Pius Heinz Captures First Poker Title Since 2011

Pius Heinz cashed in at his first live tournament at the 2011 WSOP in Las Vegas, and after finishing the $1,500 NLHE event in 7th place for $83,286, the German player subsequently went on to win the $10k Main Event for $8,715,368. Those two wins now account for all but $230,915 of his $9,028,569 in career earnings, with his last tournament cash recorded in March 2014.
Nevertheless, the semi-retired player showed he still has what it takes to be a tournament pro, and at the recent Eureka Poker Tour in the Czech Republic managed to take down the €5,300 Super High Roller event for €44,814 ($48,721). The tournament attracted 16 players, and six reentries, to create a prize pool worth €106,700, and two days of action later Pius Heinz beat Martin Kabrhel heads-up to claim his third career title.
According to Heinz, he was mostly in town to play cash games, when he decided to give the €5,300 Super High Roller event a go. Having gone on to win the tournament, Heinz now has three tournament titles to his name out of a total of 11 career cashes, and has also risen to number three on Germany’s ‘All-time Money List’, behind Tobias Reinkemeier ($10,528,819) and Philipp Gruissem ($9,731,201).
For some poker players, winning the WSOP Main Event acts as a spur for their poker careers, with past champions who spring to mind including Phil Hellmuth (1989), Huck Seed (1996), and Jonathan Duhamel (2010). Other champions, however, either fail to produce the results needed to keep their poker careers on track, or alternatively decide simply to turn their backs on the poker limelight, including Pius Heinz. As he explained in a previous interview:
“Poker has basically turned back to a hobby for me I guess. I was kind of a professional before I won the Main, and I was a professional for a year and a half after I won the Main. Now I just play whenever I feel like it and when I enjoy it, when I don’t, I just don’t play. That’s perfect for me.. I know I’m not the best friend of the media, but I’m alright with that.”