I have to tell you, I breathed a sigh of relief when Joe Cada cleaned up at the WSOP Main Event final table. Nothing against Darvin Moon, but another amateur winning the most prestigious poker tournament in the world would send the pros into a rage. It was frustrating enough to see him reach the final table and then actually be the one to take out Phil Ivey (yes, the bookies were right). If he had managed to take the title, I am not ashamed to say that there is a distinct possibility I’d have wept openly.

Joe Cada is another story entirely. Now the youngest ever poker pro to have won the WSOP Main Event, at just 21, a pattern looks to be emerging. Peter Eastgate only recently won the 2008 World Series of Poker at 22. Okay, two doesn’t really make a pattern, but it does resemble one and that’s all that’s needed to give poker a bit of an image change.

Now, it isn’t as if poker wasn’t already popular with young people. If it weren’t, is there any way we’d have seen Peter Eastgate or Joe Cada win? Nevertheless, many of poker’s biggest stars are middle-aged. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is harder to draw younger people into online poker when practically every well-known professional player is 10 or 20 years older.

I think the younger stars – Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Peter Eastgate, Joe Cada and quite a few others – are the ones who bring in the future poker professionals, the ones who start practicing as soon as they are able to. A family man who discovers poker when he’s 35 or 40 just doesn’t seem likely to achieve the same level as an equally dedicated player who started when he or she was 18.

About the only better outcome for a WSOP Main Event would be for a female player to win. Seriously, I cannot wait until this happens, as I think it will bring an incredible numbers of new players. Unfortunately, a large influx of female players is probably necessary before that happens, just to improve the odds against the masses of male players. That’s not to say women can’t play poker just as well as men. It’s simply an acknowledgement that when the best player in the world can’t rely on winning the Main Event, it might take more than a lone female player with incredible skills to ensure a future female WSOP Main Event champion.

Joe Cada was recently signed by PokerStars, so if you’re interested in getting an opportunity to play with him, be sure to sign up for a real money PokerStars account. A 100% welcome bonus on deposits of up to $600 will help you to get started on honing your own poker skills. Just don’t drop out of college.