Bernhard Binder Bags First Bracelet And $10 Million At WSOP Paradise

Bernhard Binder

The World Series of Poker Paradise $25,000 super main event’s sights were set astronomically high in 2025. The tournament featured a $60,000,000 guarantee, the largest in poker history.

After four starting flights, two day 2s, and three more days of combined-field action inside the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas, the field swelled to 2,891 entries. That made for a final prize pool of nearly $72.3 million.

The largest share of that staggering total was ultimately awarded to Bernhard Binder. The 27-year-old Austrian online grinder took home $10,000,000 and his first WSOP gold bracelet as the champion.

“This has been on my bucket list, to be honest,” he told WSOP host Jeff Platt after coming out on top. “That it’s the biggest one, it’s not really necessary, I would have taken any other… but we got the biggest one. I can’t complain.”

This was the second major victory of 2025 for Binder. He took down the GGMillion$ main event for $1.8 million online back in February, topping 1,226 entries in the $10,300 buy-in affair.

Binder also earned plenty of rankings points with this triumph. The 4,200 Card Player Player of the Year points that came with the title catapulted him into 45th place in the overall POY standings presented by CoinPoker despite no prior qualified scores. In fact, prior to this mammoth win, his top live score was a $64,500 cash in a Triton high roller from just a few months earlier.

The 1,600 PokerGO Tour points saw Binder climb to 10th on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard. He’s now all but guaranteed a spot in the season-ending $1,000,000 PGT Championship.

Setting The Stage

The huge turnout for this event saw the guarantee surpassed by nearly $12.3 million. A total of 436 finishers earned a share, with plenty of big names among them. Notables who made it to the business end of the tournament included Martin Kabrhel (56th), Santhosh Suvarna (42nd), recent bracelet winner David Coleman (31st), Chad Eveslage (29th), Ren Lin (28th), Lautaro Guerra (25th), Felipe Ramos (23rd), $50,000 WSOP Paradise pot-limit Omaha champion Chalie Hook (14th), and Faraz Jaka (13th).

Eight-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser was eliminated in 10th place via a controversial hand that saw Eric Wasserson take his time calling a preflop all-in with pocket aces. Glaser was in rough shape with A-Q and settled for $665,875 after being knocked out on the final table bubble. He was soon joined by Leonard Maue, who ran pocket kings into the pocket aces of Jean-Noel Thorel to finish 9th ($850,000).

First Three To Hit The Rail

The final table began with eight remaining and Thorel in pole position. The first elimination of the day saw severe short stack Franco Spitale run A♠J♦ into the Q♠Q♦ of Wasserson. The board came down 9♠8♥3♥9♦10♠ and Spitale was sent packing in eighth place. The Argentinian bracelet winner earned $1,100,000 for his second career seven-figure score. He had previously taken home $1,250,125 as the 2024 WSOP Millionaire Maker champion.

Peter Chien got his last 10 big blinds in a dominating position, but his A♥K♥ was unable to hold against the A♦Q♣ of Binder. The board brought four diamonds to end Chien’s run in seventh place ($1,400,000). This was by far the largest score yet for the Canadian.

Natasha Mercier was left on fumes when her A-8 lost a big clash with Terrance Reid’s A-J. Mercier, who three-bet jammed from the big blind over a button open, had Reid covered by just a few big blinds. She got all-in on the following hand with A♥Q♠ facing the K♦8♦ of Thorel, who isolated and forced out the initial raiser in Reid. The 10♣9♣2♥Q♣K♣ runout gave Thorel kings on the river for the win. Mercier, the wife of six-time bracelet winner Jason Mercier, secured a career-best score of $1,800,000 as the sixth-place finisher. She now boasts more than $3.2 million in lifetime earnings after this result.

This marked the second straight year that a female player made a final-table run in this event, with Liv Boeree having placed fourth in 2024 for $2.8 million.

Wild Hand Amidst Shorthanded Stalemate

Five-handed play continued for multiple hours without any knockouts. There was plenty of jockeying for position along the way, including one of the wildest hands of the day. Belarmino De Souza min-raised to 16,000,000 from the hijack with J♦10♦ and Bernhard Binder called out of the small blind with J♥10♥. Thorel came along with Q♥2♥ in the big blind and the flop came down K♥9♦2♦. It checked through and the Q♠ rolled off on the turn. Binder led out for 37,000,000 and Thorel folded his queens-up, prompting WSOP livestream commentator Henry Kilbane to question if he was aware he’d made two pair. De Souza called with his nut straight and flush redraw.

The Q♣ river would have given Thorel a winning full house. Instead, Binder overbet, putting De Souza to a test for his remaining 183,000,0000. De Souza, who had a single time bank remaining, eventually folded his the straight, which would have been good for a chop.

“A hand so bonkers you have to see it to believe it” –@RealKidPoker

What did we just witness in the $25K Super Main?@GGPoker @atlantisbahamas pic.twitter.com/suqbBotdN7

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 19, 2025

Wasserson was the next to hit the rail. He three-bet shoved for 109,000,000 with A♥J♠ over a Binder min-raise to 16,000,000. Binder called with K♦Q♠ and made a flush on a Q♦10♦6♦J♦A♣ runout to send Wasserson packing in fifth place ($2,350,000). This narrowly set a new personal best for the bracelet winner, topping the $2,287,000 he earned with a fourth-place finish in a $200,000 Triton Montenegro event earlier this year.

More Multi-Million-Dollar Payouts

Reid, a poker media member and increasingly accomplished tournament player, secured $3,000,000 as the fourth-place finisher. His final hand began with a min-raise to 20,000,000 from a surging Binder, who held J♠6♠ in the cutoff. Thorel called from the button with A♥J♣ and Reid defended his big blind with 8♥7♥. The flop came down 10♠7♠2♠ and Reid checked to the initial raiser, who bet 18,000,000. Thorel folded and Reid check-raised all-in for 88,000,000. Binder quickly called with his flopped flush and had Reid drawing dead after the Q♥ turn.

The 5♥ on the end was a mere formality. Reid headed to the rail to collect his first seven-figure score. Prior to this, his top payday had been the $192,755 he secured with a win in a $2,500 RunGood Poker Series event at Thunder Valley in 2024.

The next big hand began with Thorel limping from the small blind with 8♥4♦. De Souza checked his option with 10♠6♥. The flop brought the 10♦5♠4♥ to give both players a pair. Thorel check-called 15,000,000 from out of position and the 4♠ turn gave him trips and the lead. He checked again. De Souza opted for the exact same bet on the turn. Thorel called and the river 4♣ gave him quads. He checked a third time and then moved all-in after De Souza bet 90,000,000. The Brazilian called with his fours full of tens and was shown the bad news. The $4,000,000 third-place payout was a new high score, besting the $261,249 he’d earned with a runner-up showing in a 2020 WSOP Online $2,500 six-max event.

Heads-Up For The Glory

The final showdown for the bracelet and the eight-figure top prize began with Binder holding 905,000,000 to Thorel’s 542,000.

The early action favored the Frenchman, and he soon overtook the lead. The two were virtually tied when the next break arrived.

Less than one big blind separates them! 🤯

Stacks are virtually dead even in the $25K Super Main Event 👈

The final two are heading into a 15-minute break and will return for Level 39 with blinds at 6,000,000 / 12,000,000 (12,000,000 BB ante).

💰 Remaining Payouts
🏆 1st:… pic.twitter.com/GtZU1P2myh

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 19, 2025

The gloves came off after that, as both players were able to win big pots via aggression. Thorel bluffed with a missed straight draw in a big pot and was able to get a quick fold from Binder’s missed low flush draw. Not too long after that, Binder jammed the river with a missed straight draw and forced Thorel off of second pair.

The two battled through the following level without any major drama. Eventually, though, as the rising blinds made their impact felt, Binder began to pull away. He won a big pot value betting second pair and getting called by third pair to kick off his final push to the title.

Thorel was down below 20 big blinds when the final hand of the tournament was dealt. With blinds of 8,000,000-16,000,000, he opened to 58,000,000 on the button holding K♦Q♠. Binder three-bet jammed from the big blind with A♣8♣ and Thorel called all-in for 309,000,000 total. The 9♦6♣2♥3♠8♠ runout gave Binder a pair of eights for the win.

Thorel earned $6,000,000 as the runner-up. His lifetime earnings now exceed $27.8 million, extending his lead as France’s top tournament earner. All five of his top scores have now come in second-place showings, with three additional multi-million-dollar paydays among them.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP X account.