The US casino world has taken front and center stage the last few days, with the Penn & Teller theater at the Rio the setting for the crowning of poker's newest champion in the Main Event.
The action began back in July when nearly 7,000 poker players from around the world all paid the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event for their own shot at poker immortality -- plus $8.7 million in cash for 1st place.
Heinz joined many recent young winners of the Main Event when he defeated Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic to claim the title, coming back from a big deficit to give Germany its first ever Main Event champion.
Staszko shouldn't feel too badly, however, as he did collect just over $5.4 million himself for his runner up finish.
The final nine players returned on Sunday to play down to three -- Heinz, Staszko, and American Ben Lamb -- with that trio returning Tuesday to play down to a winner.
Lamb would bow out in the first ten hands but Heinz and Staszko would battle well into the Vegas night before Heinz was declared the winner.
The turnout for the 2011 Main Event was very strong despite the US government's moves in April to indict the world's two largest online gambling sites (Full Tilt and PokerStars) which greatly reduced the number of online qualifiers in the field.
2011 WSOP November Nine Final Table Results
1st - Pius Heinz (Germany) - $8,711,956
2nd - Martin Staszko (Czech Republic)- $5,430,928
3rd - Ben Lamb (USA) - $4,019,635
4th - Matt Giannetti (USA) - $3,011,661
5th - Phil Collins (USA) - $2,268,909
6th - Eoghan O'Dea (Ireland) - $1,720,396
7th - Badih Bounahra (Belize) - $1,313,851
8th - Anton Makiievskyi (Lithuania) - $1,009,910
9th - Sam Holden (U.K.) - $782,115
