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Billy Pappas, the foosball-playing November Niner who captured the attention of ESPN and casual poker fans around the world, is once again playing World Series of Poker Main Event.
The Lowell, Massachusetts, resident has already played a collection of side events at the WSOP this summer but he’s happy to finally be back in the biggest tournament of them all.
“It feels good to be back,” he said. “The other events didn’t go so well so I’m excited to play a tournament with a really good structure. It’s actually been harder going back to regular tournaments again.”
Doing Taxes, Shooting Hoops
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Pappas defied all expectations in last year's Main Event and outlasted over 6,000 players before finally finishing in fifth place for $2.1 million at the televised final table in November.
The former foosball champ has been playing a little poker over the last few months but he's been even busier with rediscovered hobby.
“I’ve mostly been playing basketball, which is weird because I’m getting bigger,” he laughed.
“I joined a couple leagues. I got reunited with a couple old friends who saw me on the WSOP. It’s awesome. Basketball makes me so happy.”
Basketball didn’t keep Pappas from the WSOP, however, and he burned through 15 tournaments.
“I planned on playing a bunch of cash but after tournaments cash is just so boring,” he said. “I’ve also been gambling a little bit too much.”
Prior to the WSOP, Pappas hadn’t been playing much poker, mostly because he had to file taxes for a year where posted a $2.1 million win.
“It was a pain,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how much I was going to get. Now I’m more comfortable choosing which tournaments to play.”
Professional Poker Player Still a Goal for Pappas
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Pappas still loves poker, however, and wants to get more serious about it.
“I would love to play professionally,” he said.
“The thing is If you play professionally you need to get good at cash. I have a couple people who I’ve been talking to. I’m gonna try to get into mixed games as well because I’ve heard that if you learn those games you have a good edge over the fish.”
According to Pappas the skill level in No-Limit is just so high at the moment there are fewer edges to be had.
The hard part is that practicing mixed games can be prohibitively expensive if you don’t have access to online poker like Pappas. Live mixed games, which start at stakes of roughly $50/$100, are out of the question for most people.
WSOP tournaments are a healthy compromise, according to Pappas.
“I played the 2-7 Triple Draw event,” he said. “I actually felt super comfortable in that. I played like every hand — it was amazing!”
For the immediate future, however, Pappas is focused solely on making another deep run in the WSOP Main Event.
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