Poker Pro Profiles: Michael Binger

by Bodog Poker | Dec 1 2008

Michael Binger first caught the poker public’s attention in 2006 when he made two huge scores at the WSOP with a 6th place finish in a No Limit Holdem preliminary event for just over $100,000 and, more notably, a 3rd place finish in the Main Event for over $4,000,000.

Two months earlier Binger found success in the other passion of his life as he finished his PhD in theoretical physics from Stanford University. University, as it seems, is so often the case with young poker pros, was also where Binger began to play poker.

Binger spent the first three years of his graduate degree improving his game before taking a one-year break from his studies to focus entirely on poker before going back and finishing his final year. He spent those first three years building up a bankroll by playing small cash games in San Francisco and then moving up to $200 buy-in tournaments. He took his first shot at a WSOP event in 2003 with a $1,500 prelim tournament. He took his first shot at the WSOP Main Event in 2005. But Michael Binger wouldn’t hit his poker stride until 2006 when he would make five significant cashes for a year’s total of $4,328,230.

Since then Binger has continued to run deep in poker tournaments with 11 cashes in 2007 and 20 cashes in 2008 including a recent first place in the 2008 WSOP Circuit Main Event for $181,379.

The WSOP Circuit Event proved to be a bit of a roller coaster for Binger as he came into it as the chip leader with 403,500 over Jake Solis who had the second most with 302,000. Binger took several hits before grinding his way back up to the point where he was heads-up against Ty Stewart who led with 1,156,000 to Binger’s 824,000.

Binger evened things out quickly when his pocket fours made a set on the turn. Then Stewart took down a 200,000 chip pot. Binger didn’t lose his head though and went on to grind his way back up and to give himself a slight chip lead.

The final hand came when Stewart raised it to 40,000 pre-flop and Binger made the call. The flop came 9d-8c-4h and Stewart led the betting again this time with 60,000. Binger raised it to 180,000 and Stewart pushed all-in. Binger only thought about it for a second before calling and showing top pair with Qh-9h giving him a solid lead over Stewart’s middle pair with Ah-8h.

With no help for Stewart on the turn or the river, Michael Binger won his first WSOP Circuit Event and the $181,379 that went with it.

Binger has conceded the value of his physics and math training in helping him to succeed at poker but mostly just in helping him in the early stages of learning the game.

“It was helpful to know the odds of getting dealt certain hands.” He told SEED magazine. But he also warned against putting too much stock in the math component of poker. “It’s not solvable by a computer, and there’s not an exactly perfect model. It’s based on an infinite number of variables. It’s not just the odds of having the best hand, drawing the best hand, the size of the pot, or other numerical factors.”

Clearly, Michael Binger has learned more about poker than just the math. With career winnings at nearly $6,000,000 and being currently ranked No. 6 on the Card Player, Player of the Year rankings, he looks to be a poker player that we are still yet to see the best of.

After winning the WSOP Circuit Event this year Binger told Poker News that he told a friend “that the next time I see him I would be wearing a WSOP Circuit ring. And that's exactly what happened here." When he was asked what his next goal was, he immediately responded, "A gold bracelet."

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