Shortly after midnight, 22-year-old Pius Heinz became the first world champion from Germany. He won $8.7 million after storming back from more than a 3-1 deficit in his heads-up battle against the Cezch Republic's Martin Staszko.

In the final hand, Heinz went all-in preflop with with As-Kc against Staszko's 10c-7c. The board ran out 9s-5c-2d-Jh-4d. Heinz won the two-day finale, which began Sunday afternoon inside the Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio, with Ace-high.

"It's got to be the happiest day of my life," Heinz told the Associated Press. "But I can't believe what happened—it's unreal."

For his runner-up performance, Staszko collected $5.4 million, while Las Vegas resident Ben Lamb finished third to the tune of a little more than $4 million.

Final Table Results:

1st - Pius Heinz - $8,711,956

2nd - Martin Staszko - $5,430,928

3rd - Ben Lamb - $4,019,635

4th - Matt Giannetti - $3,011,661

5th - Phil Collins - $2,268,909

6th - Eoghan O'Dea - $1,720,396

7th - Badih "Bob" Bounahra - $1,313,851

8th - Anton Makiievskyi - $1,009,910

9th - Sam Holden - $782,115

 

For more on the 2011 World Series of Poker, follow Paul McGuire at Tao of Poker, and on Twitter at @taopauly.