Billirakis becomes the youngest ever winner of WSOP bracelet

Steve Billirakis, just 21 years old, today rewrote the records books by becoming the youngest ever winner of a WSOP bracelet.

Not only this but this was Event #1 The Mixed Limit holdem event and left many wondering if this will set the tone for the rest of the WSOP with an army of young guns descending on the Rio in Las Vegas all hoping to prove their worth this year.

Billirakis started the final table in seat number 7, amongst some well known faces and everyone was watching to see how the youngster would handle the pressure.

It wasn’t long until Billirakis made his first elimination, when he knocked out Fred Berger. This was during the limit section (alternating between 30mins of limit and 30 mins of no-limit) and after a bet of $60,000 from Billirakis, Berger raised the bet up to 120,000 and was re-raised straight away by Billirakis up to $180,000.

The two players saw a flop of and Billirakis bet out with $60,000. Berger moved the rest of his stack to the center with $100,000 but Billirakis hand stood up and Berger went home with prize money of $108,105 for his fifth place finish.

Billirakis’ next encounter came just before the dinner break when he tussled with Paul Ambrose. With a flop of Billirakis bet out with $60,000 which was raised up by Ambrose and then raised to a three-bet by Billirakis.

The turn card was the and Ambrose found himself all in for the rest of his stack. Billirakis turned over pocket Aces to show his set and Ambrose was in bad shape with J-8 with only a nine being able to save him.

The River was a 9 which created a huge roar from the crowd before everyone realized it was the which gave Billirakis the winning flush and knocked Ambrose out in 4th and sending him home with $146,259.

Soon enough came the dinner break where the chip stacks were quite divided:

• Seat 5 – Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller – 1,510,000 chips
• Seat 7 – Steve Billirakis – 2,270,000 chips
• Seat 9 – Tony George – 740,000 chips

It was a tough fight. All three players had played extremely well and they were all eager to win the World Series of Poker bracelet on offer.

The next elimination came during the no limit segment on hand number 93 and the battle was between Tony George and Mueller. The blinds were at 20,000/ 40,000 and the short stack George decided it was time to make a stand and moved all in with his pocket 5’s. Mueller called with his big slick and George was left in a race for his tournament life.

The flop came and the turn was which left George in good shape, but the River gave Mueller a straight and sent Tony George home in 3rd place $218,329 richer.

The end was almost here and we entered heads up play nearly even in chips:

• Greg Mueller - $2,350,000
• Steve Billirakis - $2,170,000

The decisive hand came on the 63rd hand of heads up play when Billirakis K-2 off-suit held up against Mueller’s and Steve Billirakis at the young of age of 21years 10days broke the record that was set at last years WSOP by Jeff Madsen to become the youngest ever WSOP bracelet winner.

The final standings for Event #1 of WSOP 2007 were:
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

During the post match interview Billirakis was asked about the confidence he showed throughout the event, he answered: “What am I supposed to say? I think I’ll come in second?” which brought laughter from the crowd which had really taken Billirakis to heart by now.

There’s still time to qualify for the WSOP main event by winning one of the many satellites taking place on Pokerstars.

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