From Massachusetts, Pappas is the son of golf pro Bill Pappas and spent some time working as a dealer in the Rockingham Park poker room in Salem, New Hampshire.
Before this event Pappas hadn't played a poker tournament with a buy-in over $500 but after having a good year at the poker table and getting a bit more experience playing tournaments he decided to take a shot at the $10,000 WSOP Main Event.
It's a good thing he did since he's already guaranteed $730,725 and has a shot at the $10 million first-place prize.
Foosball/Poker Crossover
Pappas may not have a ton of experience playing poker but he said that the long hours he's spent competing at foosball tournaments has given him the stamina to succeed in this seven-day tournament.
Pappas also said that he's learned how to read opponents and adapt his strategy in foosball, skills that are of paramount importance at the poker table as well.
Pappas was cruising in this event until catapulting up the leaderboard on Day 6 in a massive three-way all-in that saw two other players eliminated.
With 30 players remaining Canadian Dong Guo opened the action holding pocket kings and Robert Campbell moved all-in holding pocket eights.
Pappas woke up with pocket aces, made the call and after the board ran with no improvement to any of anyone's hands Pappas scored the double knockout and a pot worth 14 million tournament chips.
Pappas said that whether he made the November Nine or not he'd be traveling to Germany in two weeks to compete in the next major foosball championship.
Click here to read PokerListings.com's live coverage of the 2014 WSOP Main Event to find out how Pappas made it this far.
Nationality: USA Age: 29 Hometown: Lowell, Massachusetts Online Nickname: Unknown Career Live/Online Earnings: $104,379 Biggest Previous Live Cash: $52,372 (5th in a $500 WSOPC event, West Palm Beach) Twitter Handle: @MasTaPaPz
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