2011 WSOP: THERE IS NO OTHER KIND - HEINZ IS YOUR WORLD CHAMPION

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

It's all over. The long marathon that looked like it would end in a flash well, didn't, as the WSOP crowned it's latest World Champion, Germany's Pius Heinz.

It looked to be over in a heartbeat. One hand in, one runner was crippled, four hands in, we were heads up ... all thanks to what many would describe as the "forgotten man" at the final table, Czech Martin Staszko. Most of the poker world were either picking Ben Lamb or Heinz to win it all ... most of North America was on the Lamb bandwagon while most of Europe seemed to be backing Heinz.

Well, we will all remember the performance of runner-up Martin Staszko. On the opening hand of three-handed play, Staszko went from the outhouse to the penthouse as he called Ben Lamb's all in. His sevens held and Lamb, the favourite heading into the start of Final Table play, was down to only a few big blinds - yes, it was that fast.

Three hands later, Staszko had disposed of Lamb, had taken the chip lead, and had won the first four hands of the night, and it looked like lady luck was on his side. In fact, Staszko held pocket sevens, pocket kings and pocket jacks in three of those first four hands.

But Pius Heinz wasn't going to let that affect his play. He was determined to push Staszko around and suddenly, the tide turned in Heinz' favour and it looked like we were going to be done very quickly. But Staszko battled back and refused to surrender. They traded chip leads a few more times and ... hours later, Heinz was back in the driver's seat and never looked back - becoming the first German to hold the title of poker's World Champion, succeeding from Canadian Jonathan Duhamel - who was a great ambassador for poker during his reign.

The quality of play at the final table was simply amazing. Also, what else can be said about ESPN's Final Table "live" coverage? The final three included Antonio Esfandiari's expert analysis, Antonio did a splendid job.

PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
2011 World Series of Poker
WSOP NLH Main Event
July 17-November 8, 2011

Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino | Las Vegas, Nevada
Buy-in: $10,000 | Prizepool: $64,531.000 | Entries: 6,865

Defending Champion: Jonathan Duhamel

FINAL RESULTS:
PIUS HEINZ 170
MARTIN STASZKO 110
BEN LAMB 95
MATT GIANNETTI 85
PHIL COLLINS 80
EOGHAN O'DEA 75
BOB BOUNAHRA 70
ANTON MAKIIESVKY 65
SAM HOLDEN 55
JOHN HEWITT 45
KHOA NGUYEN 40
BRYAN DEVONSHIRE 38
KONSTANTINOS MAMALIADIS 38
SCOTT SCHWALICH 38
ANDREY PATEYCHUK 35
RYAN LENAGHAN 35
SAM BARNHART 35
KENNY SHIH 32
ALEKSANDR MOZHNYAKOV 32
GIONNI DEMERS 32
CHRIS MOORE 28
LARS BONDING 28
ANDREW HINRICHSENB 28
GREGORY KAPLAN 25
JERRY VAN STRYDONCK 25
JP KELLY 25
KYLE JOHNSON 25