Pius Heinz Crowned WSOP Champ

Courtesy of WSOP.COM

Pius Heinz Wins the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event ($8,715,638)!

It was months ago that 6,865 hopefuls entered the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event for a shot at glory. On Sunday, just nine of them remained. Here today, there's only one man standing and that is German 22-year-old Pius Heinz.

Final Table eliminations as they happened.

Sam Holden Eliminated in 9th Place ($782,115)

Anton Makiievskyi Eliminated in 8th Place ($1,010,015)

 Bob Bounahra Eliminated in 7th Place ($1,314,097)

Eoghan O'Dea Eliminated in 6th Place ($1,720,831)

Phil Collins Eliminated in 5th Place ($2,269,599)

Matt Giannetti Eliminated in 4th Place ($3,012,700)

                              
             
1                  Pius Heinz           107,800,000

2                  Ben Lamb             55,400,000

3                  Martin Staszko    42,700,000

Ben Lamb Eliminated in 3rd Place ($4,021,138)

Pius Heinz had the button.

After Heinz folded, Ben lamb raised all in for 10.9 million. Martin Staszko woke up with the  and made the call. Lamb held the 

The flop came down  and Lamb whiffed so far. He was still looking for a queen or running straight cards to win the hand and double up.

The turn brought the  and there was now two pair on board, but none of that mattered to Lamb. He needed just a queen on the river. All of Lamb's fans stood waiting for the river, but none of them looked or sounded confident at all that Lamb was going to survive this hand.

The river brought the  and that wasn't the lady that Lamb needed to save the day. He was eliminated by the man who doubled through him on the first hand, Staszko, and just two players remained.

For his finish, Lamb earned $4,021,138.

Martin Staszko Eliminated in 2nd Place ($5,433,086)

Martin Staszko had the button, and he open-shoved all in for 39.5 million. This time, Pius Heinz squeezed out a good one, and he made the quick call with his covering stack and a chance to win it.

Showdown
Staszko:  
Heinz:  

The tension in the room became palpable, and the fans from both sides began screaming for their cards.

"Ace! Ace! Ace!" Heinz fans yelled in unison, while Staszko's contingent were cheering just as fervently for their guy. "Staszko! Staszko!" With the theater rising to a deafening roar, the dealer burned a card and ran out the first three cards of the decisive board. It came    .. An awkward moment lingered briefly as neither side had reason to erupt just yet.

After the initial indifference quickly wore off, though, the noise began to grow again in anticipation of the turn card.

It was the , giving Staszko another four outs to the win. He needed to catch any seven, eight, or ten to double back into contention. Ten outs once.

Ultimately, the smiley man from the Czech Republic could not get there. The river  was the final card of the day, and stage right exploded in a frenzy of noise. Heinz rushed over to the rail to be mobbed by his fans, and the celebration has officially begun.

For Staszko, it's the end of a long, hard run. He really did play some fantastic poker for the past two sessions, and going back into July for that matter. When the dust settled, though, his efforts came up just one spot short of poker immortality. The first bracelet will have to wait for now, but Martin Staszko is a name we're likely to be seeing again.

The last image we have of Staszko is of him on the rail, head down, clutched in the arms of those closest to him. The smiley man was suddenly saddened. It's all over now, but he'll will wake up with a consolation prize of more than $5.4 million in the morning. That should help take the sting off a bit.

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