In case you haven't been living under a rock since yesterday morning you probably heard that the 2011 WSOP Main Event is over and that Pius Heinz, from Germany, is the champion. After defeating Martin Staszko in heads up, Heinz received the diamond bracelet and an amazing first place prize of $8,715,638. Add to that that he's the first German in WSOP history to win the Main Event.
All you need to know about Pius Heinz
Pius Heinz is a 22-year-old poker pro from Cologne, Germany, who's been making a living from playing poker (mostly online) for the past 4 years. He's single and his parents are divorced. His mother works as a civil servant and she accompanied him to Las Vegas and cheered his victory.
Heinz attended university for two semesters, but didn't complete his college degree. Instead he decided to put all focus on playing poker, and this year he put himself to the test at the World Series of Poker (his first ever World Series) - something that really paid off! This is the second time in history that a player from mainland Europe wins poker's world title. The only previous mainland European winner was Peter Eastgate (2008). However, players from Great Britain (Mansour Matloubi -- 1990) and Ireland (Noel Furlong -- 1999) have also won.
Apart from the WSOP main event win, Heinz finished 7th in the 2011 WSOP $1,5k NLH tournament (Event 48) for $83,283, and he also won a side-event in August at EPT Barcelona for $25,000. 2011 has been an amazing year for Heinz; almost $8.9 million in live tournament earnings and a sponsorship deal with PokerStars. Life must be at it's best for this young German who has his whole life in front of him and the money to do whatever he feels like.
