Billirakis Youngest WSOP Bracelet Holder

Filed in archive Tournament News on June 5, 2007

Young internet player wins World Series of Poker bracelet? Yadda yadda yadda, I think that headline is getting old the latest Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan I-gots-issues news. How about, really really good poker player who just happens to be the youngest ever obtains a WSOP bracelet by winning a split discipline event?

Event #1 at the WSOP was a $5,000 Mixed Hold Em' event, meaning the players had 30 minutes of limit hold em' and 30 minutes of no-limit hold em'. Long time poker players will tell you that despite the same rules, minus the betting limits, they are two very different beasts. One requires value betting, knowing how many big bets are in the pot to give drawing odds, the other implied odds, balls of steel, and maybe some hidden mental illness to wager large amount of cash on very small odds.

Steve Billirakis walked away with the first bracelet of the 2007 WSOP by defeating a few past bracelet holders as well as, fellow internet pros.

Here's Earl Burton with the heads up recap from Pokernews.com (click over to follow the entire article):

Billirakis, who stood to become the youngest player to ever win a World Series bracelet (at 21 years, 10 days, he was slightly younger than the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year, Jeff Madsen), admitted he didn't want to face Mueller heads-up and play limit because he doesn't normally play the game. Fortunately for him, there were still almost twenty minutes remaining in the no-limit segment.

Billirakis regained the chip lead from Mueller in the early going. Mueller, however, was able to chip his way back to almost even after the first fifteen hands of no-limit play. 'FBT,' as Steve feared, was able to gain ground during the next limit segment and, as they broke before the switch back to no-limit, the chip stacks stood as such:

Greg 'FBT' Mueller - 3,405,000
Steve Billirakis - 1,115,000

The two battled through the next no-limit segment, with Billirakis chipping away at the lead that Mueller had built. Fifty heads-up hands had passed in total and they headed back into the limit format. This time, however, it seemed that fortune was on Billirakis' side. With the blinds at 50,000/100,000 and limits of 100,000/200,000, Billirakis went on the offensive and the cards cooperated as he hit two successive full houses to seize the lead. On Hand 157 (the 63rd hand of heads-up), Billirakis and Mueller hooked up in a raising battle which ended with Mueller being all in. Billirakis' K-2 off-suit held a slight advantage over Mueller's and, once the board blanked off for Mueller, the youngest champion ever in the history of the World Series was crowned in Steve Billirakis.

PLAYER - MONEY

1. Steve Billirakis - $536,287
2. Greg 'FBT' Mueller - $328,554
3. Tony George - $218,329
4. Steve Paul-Ambrose - $146,259
5. Fred Berger - $108,105
6. Roger McDow - $84,788
7. Kirk Morrison - $63,591
8. Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner - $46,633
9. John Younger - $33,915

As Billirakis accepted the first bracelet of this year's tournament, ESPN announcer Norman Chad conducted the post-tournament interview (which will be broadcast on ESPN on July 10th). Chad asked Billirakis about his confidence because Billirakis had stated he would win. Showing a bit of moxie for someone who just had become the youngest bracelet winner in WSOP, Steve responded, "What am I supposed to say? I think I'll come in second?" As the audience laughed, the bracelet tally has officially begun for this year's WSOP; Steve Billirakis wins the $5,000 Mixed Game World Championship.