Seat 1: Billy Pappas (17,500,000 -- 43 BB)
Born September 28, 1984, William Pappaconstantinou, also known as Billy Pappas, is one of the best players in the world �� foosball players that is! In fact, the 29 year old from Lowell, Massachusetts has been playing table soccer since 2003 and has won numerous titles including seven world championships.
��Foosball is such a freaky thing. If you play foosball and learn a little bit, you��re hooked,�� Pappas explained of his foosball origins. ��My parents played, my mom still plays. It��s a cool connection, me and my mom are super close.��
The son of a professional golfer, Pappas supported his foosball dreams buy taking several jobs, one of which was as a poker dealer at the Rockingham Park Poker Room in Salem, New Hampshire. Foosball may have been his passion, but poker soon became a relaxing hobby.
Pappas wasn��t even going to play the 2014 WSOP Main Event, but a friend convinced him to at the last minute. Obviously that proved to be a wise decision for the only true amateur left in the field.
"I'm in shock. I never thought I'd play in this event,�� Pappas said. ��It's been my dream, and I've been saying 'this year' or 'next year' for like 10 years, just to play in an event, period. Now I get to play this, and I've never expected this at all."
This year marked the first time Pappas ever played in the ��Big One,�� and prior to his deep run his most notable tournament cash was a fifth-place finish in a $580 no-limit hold��em reentry event at the 2013 WSOP Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club for $52,372.
Pappas�� road to the November Nine began on Day 1b, but it wasn��t an easy road to the November Nine. Pappas recently talked about that and more as a featured guest on the PokerNews Podcast, which you can listen to by clicking here.