In 2009, a WSOP rookie named Joe Cada emerged from the masses to become the youngest main event champion in history. In 2010, another rookie, Carter Phillips, captured gold in the $1,500 six-handed no-limit hold 'em event. Both players had experienced the highs of winning on poker's greatest stage, and as Event 31 reached heads-up play, it was time for one of them to claim that feeling once again.

Cada entered heads-up play with the chip lead and hopes of becoming the first WSOP main event champion since Carlos Mortensen to win a WSOP bracelet after their main event victory. Phillips had a personal goal: earning the validation that comes with a second bracelet. After three hours, Phillips got the best of Cada to capture the win in the 2,811-player $1,500 no-limit hold 'em event. The 23-year-old from Charlotte pocketed a career-best $664,130 and felt rejuvenated with the win after losing his passion for the game over the past few years.

"It feels amazing," said Phillips. "This confirms my place in the poker world for me. Bracelet No. 1 felt good because it was new and exciting, but bracelet No. 2, there's not as many people that have two, so this feels really good right now."

Phillips dropped out of college to play poker professionally in 2007 but is returning to the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in the fall to continue his education.

"I was feeling pretty bad about poker because I didn't enjoy the game at all," he said of his last few years on the felt. "I played four years in a row for a living before I ever took a break. That wears on you. When I was traveling at my most I was staying in hotels all the time. Airplanes, airports, no place that was home, basically. I had a chance to go back to school and refresh and re-focus. It made me a better poker player this summer.

"I remember last summer, I didn't really go on a down swing or anything during the Series; I just played really bad in every tournament," Phillips continued. "That was because I didn't care if I was in them. I knew that I would rather not be in the poker world than doing that. School was an option for me."

Going back to school won't diminish Phillips' passion for the game, and it's clear from his play in this event that the EPT and two-time WSOP champion will remain a strong competitor on the felt for years to come.

Phillips and Cada entered the final table in the bottom half of the chip counts. By the time there were five players remaining, Cada was the chip leader and Phillips wasn't far behind. Phillips jumped Cada thanks to a huge double-up through Tom Chambers (A-Q versus J-J), but Cada's eliminations of Cherish Andrews (fourth) and Chambers (third) gave him a significant edge to start heads-up action. Andrews, 22, became the ninth woman to make a WSOP final table this year. The $ 210,083 she earned was nearly 10 times her previous largest career cash.

Cada's lead vanished instantly as Phillips found his key double-up early. For the next few hours, they traded pots as the rail waited for the one big hand that would change the match for good. With stacks nearly even, the waiting ended, as Phillips flopped a set of nines and trapped Cada on the turn, getting him to commit his stack drawing dead with top pair. Phillips was in control with an 11:1 edge and won the bracelet shortly after. Phillips had nothing but praise for "The Kid."

"Joe is probably one of the toughest opponents I could be playing," said Phillips. "I knew coming in to today that if I was going to make it deep in this, then he was going to be my biggest threat. Heads-up was tough. There was a lot of three-betting and a lot of different situations going on. I was lucky to come out on top.

Cada earned $412,424, his largest cash since his WSOP main event victory.

Other notable finishers included Dwyte Pilgrim (11th), J.C. Tran (12th), Terrance Chan (20th) and Soi Nguyen (32nd).

Below are the complete results of Event 31 at the 2012 World Series of Poker:

Event 31: No-limit hold 'em
Buy-in: $1,500
Entries: 2,811
Prize pool: $3,794,850
Players in the money: 297
1. Carter Phillips ($664,130)
2. Joe Cada ($412,424)
3. Tom Chambers ($290,875)
4. Cherish Andrews ($210,083)
5. Najib Kamand ($153,578)
6. Maximilian Lehmanski ($113,618)
7. Michael Aron ($85,043)
8. Jonathan Poche ($64,399)
9. Huy Quach ($49,333)
10. Jim Kasputis Jr. ($38,214)
11. Dwyte Pilgrim ($38,214)
12. J.C. Tran ($38,214)
13. Patrick Karschamroon ($29,941)
14. Valentyn Shabelnyk ($29,941)
15. Jean-Marc Thomas ($29,941)
16. Jerrimie Pacheco ($23,718)
17. Adam Kornuth ($23,718)
18. Kevin Huddleston ($23,718)
19. John Nelson ($19,012)
20. Terrence Chan ($19,012)
21. Manig Loeser ($19,012)
22. Alvaro Santamaria ($19,012)
23. Baret Grigorian ($19,012)
24. Vincent Lucardie ($19,012)
25. Maxim Sorokin ($19,012)
26. Stephen Foutty ($19,012)
27. Mitch Schock ($19,012)
28. Andrew Dean ($15,047)
29. Thomas Miller ($15,047)
30. Michael Snorden ($15,047)
31. John Dull ($15,047)
32. Soi Nguyen ($15,047)
33. Evan Clotworthy ($15,047)
34. Douglas Redmann ($15,047)
35. Drew Crawford ($15,047)
36. Giuseppe Pastura ($15,047)
37. James Akenhead ($12,599)
38. Matthew Wierzel ($12,599)
39. Simon Lam ($12,599)
40. Vaughn Prichard ($12,599)
41. Jose Olegario ($12,599)
42. Gabriel Nassif ($12,599)
43. Wai Cheng ($12,599)
44. Denver Haslam ($12,599)
45. Ted Forrest ($12,599)
46. Nate Jeo ($10,436)
47. Daniel Makowsky ($10,436)
48. Christopher Bolek ($10,436)
49. Erik Cajelais ($10,436)
50. Edward Galpine ($10,436)
51. Robert Topham ($10,436)
52. Bernard Lee ($10,436)
53. Adam Cook ($10,436)
54. Jonathan Lane ($10,436)
55. Steven Krupnick ($8,728)
56. Dong Dinh ($8,728)
57. Thomas Dickson ($8,728)
58. Erika Moutinho ($8,728)
59. Kenneth Adams ($8,728)
60. Ryan Snickles ($8,728)
61. Richard Rush ($8,728)
62. Jim Collopy ($8,728)
63. Rodrigo Portaleoni ($8,728)
64. Zach Clark ($7,362)
65. Craig Haugland ($7,362)
66. Elliot Smith ($7,362)
67. Ken Aldridge ($7,362)
68. Joao Post Darella ($7,362)
69. Casey Johnson ($7,362)
70. Ilan Boujenah ($7,362)
71. Andre Goldbaum ($7,362)
72. Ariel Spivack ($7,362)
73. Remy Biechel ($6,299)
74. Nam Le ($6,299)
75. Michael Carr ($6,299)
76. Bryan Piccioli ($6,299)
77. Christopher Johnson ($6,299)
78. Yeping Shan...