765,000); Antoine Saout ($9,500,000) and James Akenhead ($6,800,000).

Rooms are going fast at Rio Las Vegas, so reserve yours today.

The Final Table will be broadcast on ESPN Nov. 10. Learn more.

Updated: Bonus insider scoop! Hit the Final Table viewing party at ESPN Zone on Tuesday, Nov. 10 (6:00 p.m.) and rub elbows with none other than poker legend Doyle Brunson.