Less than a month after his runner-up finish in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, Martin Staszko(pictured) joined Team PokerStarsPro, the site announced on Wednesday. The poker player from the Czech Republic fell heads-up to Germany’s Pius Heinzin poker’s most prestigious tournament, but still walked away with a healthy sum of $5.4 million. The 35-year-old will make his PokerStars debut at the European Poker Tour’s stop in Prague, which begins on Monday.

Staszko told PokerStars officials, “I’m really happy to sign with PokerStars and join such a talented team of poker players. I’m playing in my home country at EPT Prague as a Team PokerStars Pro and looking forward to playing many big live and online tournaments in 2012 like the PCA and WCOOP. My main focus is to win a Mixed Game event at the next WSOP, becoming the first Czech player to win a bracelet.”

Staszko might not own a WSOP bracelet, but in May, he captured victory in a $109 No Limit Hold’em Rebuy tournament held during the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker for over $90,000. During the 2011 WSOP, ESPN commentators repeatedly alluded to Staszko’s SCOOP victory as proof that he’s a force to be reckoned with. Needless to say, he backed up those claims earlier this month during 2011 WSOP November Nine play.

In September, Staszko finished fourth in a $215 No Limit Hold’em Rebuy tournament during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker for $73,000. Prior to his deep run in the 2011 WSOP Main Event, Staszko’s largest live cash came in January 2010 in the EPT Deauville Main Event and was good for $49,000; Staszko finished 11th in that tournament.

Staszko is a former darts champion and entered heads-up play against Heinz in the Main Event as a 4:3 chip leader. The Czech Republic resident crippled Ben Lamb (pictured) on the first hand of three-handed play after the latter 4bet all-in pre-flop with K-J offsuit. Staszko called, showed pocket sevens for a race, and doubled up after the board filled out 9-3-2-3-10.

Three hands later, Staszko finished off what he started and sent Lamb home with pocket jacks against Q-6. Referring to Staszko’s eventual runner-up finish, the PokerStars Blog noted, “That run propelled Staszko, who used to manage the paint shop at the Hyundai car plant in his home country, to the summit of world poker, quite appropriate for a man who counts hiking in the Czech and Slovak mountains as a hobby.”

Staszko’s signing comes at a busy time for the world’s largest online poker site, which is in the midst of celebrating its 10th anniversary. On Sunday, December 18th, PokerStars will bump the guaranteed prize pool of its weekly Sunday Million to an astounding $10 million, which includes a first place prize of at least $2 million. Oh, and the buy-in will remain the same as always at $215.

The $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million kicks off at 14:30 ET on December 18th and there are plenty of satellites running. Plus, PocketFives is running an exclusive PokerStars PLB competitionfrom December 1st to 10th in which we’ll be giving away five tickets to the super-sized Sunday Million. The top five players on the leaderboard at the end of the 10-day promotion will walk away with $215 tickets and get a crack at a $2 million first place payday. Learn more.

In order to participate in our PLB competition on PokerStars, you must opt in here. Just enter your PokerStars user name in the space provided and click “Save and Sign Up.” Only scheduled tournaments with at least a $1 buy-in, at least $500 in the prize pool, and at least 75 players will count for the leaderboard. Also, only tournaments on PokerStars.com will be tracked; PokerStars.fr and PokerStars.it tournaments, while tracked for the PocketFives Rankings, are not part of this promotion.

Visit PokerStars for more information on the ongoing 10th anniversary celebration.