The WSOP Main Event is considered the World Championship of Poker. Pius Heinz won 1st place in 2011. He is the first German to win the Championship. Martin Staszko might have been the first Czech to win the final table, but despite his large chip lead at the start of the final table, he finished second. WSOP Player of the Year winner Ben Lamb of the USA finished in third place.
Sam Holden was busted first because his AsJs couldn’t improve all-in preflop against Ben Lamb’s AhKc. Anton Makijevskyi finished eighth when he moved all-in with KcQh and Heinz called with pocket nines. The KdJhJd flop helped Makijevskyi, but a nine on the turn gave Heinz a full house. The river brought no king and no jack and Makijevskyi was out. Bob Bou-Nahra (7th) lost his last hand against Staszko to a low kicker. Bou-Nahra had Bh5c and Staszko had As9d, but due to the low cards on the board, Staszko won the hand. O’Dea finished the game in sixth place, after going all-in with a weak Qh6c followed by an equalization from Staszko with 8d8h and held against O’Dea. A hand later, O’Dea was out; Collins also finished the tournament, in fifth place. This time, Heinz moved all in preflop with 9c9h and Collins called with Bd7d. The low cards on the flop gave Collins a straight draw, but neither a straight nor an ace came on the turn or river. Matt Gianetti had no hope of improving on the turn or river. He was all in with Bd3s and Ben Lamb had KdKs and flopped four kings. Gianetti had absolutely no outs left and he finished fourth. The first 6 eliminations were made by Heinz, Staszko and Lamb. The three eliminated 2 players each.
By the end of the first day, Heinz already had the chip lead. After the elimination of Brian Lamb, the second longest Heads Up final between Heinz and Staszko in WSOP Main Event history was played. It lasted 6 hours and the only longer Heads Up occurred in 1983, which lasted 7.5 hours between McEvoy and Peate.
Heinz defeated his 6,864 opponents to take the gold bracelet and the first prize of $8,715,638. His achievement is respected because he beat the third largest field in the Main Event and at the start of the Final Table he was only seventh in chips.
