November 10 2011, Donnie Peters

On Tuesday night, the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro, Pius Heinz, had his name ringing aloud in the confines of the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino after he shipped the World Series of Poker Main Event and $8,715,638. We all know winners like to party, but Heinz was right back to work the following day answering the many of questions from the media. PokerNews was able to sit down with Heinz to discuss his run to glory. Here’s part one of the interview.

Pius, first off, have you slept yet?

Ah. [Laughs]. I did sleep, three hours, about.

Well that seems good enough. First off, let’s discuss the hiatus between July and November. We know you won a side event at EPT Barcelona. Could you talk us through how you felt the hiatus went, if you played a lot of poker and how you were preparing?

Yeah. For the most part, I just tried to relax and not think about it too much. I went to Barcelona and had a bit of fun there. I won a side event, which is always nice, and it’s always good for your confidence to win an event.

Other than that, I honestly didn’t do too much to prepare. I did a couple coaching sessions with Mike McDonald ["Timex"], who basically helped me about the ICM part of the game and the math aspect at a huge final table like that. But this is almost all I did when it came to strategy because I was so confident in my game and knew I could play really, really well and really good poker. I just thought that I was going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and it worked out.

It took you a little bit to finally win a hand on Sunday. Were you getting nervous or worried at all about things not going your way at the beginning?

I didn’t get nervous. I just got frustrated because I never made a hand, basically. I rarely had a hand. I did have aces two times, but other than that, I never made a hand. Especially post flop, I just could not flop top pair – ever.

And Martin [Staszko], I think, flopped good hands a lot of the time. So this was really, really tough for me. I just tried to not worry about it and play my game; play as well as I can and hope the cards eventually go my way.

Were you surprised at the pace of the final table or was it something you expected?

Yeah, kind of. It went reasonably fast. Once we got to 400K/800K, we had, I think, four or five stacks that were 20 big [blinds] or less. So then it’s almost like a turbo at this point. So then you’re going to expect people to bust really fast because people are going to have to start open-jamming and all these things. Overall, it went pretty quick. Especially three-handed play obviously went really, really quickly.

Did you use the 15-minute delay at all during the final table? Were your friends watching it and relaying you information?

Yeah, yeah they did.

What are some big moments that stick out in your mind? 

On Sunday, definitely the queens hand against Eoghan [O'Dea] where he put me in a really tough spot, I thought. I’ve read some about people giving their opinions on the hand, and I think that everybody’s basically dead wrong about it because I don’t think queens is an easy get in there. If you think about what his value range is, I’m crushed by that. It’s not a spot where you usually expect a player to barrel you a lot because my hand kind of looks face up and a lot of people don’t ever expect you to ever fold a hand like two queens there.

When you moved in with those two queens, did you expect him to call?

No. Well, I was hoping he would not call. Let’s just say I just cannot call the turn, and evaluate the river. That’s just not an option at this point because there’s way too much money in there. But yeah, I know that if he were to say ‘call’ immediately I would be crushed, so I was really happy when he did not snap-call.

Has everything sunk in yet?

[Laughs] No.

Not only are you are the first player from Germany to win the WSOP Main Event, you were the first player from Germany to make the Main Event final table. What was the reaction of your country leading up to the final table?

People were definitely interested in me. I had a lot of media requests, interview requests and all of that. I think now that I won, people are just going crazy over there. I’ve heard from friends who are getting called up by the media wanting to talk about me and all of that, so I think it’s going to be crazy.

Do you think this could ignite a poker boom in Germany?

I think the chance that this is going to start a poker boom in Germany is pretty good.

Winning the WSOP Main Event, you obviously have big shoes to fill by taking the title and becoming poker’s ambassador. Last year, Jonathan Duhamel, who is a fellow Team Pro at PokerStars, did a great job with all of that. How do you think you’re going to be able to handle everything?

I’m just going to wait and see how it goes. This is all really knew for me. I’m not used to that. It’s definitely going to take me a while to get used to everything. I’m just going to try to represent poker and PokerStars, who I’m really proud to be part of the team, as well as I can, and just be a great ambassador for poker for the most part.

Speaking of PokerStars, before the final table you signed as a Team Pro for Germany and you joined the likes of fellow Team Pros Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Joe Cada and Jonathan Duhamel as recent WSOP Main Event champions. Also, Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein. How does it feel to be in this sort of company?

I’m really honored to be part of PokerStars, of the PokerStars team. I just think PokerStars is the best company in the industry by far, the most reliable, the most safe, the best people working there. I’m really, really happy to be working with the best.

What are you most looking forward to for the future? What are your plans?

Honestly, the thing I’m looking forward to the most right now is just going to EPT Prague and playing poker again. Also, not doing too much media as I consider myself a poker player and not a famous guy or anything. I’m just looking forward to playing again, basically.

The big question on everyone’s mind is how you’re going to reward yourself with the money.

I don’t know yet. I haven’t made too many plans about it because leading up to the event, I didn’t want to think about it too much, because I didn’t even know how much I was going to win anyways.

It’s better not to get ahead of yourself.

Yeah, just tried not to worry about it. I don’t know yet, especially for my family. They have a couple wishes where I can maybe help with some, so this is something I’m definitely going to do. For myself, I’m honestly not sure yet. I’m definitely not going to buy something ridiculous.

Do you plan on playing bigger buy-in tournaments like the $100,000 and $250,000 events around the world? Are those up your alley at all or are you going to stick to the $10,000 ones?

I don’t know yet. I think $10Ks seem about right for now. I mean $250K on one tournament is just pretty sick.

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November 07 2011, PokerNews Staff

The biggest spectacle in poker, the World Series of Poker November Nine never disappoints, and Sunday’s game was no exception. After a four-month hiatus, the final nine players of the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event converged on the Penn and Teller Theater in the hopes of making it to Tuesday – to be part of the final three. Pius Heinz, Ben Lamb, and Martin Staszko have kept the dream alive and are still in the hunt for the coveted bracelet.

The first elimination of the day came on the 51st hand of the day. Ben Lamb raised to 1.7 million from under the gun. Action folded to Sam Holden in the small blind and he reraised all-in for 11.125 million. Lamb made the call and turned over . Holden’s was dominated. The flop fell giving Lamb top pair and a flush draw. The on the turn left Holden drawing dead and sent him to the rail in ninth place, good for $782,115.

Shortly thereafter, Anton Makiievskyi was eliminated in eighth place. On the 59th hand of play, action folded around to Makiievskyi, who was in the small blind. He open-shoved for 10.5 million and was called by Pius Heinz in the big blind. Makiievskyi, holding was flipping for his tournament life against Heinz’s nines. The flop came down , pairing Makiievskyi’s king and putting him in the lead. The turn changed everything, however, because the fell and gave Heinz a full house. The river brought the , officially sealing Makiievskyi’s fate in eighth place. He pocketed just over $1 million for his efforts.

Heinz had a commanding chip lead after he eliminated Makiievskyi and it only continued to grow throughout the day’s action. The third elimination of the day came when Martin Staszko raised to 1.7 million and a short-stacked Bob Bounahra reraised all-in for 4.475 million. Staszko, who tabled , was ahead of Bounahra’s and stayed that way as the board ran out . Bounahra was sent to the rail in seventh place, good for $1,314,097, and his raucous Belizean contingent followed him out of the Penn and Teller Theater.

Phil Collins, who by the 73rd hand of play, had fallen to the second shortest stack at the table, moved all-in from the button for 13.575 million. He was called by Ben Lamb in the big blind holding . Collins was way behind with . The flop kept Lamb in the lead, but Collins had flopped a backdoor flush draw. The on the turn gave Collins a huge sweat, with a flush draw and an open-ended straight draw. The river kept Collins in the game when the appeared, doubling his chip stack to over 28 million, and sending his rail into boisterous cheers.

Twenty-four hands later, Eoghan O’Dea was crippled in a huge hand against Lamb. Only about two million in chips separated the two when the chips went in the middle preflop. Lamb was at risk and O’Dea was in the lead with against Lamb’s . The kept O’Dea in the lead, as did the on the turn. The river dealt the crushing blow – the – and O’Dea was left with 2.6 million. O’Dea was eliminated two hands later, in sixth place – the same finish his father had in 1983, albeit for a much smaller prize, $43,200. He was all-in preflop with against Martin Staszko who turned over pocket eights. The board was no help for O’Dea who was eliminated and took home $1,720,831.

On the very next hand, the field was reduced to four. Pius Heinz raised to 2.1 million from under the gun. Action folded to Phil Collins who moved all-in for 18.3 million. Heinz made the call, and Collins’ tournament life was on the line. Heinz held and was ahead of Collins’ . The flop gave Collins an open-ended straight draw, but Heinz was still in the lead and stayed there through the turn. Heinz turned a set, but Collins picked up more outs. None of Collins’ outs hit when the fell on the river, eliminating him in fifth place, $2,269,599. Heinz added even more chips to his already monstrous stack.

Play slowed considerably after the dinner break, but only one thing remained constant - Pius Heinz at the top of the leaderboard. However, on hand No. 156, Heinz gave away a few of his chips when he doubled up Martin Staszko. In the hand, Staszko moved all-in over the top of a raise from Heinz, who was under the gun. Heinz made the call and tabled , well ahead of Staszko’s . With the giving Staszko trips, he stayed in the lead through the turn and the river, doubling to 44 million, and leaving Ben Lamb as the short stack.

Lamb was in need of some help to keep his tournament dreams alive, and he ended up getting some at the expense of Matt Giannetti. On hand No. 174, Giannetti raised to 2.6 million from the button. Lamb reraised all-in from the big blind, and Giannetti called the 26.8 million more. Giannetti and his pocket jacks had Lamb, who tabled on the ropes. The flop fell giving Lamb a flush draw. The turn, , brought Lamb’s flush and the river was the meaningless . Lamb doubled to 55 million, and Giannetti was crippled.

Giannetti doubled on the next hand against Staszko but didn’t hold on to those chips for long. Giannetti and Lamb tangled again, but Lamb held the best of it, and Giannetti couldn’t get his pay back. The chips went in the middle preflop on hand No. 178, with Lamb holding kings and Giannetti tabling . The flop sealed Giannetti’s fate when it fell , giving Lamb quads. Giannetti fell in fourth place, pocketing $3,012,700.

His elimination set the stage for Tuesday when the final three players, Lamb, Heinz, and Staszko, will play for poker immortality.

2011 WSOP Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

Play gets under way Tuesday at 1730 PST (0130 GMT) and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to provide hand-for-hand coverage until a winner is crowned.

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