Pius Heinz was a nobody. He was in between jobs and didn’t really know what direction his life was taking him. This was just six months ago. Today however, things are somewhat different for the German 22 year old, having just won $8.72 million in the World Series of Poker.
Six months previously, Heinz, who had been dabbling in poker, had not really been having a winning streak. Before the tournament he was considering whether he would actually like to continue playing professional poker, or go back to college. One can imagine what the conversation was like between the parents and the young guy six months ago. I am sure that last night, however, the conversation was somewhat different!
Heinz was still in shock after winning the tournament with an ace high; the same hand that he used nine hands previously to weasel his way out of an extreme disadvantage against Martin Staszko. Heinz had called an all-in bet from his opponent with an A+K, while Staszko held a 7+10 of clubs.
The board was in neither player’s favor – five of clubs, nine of spades, jack of hearts, four of diamonds and deuce of diamonds. This however, gave Heinz the lead and earned him the title in the $10,000 buy in tournament, which had been running since July.
Staszko can’t really complain about his win – seeing as though he will be taking home $5.43 million. The only thing lacking will be a bracelet, which is a professional poker players’ status symbol if there ever was one.
“It’s got to be the happiest day of my life,” Heinz said. “But I can’t believe what happened — it’s unreal.”
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