2020 World Series of Poker Online: Nick Binger Wins His Second Gold Bracelet

The 2020 World Series of Poker Online $400 no-limit hold;em eight-max event drew a sizable field of 2,408 total entries. It took roughly 12 hours for that virtual sea of players to be narrowed down to a champion, and in the end it was Nick ‘samadhi’ Binger that emerged victorious with the title. Binger overcame a tough final table to win his second career WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $133,412. This was the second career bracelet for Binger, who won the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event for $397,073 back in 2011.

Binger now has career tournament earnings in excess of $2.3 million. His brother Michael Binger finished third in the 2006 WSOP main event for more than $4.1 million. The Binger brothers collectively have cashed for more than $9.3 million on the tournament circuit.

This event attracted 1,590 unique players, who collectively re-ented a total of 818 times to create a final prize pool of $866,880 in this $400 buy-in event. The top 330 finishers made the money, with a min-cash being worth $694. Among the many notable players to cash in this tournament were Roland ‘prngls12’ Israelashvili (315th – $694), bracelet winner Ankush ‘rickrosstheb’ Mandavia (314th – $694), six-time bracelet winner Daniel ‘DNegs’ Negreanu (193rd – $867), three-time bracelet winner and 2015 world champion Joe ‘fanofdapoker’ McKeehen (186th – $867), bracelet winner Galen ‘turkmalloy’ Hall (151st – $1,040), bracelet winner Jason ‘haderade’ Somerville (149th – $1,040), Ali ‘SasukeUchiha" Imsirovic (82nd – $1,300), four-time bracelet winner Mike ’mouth123’ Matusow (30th – $3,381), and Frank ‘Spaghettiii’ Marasco (25th – $4,248).

By the time the final table was set, Binger had worked his way to the top of the leaderboard, with WSOP bracelet winner Ryan ‘Adopt_aDogg0 Leng sitting in second place after busting Jordan ’HFNeon’ Spurlin on the final table bubble (9th – $11,009). Binger extended his lead event further by winning ap reflop race with 88 up against the A9 of Christian ‘CalcFather’ Calcano. The runout improved neither player and Binger’s pocket pair was enough to send Calcano to the virtual rail in eighth place ($14,217).

Matt ‘Berkey11_S4Y’ Berkey was the next to fall. The high-stakes cash game player got his last chips in with A10 against the KQ of Phil ‘eric_shun’ Beesley. Berkey’s ace high was the best hand through the flop and turn, but the river filled Beesley’s gutshot straight draw. Berkey earned $18,638 for his seventh-place showing, which was his sixth cash of the series.

Norman ‘abnormality’ Michalek was on fumes heading into the next all-in confrontation. He got all-in for barely more than a big blind holding A-10, and was called in two places. After minimal action, Leng showed down Q-3 offsuit which had made a pair of threes on the river. It was good enough to earn Leng the pot and eliminate Michalek. He
cashed for $24,706 as the sixth-place finsiher.

Mark ‘bansman’ Bansemar’s run in this event ended when he lost a battle of the blinds. It had folded around to Leng, who now held the chip lead. He shoved from the small blind with J3 and Bansemar called for his last 7.7 big blindw with pocket sevens. Bansemar’s pocket pair held up until a jack on the river gave Leng the superior pair. Bansemarw was knocked out in fifth place, earning $32,941 for his deep run.

Binger closed the gap a bit on a surging Leng by eliminating Ian ‘aulululululu’ Waldron, who shoved his last five or so big blinds with K9 from the small blind. Binger called holding 107 from the big blind and made a flush on the river to bust Waldron in fourth place ($44,298). With that Binger grew his stack to just shy of 13 million, while Leng sat with more than 18 million.

Beesley was able to battle back from being the clear short stack during three-handed action. Any momentum Beesley might have built was abruptly halted in the following hand, though. Leng limped in from the small blind with Q8 for 320,000 and Beesley checked holding 109. The flop came down J96 and Leng bet 333,333. Beesley called with his middle pair and the A was dealt on the turn. Leng bet 666,666. Beesley called and the K completed the board. Leng bet 3,669,669 with his rivered nut flush. Beesley elected to turn his hand into a bluff and moved all-in for around 11.9 million. Leng snap-called with his unbeatable hand and Beesley was eliminated in third place ($60,161).

With that Leng took more than a 3.5:1 lead into heads-up play with Binger. Two massive preflop all-ins that went Binger’s way quickly turned the tables. Binger got all-in with Q-10 suited against the A-9 of Leng and made a pair of queens to find his first double up. He then picked up pocket kings and got all of the chips in against the pocket fours of Leng. Binger’s larger pocket pair held up and he took a 2:1 lead of his own.

In the final hand Binger shoved from the button with K8. Leng called for his last 12 big blinds with 99. Binger had a single overcard, which he paired on a KQ2 flop to take the lead. Leng picked up a flush draw to go with his two outs for a set. The 4 on the turn and the 7 on the river were of no help to Leng, though, and he was knocked out in second place, falling just short of his second WSOP bracelet. He earned $82,440 for his runner-up showing in this event.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: WSOP.

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