Even though the recent scandals have left a mark on the face of poker and especially online poker, this year’s attendance at the WSOP was still high, counting a total of 6865 entries, only five hundred less than last year. An unexpected surprise for this year’s world tournament was the early elimination of last year’s big winner, Jonathan Duhamel, showing again that this game cares not for reputation and it is all about risk. Perhaps, this is a clear sign that poker is a perfect combination between cleverness and chance, resourcefulness and plainness.

In 2011, the fight for the grand prize of 8,715,638 dollars was to be settled between Martin Staszcho, Ben Lamb and Pius Heinz, all great players that have earned their places well at the final table. Positioned in the third place, the 35 years old Martin Staszcho was one of the eleven non-American players that have made it past the 8th day of the tournament. Besides being one of the oldest participants at the WSOP, Stazscho is also the first Czech Republic player to make it to the final table. He entered the proverbial November Nine with a bit over forty million dollars and earned about two million more before the final round.

With a seven-year experience in the professional poker experience, Ben Lamb is not a newcomer at the final table of the WSOP. Regardless of whether he gets the 8.7 million dollars prize or not, it seems that Ben Lamb is going to be nominated for the title of Player of the Year, due to his record of being four times qualifying for the final table. Because of his four months of absence, Lamb admitted that can only work to the advantage of his opponents. However, let’s not forget, that the gameplay at the final table is a unique and totally different experience.

The 2011 WSOP favorite is Pius Heinz, a 22 years old player from Cologne, Germany. Heinz is relatively new to the professional poker community and this year’s tournament is his first venture into the annual world poker tournament. However, he had the largest stack of chips gathered from all November Nine contestants and he entered the final table with approximately one hundred million dollars, which is double the sum of the Ben Lamb in the second place. His determination and masterful performance during the two days final table session have finally earned him the title of world champion and the grant prize as well as the reputed diamond and gold bracers. Congratulations to Heinz!