Martin Staszko is fresh off of an incredible run at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, in which he outlasted almost the entire field and ended up finishing in second place. While he was not able to win the event, he was one card away from sending the eventual winner, Pius Heinz, home; and winning the event himself. A few weeks back, it was reported that Pius Heinz was added to Team PokerStars Pro roster, and there had also been rumors that Staszko could be added to the roster as well. These rumors ended up being true, and Staszko will now represent the online poker site starting this upcoming week at the European Poker Tour’s Prague event.
Staszko is an impressive story in the world of poker, as he actually didn’t start playing the game until 2007. It took until January of 2010 for him to pick up his first live tournament cash, when he finished just outside of the final table at the European Poker Tour’s Deauville Main Event. Staszko finished 11th there, and picked up a pay day of $50k for his efforts. After that he pulled in a 10th place finish at the Unibet Open a few months after, but hadn’t cashed any events after that until this year’s World Series of Poker. He had a few cashes at the WSOP, but the one that everyone was focused on was the $5.4 million pay day that he got for his second place finish in the Main Event.
He didn’t have an easy task though, as he was actually in third out of three when they were down to only him, Pius Heinz, and Ben Lamb remaining. He was up against the Player of the Year in Lamb, and a player in Heinz who was playing incredibly well, and already had another final table at this year’s World Series. Staszko is 35 years old, and he was up against the young and aggressive style of the two players listed above, but he never blinked in his efforts, and sent Lamb home on the fourth hand of the three handed play. All in all, the decision to add Staszko to their pro roster was a good one for PokerStars.