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You could feel the excitement in the air. The World Series of Poker was back in town, and thousands had shown up to celebrate. It was actually almost too much of a good thing; the lineups for events and satellites went almost a mile down the hallway from the Amazon room.
The lines weren’t the only difficulty encountered on day 1, June 1, 2007. When ‘Shuffle up and deal’ was finally announced, the complaints began pouring in regarding the unusual new card face that had been selected for the official WSOP playing card. Soon, those were being removed from play, and poker was the order of the day.
Event 1 was a $5,000 Mixed hold’em event, combining limit and no-limit play. For Steve Billirakis, it was a momentous occasion; it was the first event for which he was old enough to legally play in the United States. One was all he’d need.
Billirakis was aged just twenty-one years, eleven days by the time the final table came around. There were bigger names at the table, like Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller, Kirk Morrison and Steve Paul-Ambrose, but the internet kids were excited. This could be Billirakis’ arrival and a declaration that this WSOP could be theirs. “Mr. Smokey” got things off on the right foot.
Billirakis, who’s never played limit hold’em until two weeks earlier, waited patiently for his chance. Finally, with five players left, he eliminated start-of-final-table chip leader Fred Berger to build up enough ammunition to make a run. Finally, it was down to just he and Mueller, and while the former hockey player had the bracelet on his mind, Billirakis only cared about the victory. It showed in the results.
The final hand came when Billirakis, now firmly in control, re-raised the T100,000 blinds to T300,000 (the hand came in limit play). Mueller, put in T325,000, declaring himself all-in and Billirakis dutifully called, turning over Ks-2d. Mueller showed 5d-4d., and when the board came Qh-Jd-2s 8h Qs, Billirakis was the champion with eleven days of eligibility to spare.
For the win, Billirakis took home $526,287 along with the bracelet and record. Jeff Madsen, the now-former record holder, was in attendance to watch his moment in the sun end and he gave Smokey a friendly warning; “It’s going to change your life.” It did. From that point on, he was a WSOP champion.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
