Pius Heinz Wins the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event

German poker pro Pius Heinz was playing in obscurity and thinking about leaving the game after falling into a five-figure online downswing in the months prior to the start of the 2011 World Series of Poker. By the end of his last-ditch effort at the poker festival, he became a millionaire and one of the most recognizable faces in the game.

In front of a packed Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 22 year-old took home the main event’s $8.7 million grand prize, after a back-and-forth duel with runner-up Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic.

Heinz, from a small village outside Cologne, Germany, outlasted more than 6,800 players in July, six on Nov. 6, and two on Nov.8 to win the $10,000 no-limit hold’em championship.

“I almost couldn’t catch my breath,” Heinz said about seeing the final river card hit the felt. “It was just an awesome feeling.”

Heinz’s transition from a struggling Internet tournament grinder to a feared presence at the table started this summer in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event.

He only finished seventh in the June tournament, but he held his own near the end against a brutally tough final table of online pros. Heinz said this was the moment when he realized the strength of his own game.

The perfection of his aggressive style came throughout the 10-day main event.

“I don’t really know what happened to my game,” Heinz said. “It might have been just getting my confidence back that I lost online. I play really well right now in tournaments and am incredibly tough to play against, especially in big money events where your tournament life means so much. I’m as confident as I can be, and I’m not afraid of anybody.”

According to Heinz, the final table of the 2011 main event was the toughest in history. He said that during the 109-day hiatus he didn’t let his mind wander to thoughts of winning. His goals were to play his best, and put himself in profitable spots.

When his heads-up battle with Staszko was turning sour, Heinz was in danger of questioning his play. However, thanks to the 15-minute delayed live coverage, broadcast on the Internet and on ESPN, Heinz figured out what was going wrong — he was just card dead compared to his opponent.

“It was good to know that every time he won a big pot he had a hand,” Heinz said. “He always had the nuts, and I never had anything. This was really great for my confidence, because if he doesn’t have a lot of hands, it means he’s outplaying me. But when he is catching hands, you are just handcuffed, and there’s nothing you can do. I knew from this that he didn’t have an edge on me.”

Heinz has skyrocketed into the game’s elite, but he isn’t flashy. He said he doesn’t know what he will do with the money, but he plans on treating his family — which includes paying for his sister’s education.

The new Team PokerStars Pro, who originally took time away from school to attend the WSOP, plans to play as many tournaments as he can, but says he’s not interested in cash games.

Here’s a look at how the once struggling poker player’s first trip to Las Vegas made him the newest ambassador for the game.

Action Fast and Furious after Nearly Four-Month Wait

Just three players remained out of the starting field of 6,865 after the action concluded on Nov. 6. Heinz and Staszko were joined by Ben Lamb to fight for the title two days later.

Heinz sat with a chip lead of 107.8 million, after six eliminations on day nine of the event.

It took about three hours for the final table to find its first casualty, and although there was a lot of fluctuation, it was the initial short stack, Sam Holden, who busted first.

Holden was all in several times, before an increase in the blinds forced him to commit with the A J.

Lamb woke up with a dominating A K, and it was the winner on the river, without much drama, to send Holden back overseas with no additional cash.

Anton Makiievskyi looked content to grind his way up the pay ladder, playing few hands before he found his short stack in the middle in a blind-versus-blind confrontation.

It was a coin flip when the 21-year-old Ukrainian, who was looking to beat Joe Cada’s record as youngest champion in the history of the event, exposed the K Q. The 9 9 of Heinz were slightly ahead.

The flop came down K J J, pulling Makiievskyi into the lead, but the stunning 9 on the turn left him drawing slim. The river was a brick, and he was eliminated in eighth place for about $1 million.

With the pot, Heinz moved into the chip lead with more than 60 million chips, and he never relinquished his chip position for the rest of the day.

Badih Bounahra was playing as if the whole country of Belize was on his back. The 47-year-old took his time and grinded down to a short stack, before finding himself all in with the A 5 against the superior A 9 of Staszko. The board offered no help to the amateur, and he was gone with $1,314,097 in his pocket.

The final table was then officially shorthanded, and the aggression picked up.

Ireland’s Eoghan O’Dea was one of the favorites entering the main event final table, but a series of missteps against Heinz cost him more than half his stack.

His demise came when Lamb shoved over one of his preflop raises. After a few minutes in the tank, O’Dea made a huge call with the A 9. Lamb was drawing live with his Q 8.

The flop rolled out J J 6, giving Lamb a flush draw to go along with his outs for a pair. The 4 on the turn wasn’t what Lamb was looking for, but when the 8 peeled off the deck and landed on the felt, the stage erupted.

A frenzy of Lamb’s contingent started a near mosh pit in the stands, congratulating Lamb when he ran over as if to go crowd surfing.

O’Dea’s father, Donnacha, put his head down in disappointment, as the hopes of his son winning the event he himself was never able to close out were nearly gone.

The energy in the room quickly dissipated when the remaining six players went on break immediately after the monumental hand.

The Irishman was crippled to just 2.6 million, while Lamb had climbed to nearly 30 million.

O’Dea hit the rail in sixth shortly after play resumed. His Q-6 failed to come from behind against Staszko’s pocket eights. O’Dea picked up $1,720,831 for his finish.

Despite outdrawing Lamb in a monster pot earlier to double up, Phil Collins was soon somewhat short with less than 20 big blinds. He elected to shove with the A 7 and ran into Heinz, who held pocket nines once again.

The flop of 6 5 4 gave Collins some hope. The 9 improved Heinz to top set, but it also gave Collins a flush draw to go along with his open-ended straight draw.

The river was a harmless 7, and a disappointed Collins left with $2,269,599 as consolation.

“[The money] is not as much as I would have liked, but it’s definitely a huge chunk that I plan to use as wisely as possible,” Collins said. “I made some poor decisions with my online winnings in the past and over extended myself. I’ll try to make this last as long as possible, but I’m not satisfied and will be going after more big scores.”

In what seemed consistent with a historical trend in the event, four-handed play saw someone pull away with a big chip lead. Heinz now was sitting with nearly half of the chips in play.

However, Lamb and Giannetti didn’t let Heinz sit easy with a dominant stack, as both experienced professionals applied the pressure, taking millions of chips from the German. Lamb was on his left and frequently gave Heinz stare downs reminiscent of Phil Ivey.

Heinz remained tough and recovered, hovering above 90 million throughout most of four-handed play, despite doubling up Staszko at one point.

Lamb was holding the short stack when he shoved over the top of a Giannetti raise. Giannetti snap called with pocket jacks and was ahead against Lamb’s A 7.

About 55 million chips were in the pot. Giannetti would have less than 7 million if he were to lose.

The flop fell K 9 5, giving Lamb a flush draw and the overcard. The crowd tensely stood when the 4 landed on the felt, giving Lamb the nuts and the hand. A meaningless 9 came before Giannetti, who couldn’t watch the hand play out, sank in his seat.

The very next hand, Giannetti was all in with Q-10 and found a call from Staszko’s Q-2. Giannetti’s hand held, and he doubled to about 15 million.

A few hands later, he shoved on the button with A-3 and ran into the pocket kings of Lamb. The flop was K-K-Q, and Giannetti was drawing dead against his opponent’s quads.
“When you get close to something you dreamt about, and you don’t get it, it sucks,” Giannetti said. “You’re going to be depressed.”

With the hand, Lamb increased his stack to 55.4 million, but also secured the top spot, at least for the time being, in Card Player’s 2011 Player of the Year race.

Trailing Heinz and Lamb, Staszko sat with 42.7 million when the clock was paused for the evening.

Ben Lamb Bows Out in Four Hands

Lamb entered three-handed play second in chips, but was the third-place finisher in just four hands.

He lost most of his stack in the first hand on Nov. 8, after he shoved with K-J over Staszko’s three-bet with pocket sevens. The board bricked out for Lamb, and Staszko took his stack to more than 85 million. Lamb was left with less than 13 million.

Lamb got the remainder of his chips in the pot three hands later, shoving with Q-6 from the small blind. Staszko, in the big blind, finished him off with pocket jacks after the board once again ran out dry for the American.

Despite winning more than $4 million, Lamb was visibly disappointed with the end to his nine-day run in the event.

“It was a great experience,” Lamb said shortly after busting out. “I’ll be OK in like 20 or 30 minutes. I’m shocked from the emotional high to the low. To go out in [four] hands is kind of surprising. I wanted to come in aggressive, and I did it.”

“It was a great year for me. Every poker player dreams to have a year like I’ve had. I’m not going to sit here and have people cry for me. I’ll be OK.”

A Long Seesaw Battle

Staszko held the chip lead going into heads-up play, but it didn’t take long before Heinz regained control. The German chipped away at his opponent, winning eight of the first 12 hands.

Heinz applied the pressure, raising a high percentage of his buttons, but Staszko ran some well-timed bluffs and held off the onslaught. After the event was over, Heinz was also complimentary of Staszko’s strategy of limping a lot of buttons, which took away some of the opportunities for Heinz to three-bet.

Staszko had his opponent out chipped 2-1 more than once, but Heinz found a way to apply a tourniquet to his chip stack, despite not making many hands.

Well after 100 hands of heads-up action, the lead changing finally came to an end when Heinz shoved with the A Q on a K 10 7 board, after Staszko raised him. Staszko called with the Q 9.

The turn was the 3, and the river a 6, giving Heinz the massive double up to 161.5 million. Staszko was down to 44.4 million, about what he started the final table with.
Heinz would finish off his opponent a few hands later.

The last hand began with Staszko moving all in from the button with the 10 7 and running into the A K of Heinz.

The board ran out 9 5 2 J 4, and an explosion of confetti engulfed the room. Heinz ran over to his cheering section, and the celebration ensued.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” Heinz said.

Staszko outdid his No. 51,652 world ranking in the game of chess by finishing second in poker’s most prestigious competition.

Here are the final table results:

1. Pius Heinz — $8,711,956
2. Martin Staszko — $5,430,928
3. Ben Lamb — $4,019,635
4. Matt Giannetti — $3,012,700
5. Phil Collins — $2,269,599
6. Eoghan O’Dea — $1,720,831
7. Badih Bounahra — $1,314,097
8. Anton Makiievskyi — $1,010,015
9. Sam Holden — $782,115