Theorist dreams big and wins $4 million

Theorist dreams big and wins $4 million
"Since middle school, I've always had plans to get rich," says Michael Binger, a theoretical particle physicist at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. On August 11, 2006 his dream came true: Binger placed third at the World Series of Poker Championships in Las Vegas and walked away with $4,123,310. The no-limit Texas Hold'em tournament drew nearly 9000 entrants, with each paying a $10,000 "buy-in" to supply the $87 million later apportioned among the top 10 percent of players.

Photo: Krista Zala

"The championship included all the best players on earth, and a lot of the worst players," Binger says. "It's about knowing how to weave your way through people and survive." Stakes were raised every two hours. At the 36th level, the minimum bet was $400,000. After another player folded, leading chip holder Jamie Gold drew a straight to beat Binger's pair of tens, landing the SLAC physicist in third place.

Binger recalls a year-long surreptitious game of seven-card stud in his high school sophomore chemistry class. He moved from blackjack to poker in 2001. After winning a thousand dollars on a good day at Lucky Chances south of San Francisco, he tried a table with higher stakes. "I stepped into that and got killed," he says. "I realized there was more to the game than I'd known." Binger studied books on poker with the goal of winning back the $10,000 he had lost, and did so within months. "Blackjack is entirely solvable," he says, "but poker always involves adjusting to the precise environment. That environment includes the vagaries of opponents' psychology—as well as luck."

Over the last five years, Binger has spliced forays into poker with earning a doctorate in theoretical particle physics from Stanford. Beyond skills in probability and statistics, Binger says "there's very little direct overlap" between physics and poker. While doing research at SLAC, Binger plans to compete on the poker tournament circuit about once a month. He says he will keep financial plans modest—unless he's bluffing. 

Krista Zala