Germany’s luck is changing.

It lost two world wars, but now it has won two events at the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Just days after Jens Vortmann of Dortmund, Germany, won WSOP Event #22, a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, fellow countryman Sebastian Ruthenberg of Hamburg, Germany, has won WSOP Event #33, a stud tournament.

Specifically, it was a seven-card stud hi-lo tourney, and it had 261 entrants, 24 payouts and a total prize pool of about $1.2 million.

For the victory, Ruthenberg collects his first career WSOP championship gold bracelet and takes home $328,756.

Back in Hamburg, that will buy a lot of hamburgers.

Coming in second was Chris “Jesus” Ferguson of Pacific Palisades, California, USA, earning $202,406.

(It was the second near-miss for the cowboy hat-wearing Christ lookalike at this year’s WSOP–in Event #2 he came in third. He has five career WSOP bracelets.)

Coming in third in Event #33 was Bob Lauria of West Haven, Connecticut, USA, copping $125,737.

At fourth spot was Marcel “The Flying Dutchman” Luske of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, snagging $95,069.

In fifth was Annie Duke of Los Angeles, California, recovering from a triple pelvic fracture suffered in a jogging accident and taking home $73,602.

The injury was so severe it caused her to miss the first week of WSOP action.

Finishing sixth was Alessio Isaia of Cuneo, Italy, pocketing $58,268.

Seventh was Steve Sung of Torrance, California, USA, picking up $46,001.

Taking eighth was Bob Beveridge of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, drinking to $36,801.

In ninth was Howard “The Professor” Lederer of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, earning $30,668.

He is Duke’s brother and taught her the game of poker.

Tenth was David Benyamine of Paris, France, winning $30,668.

Well-known poker pros Allen Cunningham, Barry Greenstein and Cyndy Violette finished in 13th, 14th and 23rd places, respectively.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)