Heinz is just 22 years old and has been playing poker full time for about four years. Heinz started the final table with one of the lower stacks but he was able to survive and make it into a heads up battle against Martin Staszko from Czechoslovakia. ESPN provided nearly live coverage of the heads-up battle between Heinz and Staszko as it was delayed just 15 minutes. The duel lasted about six hours as the two players went back and forth in an excellent battle. Staszko took home $5.4 million for second place while Ben Lamb finished third, winning $4 million. Lamb also took home Player of the Year honor in this year’s World Series of Poker.
Heinz was able to rally in the final heads-up battle from almost
a 4-1 chip deficit. The two players exchanged the chip lead a total
of nine times in heads-up play before Heinz was able to win some big
hands and eventually the title. “It's got to be the happiest
day of my life," Heinz said. "But I can't believe what happened
- it's unreal."