by Nick Boyd
The $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Poker Championship, also known as the Main Event was held from July 7 through July 19, where the final 9 players were announced, and after airing the Main Event on television, would return on November 6 and be the 2011 November 9. The Main event drew together almost 6,600 professional and amateur poker players. The total prize pool was
$64,531,000, with the final 693 players “cashing out”. The winner of the tournament would receive a massive $8,715,638.
The 2011 November 9 brought together many people from different nationalities. With 8 of the 9 players being professional, 49 year old Belizean national Bounahra !Badih “Bob” Bounahra was not only the only amateur left, but the oldest player left in the
tournament. The chip leader of the November 9 was 43 year old Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic with 40,175,000 chips. Staszko had made $22,875 in other tournaments in the 2011 World Series. Following Staszko was 26 year old Irishman Eoghan O’dea with 33,935,000 in his chip stack. O’dea was one of the original favorites for the tournament, as his father had also placed in the November 9 in 1988. O’dea had previously won $33,000 in other tournaments. In third was 26 year old American Matt Gianetti with 24,750,000 in his stack. In previous tournaments Gianetti acquired over $230,000. Next was 26 year old American Phil Collins with 23,875,000 in chips. Phil Collins had fans going wild for him, singing singer Phil Collins’ song “In The Air Tonight” almost every time he won a hand. Coming in fifth was the November 9 favorite, 26 year old Ben Lamb. Also an American, Lamb had 20,875,000 in chips to start with. Ben was the largest winner at the final table winning over $2,300,000 in prior
tournaments this year. Sixth was 49 year old Belizean Bounahra !Badih “Bob” Bounahra, with only 19,700,000 chips. Bob had only won $8,000 in prior tournaments. Seventh was 22 year old German national Pius Heinz, with only 16,435,000. Heinz was watched closely throughout the Main Event, and was noted for being an extremely aggressive player. Starting in eighth place was 21 year old Ukrainian national Anton Makiievskyi. Before coming to the November 9, Makiievskyi had the chip lead, but near the
final elimination, Makiievskyi lost more than two thirds of his chips, leaving him with 13,825,000. Bringing up the end of the November 9 was 22 year old British national Sam Holden with 12,375,000 chips.
In hand 50 of the November 9 final table, Holden moved his chip stack all in, worth a little over $11,000,000 at this point, and received a call by Lamb. The two went head-up, with Lamb showing a suited ace/king hand, and Holden showing an off suit ace/jack hand. In the end, Lambs hand held up, sending Holden home with $782,115 in ninth place, leaving 8 players left battling for the 8.7 million that was up for grabs.
On hand 58, Makiievskyi pushed his stack all in, receiving a call from Heinz. Makiievskyi and Heinz went heads-up with Makiievskyi showing a king of clubs and a queen of hearts, and Heinz showing a pair of red nines. The flop showed the king of diamonds, jack of hearts, and jack of spades, giving Makiievskyi a 75% chance to win the hand with kings up. The turn showed the nine of clubs, giving Heinz a huge lead, leaving Makiievskyi with only two outs. The river showed the seven of hearts, leaving Heinz’s set of nines the best hand, and sending the youngest player at the table home with $1,010,015.
In hand 63, Bounahra shoved his stack all in, receiving a call from Staszko. The two went heads up, Bounahra showed ace/five off, against Staszko’s ace/nine off. Staszko’s hand left him victorious, eliminating the only amateur, and the oldest player from
the table. Bounahra left the table with $1,314,097.
Soon after, O’dea raised Heinz pre-flop, receiving a call, but not going all in. On the flop, O’dea raised again, getting another call. The turn came up, and O’dea raised again. He then pushed himself all in, and lost almost all of his stack. O’dea then tried to scramble around, but was eliminated receiving $1,720,831 for sixth place, the same place his father was in when he participated in the Main Event.
Phil Collins then shoved his stack all in after getting called by Heinz. Heinz looked at Collins for nearly 10 minutes before making the decision to call him all in. Collins showed an ace/seven of diamonds against the pocket nines of Heinz. Through the flop, turn, and river, Heinz was the front runner, sending Collins home with $2,269,599 and paving the way to a four handed table.
Giannetti, who was among the big stacks for much of the day, suffered a crushing blow with pocket jacks all-in pre-flop against Ben Lamb’s ace/seven of heard.. Lamb flopped a flush draw and got there on the turn to cripple Giannetti. Despite scoring a quick
double, Giannetti would get it all-in against Lamb again shortly after. Giannetti open-shoved ace/three from the button four-handed and got a snap-call from Ben Lamb with pocket kings in the big blind. Two more kings hit the flop and the room exploded, giving Lamb quads, the pot and a stack to make a run at the world championship. Gianetti was sent home in fourth place with $3,012,700, and ending Sunday’s tournament.
Play resumed on Tuesday, November 8 with the final three. 22 year old Pius Heinz was leading the tournament with 107,800,000 chips in his stack. Ben Lamb was in second by a large margin with only 55,400,000. Closely behind Lamb was Martin Staszko with
42,700,000.
On the very first hand of Tuesday’s play, Lamb shoved all in with a king of hearts and jack of diamonds. Staszko quickly called him with pocket sevens. Staszko’s hand was able to keep up through the five table cards, doubling his stack, and leaving Lamb severely crippled. Just three hands later, Lamb shoved all in with a queen of spades and six of hearts. Once again, Staszko called him quickly, this time with pocket jacks. In just four hands, Ben Lamb, the November 9 frontrunner was eliminated in third, leaving with $4,021,138.
The tournament was now heads up with 22 year old German, Pius Heinz and 43 year old Czech, Martin Stazsko. The battle between the two seemed never ending. Staszko and Heinz kept losing and gaining the chip lead until hand 112, where Staszko went over 141 million, leaving Heinz with only 60 million. Staszko kept this lead for another 40 hands, Pius Heinz moved all in, and Staszko called. Heinz won the hand, giving him a huge lead of Staszko. The next hand, Heinz pushed all in again, and Staszko folded. Not wanting to give away the lead again, Heinz kept putting pressure on Staszko, forcing him to either go all in or fold almost every hand. Eventually, Staszko pushed all in with a ten and seven of clubs. Heinz snap called him with an ace of spades, and a king of clubs. The board did not help either player, letting Heinz win the pot with ace high, and winning the tournament. Martin Staszko was eliminated in seventh place receiving a huge $5,433,086. Pius Heinz finished first winning over 8.7 million dollars, a golden WSOP bracelet valued at over $500,000, and being known as the first German poker player ever to win the Main Event.