By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Joe Cada proved this week that 21-year-old college dropouts can make big bets and win even bigger sums by playing poker.

Cada won $8.55 million at the World Series of Poker’s richest event, beating beat Darvin Moon, a self-employed logger.

For weeks, ESPN2 has been broadcasting early rounds of the World Series, where Moon emerged as a popular champ-to-be.

And as I've found over that time, watching poker on TV can be addictive, even if you don't play.

In the end, Cada had an incredibly tense weekend, falling far back in the number of chips he had as the 9-man final field began play.

But Cada and Moon made it to the finals, then played until Cada took the "all-in" final hand.

His winning combination: a pair of nines.