Steve Billirakis (born May 23, 1986 in

Hampshire, Illinois Hampshire is a village in Kane County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 5,563, and as of 2018 the estimated population was 6,324. Geography Hampshire is located in northwestern Kane County at . Most of the vi ...

) is an American professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player. Billirakis won the first tournament of the 2007 World Series of Poker winning the $5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold'em Limit/No-Limit

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of e ...

after beating Canadian poker player and former professional hockey player

Greg Mueller Greg Mueller (born June 2, 1971) is a German and Canadian professional poker player and former professional ice hockey defenceman. Mueller was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. He began playing professional ice hockey in 1992 and played his en ...

heads-up. Billirakis won $536,287 and became the then youngest

WSOP The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

bracelet winner in history, having won the event only 11 days after his 21st birthday. The previous record holder was

Jeff Madsen Jeff Madsen (born June 7, 1985, in Santa Monica, California) is a four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year. Early life and education Madsen was raised in Pacific Palisades, Los Angel ...

, who had set the record only the year before. Billirakis' record was broken on September 10, 2007 when

Annette Obrestad Annette Obrestad (born 18 September 1988) is a Norwegian YouTuber and poker player. She is the youngest person to ever win a World Series of Poker bracelet, which she accomplished at the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE). She also runs a ...

won the main event of the

World Series of Poker Europe The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series ...

where the age limit was only 18 years. Prior to signing up for this mixed hold'em event, Billirakis had never played limit hold'em. His friends gave him a crash course in the days leading up to the event. On one key hand when they were heads up, Mueller had made top pair against Billirakis's trips. When Billirakis raised on the river, Mueller made a

feint Feint is a French term that entered English via the discipline of swordsmanship and fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or e ...

of putting chips into the pot to attempt to get a read on whether Billirakis wanted him to call. While not a formal breach of the rules,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

commentator

Norman Chad Norman A. Chad (born 1958) is an American sportswriter, poker player and syndicated columnist who is seen on the sports channel ESPN. He also was an occasional guest host on the ESPN show ''Pardon the Interruption'' and has appeared as both ho ...

opined that such plays "ain't kosher" according to poker etiquette. A short-stacked Mueller later called the big blind with . Billirakis raised Mueller all-in with . The board came down , giving Billirakis the winning hand with two pair queens and deuces. In November 2008, Billirakis won a

WSOP Circuit Event The World Series of Poker Circuit is a series of poker tournaments held annually at a variety of casinos since 2005 as a build-up to the World Series of Poker (WSOP). All Championship events are competed in no limit Texas hold 'em; preliminary even ...

- Horseshoe Hammond, $5,150 Championship, earning $208,885. As of 2014, Billirakis's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,625,000. His 21 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,675,026 of those winnings.World Series of Poker Earnings
worldseriesofpoker.com

World Series of Poker bracelets

An "E" following a year denotes bracelet(s) won at the World Series of Poker Europe

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billirakis, Steve American poker players American people of Greek descent World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Circuit event winners Living people 1986 births People from Chicago People from Hampshire, Illinois