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Pius Heinz Victorious in the 2011 WSOP Main Event

The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event is now finished and Pius Heinz ended up winning the event. At one point in time Heinz looked as if he had lost control in the heads-up battle against Martin Staszko. However, Heinz was able to overcome a fairly big chip deficit to win the 2011 WSOP Main Event and the roughly $8.7M 1st place prize. Many people have been debating as to whether or not the new ESPN format was a success or not, but one thing that’s for sure is we got to watch some great poker.

Sportsbooks were accepting bets on the WSOP Main Event and the bookies stated that most of the action they received was on the American Ben Lamb. The bookies definitely wanted Lamb to lose the Main Event and their wish came true, as Lamb was eliminated from the tournament in 3rd place. This year there was a slightly new format and the final 3 players would play together on the 2nd day rather than just the final two players.

Lamb barely made it to the 2nd day and it didn’t take him long to be eliminated. Lamb was eliminated on the 4th hand of play on the 2nd day, so he didn’t last very long. Once Lamb was gone the battle between Heinz and Staszko began. Staszko was the 1st player from Czech Republic to make the final table in the WSOP Main Event and he almost brought home the bracelet. Heinz definitely took his time while playing in the Main Event, but it proved to be the right decision, as he’s walking away with nearly $9M.

Staszko was winning the heads-up battle, but he lost a big all-in hand that doubled up Heinz and that hurt him. Staszko was down to about 40M in chips and decided that it was time to push all-in with 10/7 of clubs. Normally he’d pick up the blinds, but Heinz ended up having A/K off suit. The board never helped Staszko and Heinz was able to win the tournament with his A/K. It took a long time to play the final table, but I liked the coverage from ESPN and hope they do something similar next year.

Heinz took his time to make decisions, but at the same time he was very aggressive. His style proved to work although he definitely looked out of sync for a large portion of the heads-up match. Heinz has admitted to struggling with his focus, but he was able to stay focused long enough to win the 2011 WSOP Main Event. The win earned Heinz nearly $9M, but he’ll also go down in the history books for being the 1st German poker player to win the WSOP Main Event.

2011 World Series of Poker Main Event Results

• 1st Place – Pius Heinz $8,715,638
• 2nd Place – Martin Staszko $5,433,086
• 3rd Place – Ben Lamb $4,021,138
• 4th Place – Matt Giannetti $3,012,700
• 5th Place – Phil Collins $2,269,599
• 6th Place – Eoghan O’Dea $1,720,831
• 7th Place – Bob Bounahra $1,314,097
• 8th Place – Anton Makievskyi $1,010,015
• 9th Place – Sam Holden $$782,115