Pius Heinz received comparisons to German champions Boris Becker, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Martin Kaymer after he became the first German to win the World Series of Poker on November 10, 2011 in Las Vegas. The 22-year-old Heinz became an immediate sports hero in his native Germany and was even given the nickname Poker Pope Pius by the German mass daily Bild.
Heinz, who was born in Swisttal near Bonn and didn’t pick up poker until four years ago when he watched it on German television – where it’s showed often late evenings on the sport channel Sport1. Heinz began playing more and more while studying economic psychology in Cologne and then moved to Vienna in August 2011 to play poker full time.
Still A New Player
Heinz, who uses the online handle MastP89 came into the Main Event without many victories. He had won the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan for 61,000 dollars in 2010 and the PokerStars $150,000 Guarantee for 29,000 dollars. And he was one of 6,865 players who started the Main Event in July, paying the 10,000 dollar buy-in with hopes of the big money at the end. The final round was played at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino near the Las Vegas Strip, where magicians Penn & Teller often perform.
Heinz underwent professional preparation for the tournament with a nutritional plan and worked out with mental and fitness coaches. Heinz also brought 25 of his friends to Las Vegas, where they all also wore white hoodies.
When it was down to just two players, Heinz and 35-year-old Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic exchanged leads nine times in the 119 hands. Staszko lead a huge 4-1 chip edge on Heinz, who used an all-in with an Ace-Queen to get back into the game. And then at 12:14 a.m. November 10, 2011 in Las Vegas – 9:14 a.m. German time – Heinz won again with Ace high to take all the money, all $8,715,638 of it. Not to mention the other prize – a bracelet.
“I Did It For Germany.”
Heinz was actually the second German to reach the final in Las Vegas as Frankfurt’s Henry Nowakowski, who lost Ecuador’s Carlos Mortensen in 2001. The WSOP has seen a number of young champions of late with Denmark’s 25-year-old Peter Eastgate taking the 2008 title, 23-year-old Joseph Cada from the U.S. in 2009 and 2010 winner American Jonathan Duhmamel was 24. Heinz was the second youngest WOSP champion behind Cada, who was just shy of his 22nd birthday in 2009.
German poker fans and Heinz supporters however should not expect Heinz to defend his crown as Johnny Chan was the last to do that in 1988.
Afterwards, Heinz posted his new status on Facebook: “I hereby proudly announce that I am the 2011 World Champion of Poker!! I did it for Germany.”
“The feeling of course is unbelievably good – but sometimes difficult to realize. I am proud to represent my country, and the support that I received from Germany was overwhelming,” Heinz said in an interview with PokerStars, which was published in the German daily Welt.
And when asked what he planned on doing with his winnings, Heinz said he would like to help finance his sister’s studies, help buy his mother a house and maybe buy himself a watch.
German Media, Hometown Full Of Praise
German media proudly stated that Heinz was the first German to win the esteemed poker title.
“Pius Heinz stays modest” wrote Promiflash.de, which calls itself Germany’s favorite star magazine, noting that he doesn’t have any big plans and didn’t have a lavish party to celebrate and always wore his trademark white hoodie.
Other media in Germany were comparing him to Martin Kaymer of the golf world and Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel – other Germans who have captured glory in their respective sports – while also mentioning Heinz in the same sentence as Boris Becker and Michael Schumacher.
“Finally a German world champion. This is a historic victory,” said former tennis legend Boris Becker in the Hamburger Abendblatt daily. Becker has played poker for four years and like Heinz is also part of the PokerStars team – though Heinz only recently joined PokerStars.
“Unbelievable that Swisttal with just 18,600 residents is now all the talk internationally,” Swisttal mayor Eckhard Maack was quoted as saying in the Berliner Kurier.
Heinz, who plans on playing the European Poker Tour in Prague, is not expected to return to Germany until Wednesday after which he is scheduled to appear on the Stern TV news program and the Stefan Raab variety show.
Heinz Part Of New Generation
According to poker expert Dominik Kofert, founder of the world’s largest online poker learning community PokerStrategy.com, Heinz is part of a new generation of players who learned poker over the internet.
“They examine things with psychology and mathematics. The older generation played more with their gut. Pius Heinz is an aggressive player, he is very venturesome,” Kofert told the German sports news agency SID.
David Hein - David Hein is a professional freelance journalist, focusing mainly on Sports, especially international basketball, European soccer and ...
