Foosballer accepts friend’s offer, makes his way to finals

William Pappaconstantinou said no.

Sure, it was a dream of his to play in the World Series of Poker Main Event. And when his friend texted that he would stake Pappaconstantinou the $10,000 buy-in, the man better known as “Billy Pappas” thought about taking him up on the offer.

But eventually he declined.

“I wanted to go to that foosball tournament,” Pappaconstantinou said. “And then, I guess I thought twice about it.”

Pappaconstantinou, who is regarded as one of the top foosball players in the world, had a magical run in July after his change of heart and reached the final table of the WSOP No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship. The 30-year-old from Lowell, Mass., will be sixth in chips with 17.5 million when the tournament resumes today at the Rio’s Penn &Teller Theater after a nearly four-month hiatus.

The Main Event starts at 4:30 p.m., and ESPN2 will televise the action on a 30-minute delay starting at 5. The final two players return at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to compete for the $10 million first prize, and ESPN will broadcast the heads-up match on a 15-minute delay starting at 6 p.m. until its completion.

“It’s going to be hard,” Pappaconstantinou said. “I’ve never been in this type of situation before. I mean, really anything can happen. I really believe that anyone can win and anything can happen. It’s hard to really know what to expect.”

Pappaconstantinou was introduced to foosball when he was 7 years old by his mother’s boyfriend and was considered a professional by the time he was 12. He owns seven International Table Soccer Federation world singles titles and said he has won 14 world championships and more than 100 tournament titles overall.

Pappaconstantinou spent most of June in Las Vegas playing in daily poker tournaments and cash games. He was planning to travel to Salzburg, Austria, in July for the ITSF World Championship Series Garlando tournament when a friend made the offer to back him in the Main Event.

“It’s one of my favorite tables; it’s one of my favorite tournaments,” Pappaconstantinou said. “I happened to say no to the World Series of Poker. But my partner for the Garlando Worlds was a poker player as well and he said not to miss this opportunity and found a new partner.”

Pappaconstantinou, who won the singles title at Players 4 Players Open World Championship in Bonn, Germany, two weeks after reaching the Main Event final table, took up online poker in 2004 and started dealing at the Rockingham Park Poker Room in Salem, N.H., in 2009.

Pappaconstantinou’s largest cash prior to this came in 2010 when he finished eighth in a $440 buy-in event at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn., for $15,341. But he remains a true poker amateur.

In fact, after Luis Velador was eliminated in 10th place, Pappaconstantinou had to be informed that fellow “November Niner” Mark Newhouse became the first player since 2004 to reach back-to-back Main Event final tables.

“I actually faced someone on Day 1 at the end, and I ended up seeing him on Card Player magazine. I still don’t know who it is,” Pappaconstantinou said. “But if I knew that, that might have changed my mentality, so I think that was an advantage for me that I really didn’t know anyone the whole time.

“I think it worked out both ways, me not knowing them and them not knowing me.”

Pappaconstantinou said his foosball tournament experience enabled him to survive the Main Event grind since he is used to playing for long periods without a break. But he is unsure of whether it will help once the bright lights and ESPN cameras are turned on today.

“All my friends have been telling me I’ve been in this situation, I am a world champ and I’m used to this kind of pressure,” Pappaconstantinou said. “But it’s really hard to tell until I’m in the situation. Day 6, it didn’t bother me at all. Day 7, it did bother me a bit that pressure situation to make the final table. So it’s really hard to know.”

Pappaconstantinou was near the chip average for the first four days of the tournament before two hands on Day 5 helped propel him to this point. He survived an all-in bet against three players when he flopped one of the two remaining 4s in the deck and then took down a big pot a couple of hours later with ace-jack against ace-king.

“On TV it looked like a really easy hand. I actually kind of looked like a fish because I looked scared,” Pappaconstantinou said of the latter. “That was actually the toughest hand I ever had to play. That hand really gave me the confidence and momentum, and that kind of got me to Day 6. And Day 6, I just ran over everything.”

Pappaconstantinou will have more than 100 friends and family rooting for him as part of what is expected to be a raucous atmosphere inside the Penn &Teller Theater. He is guaranteed to earn at least $730,725, but said he has no interest in playing high-stakes poker in the future.

Instead, he expects to continue competing in foosball tournaments and said he will travel to sporting events in the U.S. and England.

“I don’t think I will change all that much,” Pappaconstantinou said. “I just want to make a plan before I start to think about anything.”

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.