A 34-year-old shipping executive from South Africa, Konstantinos Mamaliadis was seeking to become just the second World Series of Poker Main Event final tablist ever from his home nation. The only other South African poker player to make the final table of “The Big One” is Raymond Rahme, who did so in 2007, the year that Jerry Yang came away with the title. Rahme is now a household name in the world of poker.

Mamaliadis finished just short of the 2011 WSOP November Nine, taking 13th place for $478,000.

Mamaliadis started Day 7 of the 2011 WSOP Main Event with the same goal as any other contender in the 57-player field: make the November Nine and walk away with an $8.7 million first place prize. He bagged up 5.07 million in chips at the end of Day 6 and quickly went to work one day later, zooming into the top ten.

Mamaliadis recorded his first WSOP cash in the 2011 Main Event. His presence deep in the tournament meant that South Africa was among 15 nations represented as play began on Day 7. He hails from Durban, one of the busiest port cities in South Africa.

Mamaliadis learned to play poker like many in the United States and around the world – online. Rahme’s third place finish in 2007 was worth a robust $3 million. More importantly, he became the first South African ever to final table the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.

Mamaliadis attempted a steal of Gionni Demers‘ big blind shortly before the end of the second level on Day 7 by raising to 180,000 from the small blind. Demers pushed back and 3bet to 420,000 from the big blind and Mamaliadis got out of the way. Demers flashed 10-3, perhaps as a slight to Mamaliadis, and raked in the pot. Still, Mamaliadis had a healthy stack of 6.2 million after the run-in.

Besides Mamaliadis and Rahme, other well-known South African poker players include Mark Vos and Jarred Solomon. According to the Hendon Mob database, Rahme is tops in career tournament earnings in the African nation at $3.5 million, nearly $2 million in front of his next closest challenger.