On the night of Tuesday 8 November 2011, Pius Heinz stunned the poker world by winning the WSOP Main Event final, banking on the way a cash prize of $8,715,638. Action for the final table started on Sunday 6 November at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas with 9 players representing 7 nations across the globe to end up with 3 players competing to the WSOP Bracelet at the begging of session 2 on Tuesday 9 November, including Ben Lamb, Martin Staszko and Pius Heinz from Germany.
The WSOP Player of the Year, Ben Lamb was eliminated in the early stages of the three handed session collecting $4,021,138 for his third place, giving way to one the second longest heads-up duel in poker history.Puis Heinz and Martin Staszko battled for more than six hours, with chip stack flow from one player to the other each claiming the chip lead. At one point Heinz even fell to a 4 to 1 stack disadvantage to Staszko, only to come back in a staggering fashion, claiming the WSOP gold and diamond bracelet.
The 22 year old pro poker player, Puis Heinz, became the 1st German player to ever win a WSOP main event final also cashing the third biggest prize money in poker history. Odds were not in Heinz favor since the beginning of the final but his tenacity led him to the holy-grail, like mentioned by the champ in an interview at the end of the Sunday session.
“I came in seventh and after the first break which was 30 minutes into the action, I had the least amount of chips of anyone. When I first sat down, I was really nervous. But then during the break, I realized that I still had 20 big blinds left and I was determined to play as good as a can and see what happens.”
With 6,865 players from across the globe competing for the bracelet on day one of the main event, the 2011 WSOP Main Event final is one that will surely remain in memories as one of the most exciting poker finals and one of poker’s highest payout tournaments in history. With the likes of poker stars like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand Grospellier still longing for their first ever WSOP Main Event bracelet, next year’s Main Event risk to be yet another thrilling event.
Written for Online Poker Online by James.