On Dec. 12, Card Player columnist and high-stakes tournament pro Sam Greenwood posted to Twitter/X, asking who were the next breakout players on the circuit.
“When people list the best poker players in the world, the players who are picked are players [that are already] running hot. I want people to call their shot. Who are the great poker talents that are currently in poor form, that will have great results in 2026?”
Mario Mosböck, a three-time Triton champion, pointed to fellow Austrian and relative unknown Bernhard Binder. While Mosböck had confidence, he couldn’t have known that his prediction would come true even before the calendar switched over to 2026.
Just a week later, Binder found himself as the last man standing in the World Series of Poker Paradise $25,000 super main event. He earned $10 million, his first bracelet, and one of the biggest titles in poker.
It was a transformative year for the 27-year-old, to say the least. In addition to the life-changing score in The Bahamas, Binder took down the online GGMillion$ main event in February for just over $1.8 million. Later that month, he made his high roller debut at the Triton series in Jeju.
For a player who started out at micro stakes in 2021, Binder’s trajectory has been meteoric. And while he can’t be considered a breakout player anymore, he certainly looks like a good candidate for more incredible results in the years to come.
Card Player spoke with Binder about his poker origin story, his massive WSOP Paradise victory, and the drama he experienced at the final table over his CoinPoker sponsorship patch.
Poker Origins
Tim Fiorvanti: You’ve only been playing tournament poker for a few years. Can you talk about how poker became a part of your life, and how your career began?
Bernhard Binder: I started playing tournament poker four years ago. Before that, I was playing a little bit of cash, and a little bit of [spin-n-go’s], but only for a few months. I got into poker because my best friend Samuel Mullur was already a pro. I think a lot of people are familiar with him. (Editor’s note: Mullur has $12 million in cashes and a WSOP bracelet himself.)
And yeah, I started at the very bottom. Started playing micro stakes. I can’t remember the time period exactly, but I think after half a year or so, I reached mid stakes. And then in my second year of playing, I reached high stakes, having never played in a stable. I just grinded up on my own, with help from just a few friends.
I reached super high stakes in year three. My first Triton stop was in Jeju, [in 2025], but before that, I had already played super high stakes online.
Tim Fiorvanti: Was there a particular tournament or stretch of results prior to winning the GGMillion$ event that stands out as particularly important?
Bernhard Binder: I’d say multiple big scores helped boost my career. I can remember all the way back when I won a $25 tournament on a Sunday early on, which was for $6,000. That was huge back then, because I could move up in stakes after I won that. There’s always some progress. It’s tournament poker. Whenever you have a big score, it makes a big difference.
Graduating To High Rollers
Tim Fiorvanti: You posted your first career live result in 2023. Was live poker a consideration when you started to play online seriously?
Bernhard Binder: Not at all. When I started playing poker, I didn’t think about live poker at all. I was just trying to see if [online poker] would even work for me. It was not like I was planning that far ahead.
I think in general, before you can really play live poker, you should play at least a little bit of online. You have to build a bankroll because live tournaments carry much higher buy-ins. Of course, you can play and be staked, but I’m not a big fan of selling the majority of my action if I don’t have to.
When the results started coming in, I then looked at live poker. I was lucky enough to be able to play Triton events early in my career, because I got a staking offer. I think in those Triton tournaments, most players are staked, simply because the buy-ins are so incredibly high.
It’s awesome to play Tritons, obviously. It’s the biggest stage in poker. But I think you get used to the buy-ins pretty quickly.
It’s similar to what I experienced online. You play your first $100 tournament, and you play your first $1,000 tournament. The first $5,000, the first $10,000 buy-in. Sure, all of these steps feel special, but you get used to it very quickly.
I mean, $100,000 is crazy money, but if you do it a few times, you get used to it. It’s what you have to do, and it is the place you want to be, among the biggest tournament poker players in the world.
A Dream Run In The Bahamas
Tim Fiorvanti: There were a lot of tournament options in December. What made you choose WSOP Paradise?
Bernhard Binder: I mean, The Bahamas stop is one of the biggest opportunities of the year, so the decision to go there was not really a decision. You’re going to do it. You also have a few Triton tournaments there, which is also quite nice, even though it is smaller than a typical Triton schedule.
The super main event is a special tournament. Even though it is a big buy-in, you still have so many runners because it’s heavily promoted, with a lot of satellites. The tournament is just really cool to play.
Tim Fiorvanti: What was it like to play a long-structured live event, which is something you hadn’t had a lot of experience with prior to this tournament?
Bernhard Binder: Yeah, my online experience and this specific tournament are not very comparable. It’s a five-day event, with multiple day ones, so the tournament basically goes on forever. It’s more intense, definitely. And bagging day 3 and beyond… online or with Tritons, you very rarely have three-day events.
Mentally, it’s a different challenge. I would still say I’m a much better online poker player than live, just because I have a lot more experience in it. But I still managed to win this one.
Tim Fiorvanti: How much attention did your big win get you?
Bernhard Binder: While I don’t really mind the attention, I also don’t seek it out. I got messages from people I haven’t heard from in 10 years. I grew up in a small village in Austria, and people from the village who I don’t even know, or barely know, contacted me and congratulated me.
Getting Patched Up And Patched Down
Tim Fiorvanti: You decided to represent online poker site CoinPoker during the broadcast but were later told by staff that you had to take the patch off. Was that a significant distraction for you, especially when you were playing for such a massive payout?
Bernhard Binder: Yeah, to be honest, it was annoying. I think Triton has a rule that the sponsorship patch can’t be too big, but the small sizes are okay, something like that.
But WSOP, they told me it’s their rules, they can prohibit any type of sponsorship if they want to. So basically, there was no room for me to discuss anything. Sure, it was annoying in the moment, but you have to just accept it and try not think about it. It’s more important to stay focused.
An Insane Hand From The Tournament
Tim Fiorvanti: The final table was quite entertaining from a viewer’s perspective, but obviously, your experience is much different than ours. The first thing that comes to mind was the big hand you played against Belarmino De Souza during five-handed play.
On a board of K♥9♦2♦Q♠, you bet with J♥10♥ and Jean-Noel Thorel snap-folded Q♥2♥ for two pair. De Souza called with J♦10♦, and you were able to get him to fold when the Q♣ paired the board. Thorel would have made a full house, but instead of losing the pot or only getting half, you scooped the whole thing.
Bernhard Binder: While I was playing in the moment, I didn’t think that it was that crazy of a hand. I mean, of course, it was a big part of my run, but it wasn’t so unusual given [I only knew my cards]. When the live stream caught up, and I saw what the other players had, then I realized it was an insane hand.
Tim Fiorvanti: Thorel’s fold potentially had a lot of unexpected consequences, particularly for De Souza who could have potentially gotten it all in on the turn, or at least felt pot-committed enough to go with it on the river.
Bernhard Binder: Honestly, I’m like 99% sure Thorel misread his hand. He thought he had just naked queen. I don’t know how the hand plays out if he realized he had two pair. [The other straight] could have raised again, and I might have reraised, and then he might have folded his two pair anyway.
It was not the best river for my hand, because the board paired, and I didn’t have the nuts anymore, but I still had a really strong hand. I went all in for value. Getting the same hand to fold was really fortunate for me.
Tim Fiorvanti: How long before you found out their hands?
Bernhard Binder: I had a big rail, and some of them did watch the stream. But even when there were breaks, I was telling them to only tell me stuff that can help me, not just random stuff. They were trying to help me with the most important stuff. Getting a break is important, because it’s really exhausting to play so many days in a row. You need that break. But yeah, I think that one, someone told me rather quickly.
A Long Battle For The Bracelet
Tim Fiorvanti: Those chips helped you to get to heads-up play with Thorel. Can you talk about the match for the bracelet with an extra $4 million on the line?
Bernhard Binder: It took forever. I can’t even remember how long it was, but it was really long, actually. (Editor’s note: It lasted about three and a half hours.)
I was a little bit surprised how hard JNT fought, considering his age (78). He was able to focus for that long amount of time and still play decently. I thought he also played good strategies, often raising the button 3x or 4x, pushing the variance a little bit.
If I was his coach, I would have told him to do that, so maybe he got coaching. I thought he played pretty well. It was a really exhausting match, and in the end, I managed to win it.
Bernhard Binder
— Mario Mosböck (@mariomosboeck) December 12, 2025
- Photos courtesy of WSOP, PokerNews, and PokerStars
