The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event final table has no shortage of firsts, and Pius Heinz is no exception– he is the first Main Event final table player to hail from Germany, and, as such, has already achieved a poker first. Should he win the game, however, he’ll have yet another reason to go down in poker history.
Heinz came to Vegas in June, and by the time the Main Event rolled around, he says, he was ready to go. He signed up for Day 1A so that he could head back home as soon as possible, in case he didn’t move on– but move on he did, and with flash that left spectators wondering how it was that this student turned online poker player seemed to have no problem with the transition to live play. Not only has he made it to the final table here, but he also snagged a seventh place finish in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event, walking away with a tidy sum of $83,286, an amount currently dwarfed by the $782,115 that he’s guaranteed to win from his main event play so far. Since his dazzling entry into the live poker work in Vegas this summer, he’s also nabbed first place in a European Poker Tour event. Heinz won €17,450 in the €1,000 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty event in Barcelona at the end of August, demonstrating that his winning streak at the WSOP isn’t quite ready to come to an end.
Heinz plays an aggressive game online and off, and this year’s World Series of Poker has been a learning experience for the 22 year old German– one that has doubled his career winnings (he had previously won over $700,000 in online tourneys). His two cashes were the result of over fifteen tournament entries– he was sent to the rail early in the others, and Heinz spent his time at the cash tables, working on his live game. He says that transitioning to live play was particularly challenging because live play “is boring,” and because so many basic aspects of live play are completely missing from online play, such as chip handling and guarding one’s tells. Despite the hurdles that he needed to overcome, Heinz hit his stride on an early hand during Main Event Day 1A. In a hand against a more experienced player, Heinz made a successful read that he states was a defining moment for him. Since then, he contends, he’s been confident in his ability to play the live game, and that’s made all the difference.
Heinz currently sits seventh in chips with 16,425,000, with a buffer of about three million in each direction between him and Badih Bounahra in sixth place and Anton Makiievskyi in eighth. He’ll return to the Penn & Teller Theatre in Las Vegas on November 6th, starting the day in Seat 7. Keep your eyes peeled for this student from Cologne, who may just be the final bracelet winner from the 2011 World Series of Poker.