Posts Tagged ‘Pius Heinz’

Russian Poker Backers benefit from Pius Heinz

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

It appears that 2011 WSOP Main Event champion Pius Heinz will be sharing his $8.7 million prize will plenty of other people since a Russian poker staking had backed him. The company is called Pokeroff, and they have staked plenty of successful players in the past. Of course, its hard to get more successful than a WSOP Main Event winner, so Pokeroff most likely grabbed their biggest profit ever off of Heinz.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any details on how much money Pokeroff made because they’re a private company that’s tight-lipped about their success. But the Betfair poker blog did manage to catch up with an investor in Pokeroff named Max Katz. The Moscow native is also a poker player who has an eye for budding talent.

He spoke about their business by saying, “We have a closed community inside Pokeroff that people can participate in, and they can buy shares of players who are wanting to sell some action. We also actively look for people who are wanting to sell shares, then we publish the offer on the private website, and it is divided between the people who want a share of that particular player.”

As for Heinz, Katz didn’t give too many details about dollar figures, but he did tell Betfair, “Actually I cannot say the exact number and I would prefer for you to publish rumors because we like to keep the exact number secret, but yes we had a big share of Pius.”

Just a few months ago, we reported how the poker backing industry had been struggling somewhat – especially in the United States, where poker action was crippled after Black Friday (April 15th). However, it seems as if the business of poker staking is thriving on the international scene, and Pokeroff is one of the biggest beneficiaries.

 

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Pius Heinz wins 2011 WSOP Main Event

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Ben Lamb may have been the talk of this year’s WSOP, but it was Pius Heinz winning the 2011 WSOP Main Event title, along with the top prize of $8.7 million.

Heinz walked onto the final table with 108 million chips, which put him well ahead of the other two remaining players in Lamb (55.4 million) and Martin Staszko (42.7 million). However, it didn’t take long at all for Heinz to have competition since Staszko doubled up through Lamb on the first hand of the final day. It happened when Lamb tried to steal a pot from Staszko with K-J, only to see the 35-year-old Czech Republic native go all-in. Lamb felt that he was pot committed and called; Staszko flipped over pocket sevens, and won the hand after the board provided nothing for Lamb.

Just three hands later, Lamb desperately shoved his remaining chips in with Q-6(o), which didn’t hold up against Staszko’s pocket jacks. With the American now eliminated from the tournament in third place, Heinz and Staszko battled for the title, with the latter holding a 117.3 million-to-88.6 million chip lead.

This was definitely a heads-up match for the ages as both players went back and forth with the lead. At one point, Staszko looked like he was in firm control of the tournament since he’d maneuvered into a 4-1 chip advantage. However, the German Heinz never looked phased, and battled back to be in contention.

On one very critical play, Staszko called Heinz’s shove with Qc-9c because he didn’t think that the 22-year-old had anything. But Heinz held Ah-Qh, and when the board provided no help to either player, the German took a big lead over Staszko. Just a few hands later, Heinz was able to put Staszko away and win the 2011 WSOP Main Event title.

With the world’s biggest poker tournament now in the books, Heinz becomes the third richest winner ever with $8.7 million. Here is a look at how all of the final tablist fared:

1. Pius Heinz – $8,715,638
2. Martin Staszko – $5,433,086
3. Ben Lamb – $4,021,138
4. Matt Giannetti – $3,012,700
5. Phil Collins – $2,269,599
6. Eoghan O’Dea – $1,720,831
7. Bob Bounahra – $1,314,097
8. Anton Makiievskyi – $1,010,015
9. Sam Holden – $782,115

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Ben Lamb is Toast of 2011 WSOP

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Every year, it seems as if one WSOP player stands out above the rest. Last year, it was Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi because of his previous fame, $50k Player’s Championship title, and 2010 WSOP Main Event final table appearance. This year, the shining star at the 2011 WSOP is no doubt Ben Lamb who is now a lock to win the WSOP Player of the Year award.

The 26-year-old has absolutely crushed the competition after winning the $10k Pot Limit Omaha Championship ($814,436), and finishing within the top 12 in three other tournaments. Now all of this would have been enough to put Lamb in a position where he was the best 2011 WSOP player. However, Ben Lamb has taken things even farther by making it to the end of the WSOP Main Event.

When the final table finishes play today, Lamb will be second in chips behind Pius Heinz, and in front of Martin Staszko. But no matter what happens, you can be sure that his name is already etched into WSOP lore since he’s guaranteed a top three Main Event finish on top of everything else.

The financial aspect is definitely worth noting in all of this too because Lamb has taken himself from being a well-paid grinder to being a bonafide multi-millionaire. Counting just his first four cashes, Lamb earned $1.3 million. And when you include his impending 2011 WSOP Main Event cash, he will make anywhere from $4 million to $8.7 million.

You could even say that Ben Lamb has had the best WSOP ever when the tournament field sizes and event skill levels are taken into account (four of the five events he’s cashed in were championships). Of course, that is something up for debate after looking back through history, but Lamb’s 2011 WSOP performance is definitely near the top.

 

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