A Poker Life -- Steve Billirakis

Jeff Madsen walked into the 2007 World Series of Poker as the reigning youngest bracelet winner in history, having snagged the title from Eric Froelich the year before, but it didn’t take long before he’d have to bequeath his record to someone new. In event No. 1 of that year’s WSOP, Steve Billirakis, who was 21-years-and-10-days old, won the $5,000 mixed game world championship.
A Past in Foosball
Steve Billirakis was born on May 23, 1986, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in the Windy City with his two younger brothers, and his mother and stepfather both of whom supported the family with a very unconventional profession. They were professional foosball players.
Foosball, also known as table soccer, is played all over world, mostly as recreation, but there is an underground world of serious players who travel the country in pursuit of tournament prize pools, much like the life of professional poker players. Billirakis’ mother and stepfather met playing foosball and instilled the love of the game into the young boys. Because travel was expensive, Steve and his brothers rarely attended the tournaments with their parents, but the National Championships was an exception for Steve. He tagged along on a trip to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and decided to compete in the 17-and-under doubles competition. He was 11 at the time, and his partner was 13. Despite being years younger than most of the competition, the two ripped through each pair of opponents put before them and won the national championship.
Soon after, Billirakis’ mother chose to quit foosball. The time commitment and lack of financial gains to be had in the sport eventually led to her decision. Billirakis quickly turned his focus to baseball. A talented catcher, he put his heart and soul into the game, but he failed to make the grades in school. After his sophomore year, Billirakis was put on academic probation and wasn’t allowed to play for his high school team. He continued playing on travel teams outside of school, but he realized that he wouldn’t be able to play in college. Knowing that a life in academics wasn’t for him, he looked for other ways to make money.

Games of Cards

With a background in cards from playing hearts, a game in which he became the No. 1-rated player on Hardwood Hearts at age 12, he found poker an easy game to transition to. He began playing at age 16.

“My mom hated the fact that I wanted to gamble, but I talked her into putting $50 on PokerStars for me. I won a little, and then I won a $50 tournament for like $1,800. That kind of got me started.”

Billirakis attributes his success to the time he dedicated to the game. “It’s just repetition, seeing situations over and over, and eventually you’ll be able to plug up your leaks.”

He built up his bankroll to around $15,000 by January of 2005, and he was determined to play in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, an event in which 18-year-olds and up can compete. After many unsuccessful attempts to win a seat into the event, Billirakis packed his bags and went to the Bahamas anyway. He sold 30 percent of himself and plopped down 60 percent of his bankroll to play in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. After day 2, he was chip leader.

“Back then, I played super aggressive with no brakes. I would build chip leads but then blow them. I started running over the tournament and I got big-headed. I kept raising and reraising, just playing like an animal. I was third in chips with 50 people left, and I ended up getting 39th in the first big tournament in my life.”

For his efforts, Billirakis was awarded $13,000, far from the big score he was looking for, but the cash prevented a major blow to his bankroll. His experience would help him hone his tournament skill, and the next year, he placed in third in a European Poker Tour event for $150,000. By the time Billirakis turned 21, he had already obtained tremendous amounts of experience in major live events, but had gone through a few vicious cycles of winning and losing large amounts of money.

“I always had the talent and skill, but I’d always blow all my money. I would win a tournament, and immediately go to the biggest cash game I could afford. Obviously I wouldn’t be seasoned enough in that game, and I’d lose. I did that over and over again for the first few years.”

WSOP Glory

Just before the start of the 2006 WSOP, Billirakis was taking a shot in a $200-$400 no-limit hold’em cash game online, as was his friend and fellow poker pro Michael Martin. After a particularly good session, the two decided that they would play the first event of the WSOP, the $5,000 mixed championship event which consisted of half no-limit hold’em half limit hold’em event. Having had no experience in limit hold’em, Billirakis had no intention of playing the event. It was a fluke, and a chance of luck that he decided to play.

“I played almost no hands in limit hold’em and just played really aggressively in no-limit hold’em. I did that until it got short-handed.”

Billirakis showed off his skillful aggression in the no-limit rounds, having put a leash on his one-gear top-speed style from a couple years ago. In the limit rounds, he showcased tremendous patience and ability to learn the game on the fly. He went heads up with Greg Mueller with the World’s Youngest Bracelet Winner title and WSOP gold hanging in the back of his mind. Billirakis triumphed and took home $536,000 for his win.

“After the last card came, it was a huge sense of relief to know I’d won. I was so tired, I didn’t even celebrate.”

With an boost to his bankroll, Billirakis continued playing high-stakes cash games and won around $2 million during the span of the Series online and at Bellagio. He also cashed four more times in WSOP events. Since the 2007 WSOP, Billirakis has continued focusing on cash games, regularly playing $100-$200 and $200-$400 no-limit hold’em online where he plays under the name “MrSmokey1.” At the 2008 WSOP, Billirakis cashed in the main event, but he was unhappy about his choice to only focus on winning another bracelet.

“I feel like a made the mistake last year of focusing on tournaments trying to get another bracelet, when really that’s not what’s important. I would play for eight hours a day, bust out, and be too burnt out to play cash games, where I could be making third-place money in one day.”

Billirakis says he’ll always return to the Series, and though he’d like to snag a few more bracelets in his career, he’s not going to consume his life with winning tournaments. As a professional poker player, he feels the most important factor is making money, and cash games provide the consistent income he’s looking for. Still, when he does decide to play tournaments, he’s always a threat. He’s won more than $1.2 million in live tournaments already and recently cashed in the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship tournament at Bellagio.

From foosball, to baseball, to hearts, to poker, Billirakis has shown that he can learn not only to win in any game he puts his mind to, but also become the best, or close to it. With decades of poker playing in front of him, time will only tell how good he can be.

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