Name: Pius Heinz
Age:  22
Hometown:  Cologne, Germany
Seat: 7
Chip Count:  16,425,000 (ranks 7th)
Profession:  Poker Player/Student
Years Attended WSOP:  1 (first year)

The afternoon after the November Nine was reached, each player sat for an interview with the WSOP’s Nolan Dalla.  Below are excerpts from those conversations:

Question:  Congratulations on making the November Nine.  Has the reality that you have made poker's most elite fraternity settled in yet?
Heinz:  No, it really hasn’t sunk in yet, at all.  It’s really unreal for me, right now.  I’m pretty sure it’s going to take me a couple of days to get home and realize what's happened.

Question:  You’re the first German player to appear at a Main Event final table.  Do you think that's significant?
Heinz:  I’m really not sure yet.  I guess I will find out when I get back home.  I think it might be really big.  But I’m not sure.  Poker is big back home.  When you look at the players who play online, Germany is always fourth or fifth in numbers.  We always have commercials for online poker sites running at home.  So, a lot of people back home definitely know about poker and like to play the game.

Question:  What did you do before you started playing poker seriously?
Heinz:  I studied at the university.  But after two semesters, I decided to focus on poker more and take it to a new level.  Actually, after the series (WSOP) I was going to re-evaluate whether I should go back to study.  So now, I guess I won't be doing that -- at least for a few more months (laughing).

Question:  What was it about poker that intrigued you?
Heinz:  I love a lot of things about poker.  To apply pressure to bluff, to take certain lines to confuse your opponents, to get into your opponent’s head and think about what he’s doing and to try to do the opposite of what he wants you to do.  But at the same time, poker can be really difficult.  I mean, right now it’s awesome.  But I’ve had a few rough months during my career where I wanted to more or less quit, you know like -- I don’t want to do this anymore.  But at the end of the day, I still love the game.

Question:  Poker is fun, or poker is business.  If you have to pick just one side as it applies to you, which is it?
Heinz:  Poker is business.

Question:  What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get back home?
Heinz:  I’m going to get together with my friends and family and have a bit of a party.  They might have planned something already.  I’ve heard some rumors, but I’m not quite sure yet.  I guess I’m going to act like I don’t know anything about it.  I’ve also gotten a few suspicious texts asking when I’m going to be back, so I am suspicious that something might be going on.  I’m going to relax for two or three weeks and maybe take a vacation.  After that I’m going to play WSOP Europe (in Cannes, France in October) and the EPT.

Question:  If you were offered a second-place finish right now in the Main Event, would you take it?
Heinz:  Absolutely.  I would take $5.4 million dollars.