The 2011 World Series of Poker Champion

Pius Heinz may not have been a household name before his win at the Main Event of the 2011 World Series of Poker, but anyone interested in the poker world certainly knows him now. The German player was listed as an underdog at the final table of the event, but his confident style and ability to read poker situations well payed off in spades. His winnings for the event brought $8.7 million into Heinz's pocket, but the glory of being one of the few players to win this highly coveted event is something that will not fade over time. With this relative unknown vaulting into the center stage of the poker world, many people have started to wonder just who this young superstar is and how did he arrive at the final table of poker's most famous event.

Like many of his peers, Pius Heinz is a product of the online poker explosion. In Germany and other countries in Europe, this explosion is still in full swing and many players are emerging that are finding places in the top ranks of the game. During business psychology courses at a local Cologne university, Heinz and some of his friends grew interested in the game of free poker after seeing it on televised shows. Starting their own games, the focus of their attention quickly became the online game, with its easy access and ready supply of players at all hours of the day and night. In these online games, Pius cut his teeth, gaining a quick education in the fundamental basics of the game and developing an aggressive playing style that matched the new form of the game well. Contrary to popular belief, Heinz had a decent amount of success in these online games before taking his skills to the live game.

In online poker rooms, such as PokerStars, Heinz focused more on the tournaments than the cash games, with a specialisation in the large multitable tournaments that routinely draw thousands of players. This focus definitely paid off and the young player quickly found himself the winner of several tournaments, with cashes in many others. In the three years prior to the 2011 World Series of Poker, Heinz accumulated winnings in the range of $700,000 from the online tournaments he played. Despite having a rough start to the year, Heinz made plans to travel to Las Vegas and take a chance at the prestigious tournament before returning to university and maybe entering a normal job. Out of the fifteen events that he entered, he made only two cashes, one for $83,000 for a seventh place finish in a No Limit Tournament and the other being his obvious title win at the Main Event.

After making the final table, Pius Heinz made his goal to win the tournament when it would reconvene several months later. He changed his lifestyle to include more exercise, relaxation, healthy eating, and, of course, time spent reviewing his competition for the title of World Champion. To reach this end, he hired Mike McDonald as a personal coach and they worked together reviewing hours of footage of the preceding WSOP events to gain information on their opponents, which led to the German taking the title over more favored players.