On Sunday night at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, 22-year-old Steve Billirakis defeated Thomas Koral in heads-up play to become the youngest-ever winner of a World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event.
Billirakis, who with a victory at 21 years and 11 days already holds the title of youngest WSOP bracelet winner (Annette Obrestad's victory in London notwithstanding), earned $208,885 in prize money for an oftentimes dominating victory that happened to benefit from a little luck and a couple of sick reads.
PokerListings.com talked to "MrSmokey1" and his plastic bag full of prize money moments after his thrilling victory:
So tell me how you're feeling.
I'm feeling good. It's finally sunk in. I'm a little worn out, but I'm good. I'm not going to be able to sleep because there's just stuff running through my head. I'm glad it's finally over, I'm glad I'm the one who got lucky heads-up, and I'm just so happy right now. I can't even explain it.
Can you take me through how the final table went down for you?
Yeah, I came in first in chips and I had one really huge threat on my left that I was worried about, Jason DeWitt, and fortunately after the first break I came back and looked down at pocket queens on the first hand.
And it all worked out, because I had said something like, You owe me a couple walks, because I'd paid for his dinner, and then on the first hand back I raise and it looks like I'm stealing, but I have two queens.
And he reraises me and I put on the Hollywood and shoved all-in and tried to act as scared as possible, but I wanted him to call. And it worked.
Were you surprised to see his hand was as weak as ace-queen?
No. I was surprised that he reraised pre-flop with such a real hand. Usually his play is a bluff. He'd either insta-call my all-in or fold to my all-in like, you know, I was bluffing, nice hand.
But me and him are one and two in chips and if I was him I would have just called and tried to hit a flop and then give it up if I missed, and then I'd still stay second in chips. He's really aggressive and that was my plan, was to keep folding and let him keep bullying me all day long until finally I picked up a hand.
He had a hand that he liked and I got lucky. The flop came 2-4-5 so he gained four more outs, but I faded it and it was awesome.
And after that, I was really confident and thought I was going to win the tournament, but I knew I would have to get lucky heads-up, and unfortunately I picked up an ace, it was standard, I raised all-in, he picked up nines and the action flop of the century came out, giving me a pair and a flush draw.
And then the [Q♦] turn came out and everyone went crazy, but he still had one out, and I wasn't doing anything until it was over. But the river missed and finally I'd won.
How did you think Thomas played?
Tom played perfect. I knew he was going to play perfect; I would never expect anything less. That's what he's been doing the last four or five years; he's just playing tight, playing perfect and just minimizing his losses at all times. He's one of the greatest players in the world that no one's heard of.
That's high praise. Changing gears a bit, late on Day 1 you made an absolutely sick call for your tournament life and won, picking up enough chips to take over the chip lead. Can you take me through that hand?
Yeah. I raised under the gun on the last hand of the day, made it $3,500 with Q♠ T♠ and the blinds $800/$1,600. It folded to the button, who had all the chips and had been running over the table, and he instantly announced a reraise, which I thought was funny.
He only made it $7,000 and I was committed to call the reraise, because I had so many chips. I was going to fold if I didn't hit anything, but I flopped a flush draw - and even if I'd hit a ten I would have folded to a big bet on the flop, because I put him on an overpair, but since I flopped a flush draw I can beat all of his overpairs.
So I check-called a bet on the flop with the flush draw and hit a ten on the turn. I checked and there was something about the way he bet, he bet so quick and then he gave me a little stare-down and I wasn't buying it. So instead of going all-in and trying to bluff him off of his aces - because I didn't think he would fold his aces or kings - I just called hoping to hit my two pair or a spade on the river and bet for value and get the call.
The river came nothing and I checked to him. I still had the top pair, and he moaned and groaned like he was going to check and I was like, Please check and I'll win.
And then he asked me how much I had left and looked at his chips, and I just had the vibe that he was just seeing whether he'd still have a comfortable stack if he bluffed all-in and lost. I've made that mistake before so I just learned from my own mistake and took five minutes and called him.
I'd uncapped my cards a couple of times and looked down at them and I just saw his eyes looking at me and he had this smirk like he'd be so happy to see my cards fly in the muck. So I just went with my read. You have to have some balls sometimes if you want to win tournaments.
It was a sick read.
Yeah, and I went with it. That's what I told myself going into the day: I'm not just going to do what I'm supposed to do; I'm going to do what I think is right at the time, based on my decisions, and if I go broke then whatever, but I trust myself and my instincts more than the "what you're supposed to do" play.
When I'm playing online, I always do what you're supposed to do because that's how you make money, but in a live tournament it plays a lot different. The only way to win a live tournament is to get extra information.
It's just instinct, and I went with it from start to finish and didn't second-guess myself once. I'm just going to keep doing that and see how I do, because for the last year and a half I've been really comfortable, but I catch myself getting the chips by being comfortable and then losing them by taking it easy.
And I just decided that I'm not going to do that anymore; I'm going to start thinking positive, thinking I'm going to run good instead of thinking I'm going to get bad beat every time I'm all-in, and hoping good things will happen.
You're the youngest WSOP Circuit event winner. Does that mean anything at all to you?
No, and neither does the youngest bracelet record. It just so happens that I'm younger than everyone else. I don't care about the age; I was just glad I was finally 21 and able to play, because I'd been sweating it for like two years, playing since I was 18 years old.
So I'd been anxious to play and looking forward to that bracelet I won for three years, like I can't wait until I get to the World Series and then it was just going to happen. If you're looking forward to something for three years, like, Can't wait, can't wait, you're going to do well when your time comes, you know? You're not going to blow it.
And then I was really confident. I'd just won $530,000 and you get a little big-headed, you get all this money and this confidence and it took me about $100k plus to realize that you've got to just rewind and think how you were thinking when you won that tournament, just try your best in each and every hand and never think you're better than everyone or take anyone for granted.
That's what I did. I gave people the respect they deserved and played my hands and did good.
What about winning this tournament in your hometown casino?
That's f***ing, yeah, it's way better to win in front of my hometown. Ever since I won the bracelet and then this casino opened I've been kind of like a celebrity in this place, because not many people from Chicago have done big things in poker. So I feel like I've kind of defended my hometown in poker.
I feel like this is my casino. I run this casino now, and until Phil Ivey moves to Chicago I'm going to keep that title. [laughs]
Sweet, man. You earned it.
Thanks.
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Billirakis ended Day 1 of this event with the chip lead and entered the final table the same. His play was consistently top-notch and professional and dude presented himself talent-wise as the class of the tournament, standing head and shoulders above the majority of his opponents.
MrSmokey1's victory in Hammond wasn't surprising, but that doesn't make it any less impressive, and from the detailed analysis he gave us it's clear we're dealing with a top poker mind with plenty of what the kids call upside.
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