WSOP Main Event - Heinz, Lamb and Staszko to Battle for the Bracelet

The day has finally arrived; the WSOP November Nine got underway yesterday. Pius Heinz, Ben Lamb and Martin Staszko made it to the final three, who will face each other on Tuesday in the Grand Finale of the WSOP 2011. Dealing has started yesterday at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event final table. The Czech Martin Staszko lead with 40,175,000 chips. Jack Effel, tournament director of the WSOP announced the November Niners, who entered the Rio Casino's Penn&Teller room to the entry music of their choice.

Chip count:

Seat 1: Matt Giannetti - 24.750.000
Seat 2: Badih Bounahra - 19.700.000
Seat 3: Eoghan O'Dea - 33.925.000
Seat 4: Phil Collins - 23.875.000
Seat 5: Anton Makiievskyi - 13.825.000
Seat 6: Samuel Holden - 12.375.000
Seat 7: Pius Heinz - 16.425.000
Seat 8: Ben Lamb - 20.875.000
Seat 9: Martin Staszko - 40.175.000

November Niners, 2011

Dealing started on the 36th blind level (50.000/250.000/500.000). The first real confrontation came around at the next blind level(75.000/300.000/600.000), Heinz opened to 1,300,000, Lamb called, the SB O'Dea raised to 4,100,000. Heinz called, Lamb folded. The flop came 8 8 4 . O'Dea bet 4,600,000. Heinz called. The turn came 2 . O'Dea kept attacking, he bet 8,200,000 this time, which was half Heinz' stack. Heinz kept thinking, using up all his time, and in the end he went all-in with 16,000,000. O'Dea folded, dropping back to just 11,500,000 chips. Heinz' stack was now 41,175,000.

The short-stacked Holden became the first to leave the historical table, on the 38th level (100.000/400.000/800.000) he went all-in to Lamb's 1,700,000 bet, and his pair of aces fell short to Lamb's flush.

Ben Lamb

Half an hour later, but still on the 38th level we saw an all-in from the short-stacked Makiievskyi, which was called by Heinz.

Makiievskyi: K Q
Heinz: 9 9

Board: K J J 9 7

Heinz took the pot with a full house, he jumped to the chipleader position with his 61,000,000. Makiievskyi was out.

The next elimination was just around the corner, Staszko opened to 1,700,000. The extremely short-stacked Bounahra went all-in with his 4,475,000, Staszko called.

Staszko: A 9
Bounahra: A 5

Board: 7 6 2 K 6

Staszko eliminated Bounahra with a better kicker.

Pius Heinz - 52.500.000
Matt Giannetti - 49.075.000
Martin Staszko - 45.750.000
Ben Lamb - 31.600.000
Phil Collins - 15.375.000
Eoghan O'Dea - 11.625.000

By the end of the 38th blind level Lamb fell back to being short-stacked with his 14,325,000. He shipped all of it to O'Dea's 1,600,000 cutoff raise from the big blind. O'Dea called after a bit of hesitation.

O'Dea: A 9
Lamb: Q 8

Board: J J 6 4 8

Lamb doubled up with two pairs, leaving O'Dea very little chips to continue with.

Martin Staszko

Not much later, on the 39th blind level (150.000/500.000/1.000.000) Heinz raised to 2,100,000 from the UTG, after a few calls, Collins went all-in with 18,300,000. Heinz called.

Heinz: 9 9
Collins: A 7

Board: 6  5 4 9 7

Heinz took the pot, and the acknowledgment of eliminating Phil Collins (not that one) with a set.

Pius Heinz

4 players remained:

Pius Heinz - 86.700.000
Matt Giannetti - 49.725.000
Martin Staszko - 41.000.000
Ben Lamb - 28.500.000

The 4-handed game continued on the 40th blind level (200.000/600.000/1.200.000). Heinz was clearly the chipleader for long, he had around 107 million chips in front of him, while the shortest was Giannetti, when he went all-in on the button with his 12,000,000. Lamb insta-called.

Giannetti: A 3
Lamb: K K

Board: K K Q 5 Q

Lamb took the pot, which flew him to the final 3 in style, with quad kings. The grand finale of the WSOP 2011 will continue with the last 3 players standing (or sitting) on Tuesday, November 8 with the following players:

Pius Heinz - 107.800.000
Ben Lamb - 55.400.000
Martin Staszko - 42.700.000

Payouts of the WSOP 2011 Main Event Final Table:

1. $8.711.956
2. $5.430.928
3. $4.019.635
4. $3.011.661
5. $2.268.909
6. $1.720.396
7. $1.313.851
8. $1.009.910
9. $782.115