Pius Heinz Wins 2011 WSOP Main Event

Pius Heinz used a combination of patience and aggression to defeat Martin Staszko in heads-up play, capturing the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship. Heinz outlasted Staszko in a marathon heads up session that proved to be one of the longest battles between the final two in WSOP Main Event history.

Heinz and Staszko’s heads-up duel began quickly after the start of the final session of play, as Ben Lamb was eliminated just four hands in after losing a critical coin flip. That left the aggressive Heinz against the solid Staszko in what looked to be a classic battle of styles.

But the clash was also tailor made for a long heads-up battle. Staszko was careful not to get his chips in light, while Heinz – despite his aggressive play – looked to avoid huge pots, instead preferring to try and outplay Staszko in smaller confrontations.

The result was a back-and-forth affair where both players held the chip lead at times, but neither player seemed to get close to victory. At times, one player or the other seemed to gain the momentum, only to see their opponent come back to retake the lead.

The critical hand came well over 100 hands into the session, when Staszko had approximately a 3-2 chip advantage. After Staszko limped in from the button, Heinz raised to 7.9 million, which Staszko called. The flop came T7K with two clubs.

Heinz bet out 8.2 million. Staszko raised again, making the bet 17.5 million. Heinz thought for a minute, then moved all-in for about 70 million. Now it was Staszko’s turn to think, and after a minute or so, he made the call, setting up what could have been the final hand of the tournament.

Heinz must have thought he was in serious trouble, as he turned over AQ of hearts, giving him nothing more than ace-high. But incredibly, he was ahead, as Staszko had Q9 of clubs, giving him a flush draw and some backdoor straight possibilities.

The turn was the three of hearts, and the river was the six of clubs, giving Heinz a monster pot and a nearly 4-1 chip lead over his Czech opponent.

The tournament would be decided less than ten hands later, when Staszko chose to open for all his chips from the button. Heinz woke up with a hand and called, revealing AK, which was well ahead of Staszko’s T7 of clubs. The 529 flop didn’t help Staszko, though a jack on the turn did give him straight outs. But a river four ended the tournament, giving Heinz the victory.

For second place, Staszko took home $5,433,086.

As the first ever German World Series of Poker Main Event Champion, Heinz won $8,715,638, as well as his first ever WSOP gold bracelet. He also became the first ever player from Germany to become poker’s World Champion. The long heads-up duel came up just short of the longest heads-up battle in tournament history: the epic confrontation between Tom McEvoy and Rod Peate in the 1983 WSOP Main Event.