Bernhard Binder celebrated his first Triton Poker Super High Roller Series win in Jeju tonight, and he marked the moment with a perfectly timed piece of Austrian humour.
“This is super special,” Binder said, preparing to collect his first trophy and a $2,137,953 payday. “When I was a kid I remember my parents used to buy me Triton bed sheets and I was dreaming of playing Triton one time in my life. And now I win the title, so this is a dream come true.”
The joke landed perfectly with the group of Vienna-based poker pros railing the event. But even though the line was clearly tongue-in-cheek, Binder’s cruise to the title was so smooth it almost looked effortless.
“I love to play the highest buy-ins, I love to play the toughest fields,” the 27-year-old said. This latest dream run came in a $125,000 buy-in event that drew all the best players in the world.
He beat every single one of them, just as he had in the $25K WSOP Main Event in the Bahamas back in December, which he won for $10 million.
Binder held the chip lead for long stretches on the second and final day, entering the final table behind only three-time Triton champion Kiat Lee. He had worked his way back to the top by the time he, Lee and Danilo Velasevic agreed a three-way ICM deal, with Binder locking up the largest share.
A massive pot off Velasevic gave Binder a firm grip on the tournament. Once Lee hit the rail in third, Binder made short work of Velasevic, winning it all on the very first hand of heads-up play.
Binder said he never took anything for granted. “Honestly it was never on my mind that this was my game,” he said. “But a lot of things went my way.”
After that breakthrough win in the Bahamas put him in the spotlight, Binder is looking very much like he belongs there for the long haul.
Tournament Action
The buy-in broke six figures for the first time during this festival’s hold’em stretch. With each 200,000-chip stack priced at $125,000, 84 entries built a $10.5 million prize pool.
All the familiar faces were in town chasing the top spots, but as the field thinned toward the money and then toward the final table, a handful of slightly less recognisable names were still very much in the mix. Binder led for long stretches, with Yosuke Miki also putting together his best run near the top of the counts.
The stone bubble claimed another well-known name in Wang Ye, who went out in 15th. Wang, who has three times finished in the top three at $100K-plus events, lost all but one of his nine big blinds in a flip against Eelis Parssinen before busting.
The push to the final table ended the runs of recent champion Daniel Rezaei along with perennial contenders Jason Koon and Kayhan Mokri. Meanwhile fellow multiple winner Kiat Lee scooped a massive pot from Duc Anh Nguyen in a boat-over-boat cooler to rocket into the lead, with Nguyen’s eventual elimination in eighth confirming the final table lineup.
Final Table Chip Counts:
- Kiat Lee: 5,075,000 (85 BBs)
- Bernhard Binder: 3,030,000 (51 BBs)
- Yosuke Miki: 2,950,000 (49 BBs)
- Jesse Lonis: 2,375,000 (40 BBs)
- Danilo Velasevic: 2,125,000 (35 BBs)
- Danny Tang: 890,000 (15 BBs)
- Paulius Vaitiekunas: 515,000 (9 BBs)
Paulius Vaitiekunas was playing his third final table of the Jeju trip, having finished fifth in the Triton ONE High Roller and eighth in the $25K Jupiter event. The form carried over, even if he arrived at this final table with the shortest stack.
He did what the situation called for: get it in with the first playable hand. He found pocket tens against Binder’s A-10, and a chop looked possible until the board ran out Q-J-J-4-Q to counterfeit his pair. Binder’s ace played, and Vaitiekunas was out in seventh. Still, the $493,000 score was his biggest of a very productive Jeju trip.
Binder busts Paulius Vaitiekunas. No hard feelings.
Danny Tang was now the shortest stack, but things had also gone sideways for Miki. He lost half his stack to Binder, who flopped trips with Q-9, leaving Miki with fewer than 15 big blinds and looking for a spot.
He found one on the button with A-10 and moved in. Lee, sitting in the big blind with pocket eights and plenty of chips, made the call. There was nothing to help Miki on the flop, and the eight on the turn left him drawing dead. Sixth place was a new career best, worth $628,000.
Tang had struggled to find any traction at this final, but crucially he was still alive as the field reached five-handed. He picked up the blinds a few times with unopposed pre-flop raises, though he was still sitting on just six big blinds when he committed nearly all of it from the button with K-3. Lee called from the small blind.
Tang kept one blind behind, and it stayed there through the 6-6-J flop and 7 turn, by which point Lee had picked up a flush draw with Q-10. The 3 on the river was the last card Tang wanted to see. He was gone in fifth, but another strong showing earned him $804,000. It was already his fourth final table of the trip, including one in Triton ONE.
Jesse Lonis had all the credentials to make a title run, but the final table had been slow going. He wisely stayed patient as the shorter stacks got their chips in, but with Tang and Vaitiekunas gone and Miki out, Lonis became the most vulnerable player at the table.
He took matters into his own hands. Over five hands, he was all in four times: chopping one with Lee, picking up blinds and antes uncontested on two others, then busting on the fifth. He three-bet shoved A-J over Binder’s open. Binder called with A-Q. Both hit their kicker on the flop. The river brought an ace to give both players two pair, but Binder’s queen kept him ahead.
Lonis earned $1,001,000 for fourth, the first time this trip a fourth-place finish broke seven figures.
With three players left and stacks running close at 49, 46 and 39 big blinds for Binder, Lee and Velasevic respectively, they sent for Luca Vivaldi and ran the ICM numbers. A deal came together quickly: Binder guaranteed $1,937,953, Lee locked up $1,907,447, and Velasevic secured a floor of $1,825,600. There was still $200,000, a Triton trophy and a baseball cap left to play for.
Velasevic entered the three-handed restart as the short stack, but he quickly moved into the lead. That cushion mattered when the tournament’s most pivotal hand played out shortly after.
Velasevic opened the button with A-K. Lee called from the small blind, and Binder called too, holding 7-2. The flop came 9-K-5. Lee checked, Binder checked, and Velasevic bet into his top pair. Lee folded. Binder called with a draw.
The 7 on the turn gave Binder a pair to go with the draw. He check-called Velasevic’s second barrel.
The 9 on the river completed Binder’s flush. He checked again, Velasevic bet enough to cover him, and Binder called with the nuts. A monster pot swung his way. He suddenly had 98 big blinds; Lee had 25, and Velasevic’s chip lead had completely evaporated to just 8 big blinds.
If you ever need to explain why players agree to ICM deals at the end of poker tournaments, this is the hand to show them.
Velasevic doubled back with K-7 beating Binder’s 9-8. But Lee was heading the other way. He fired nearly all of his chips on the river into a board of 5-2-3-2-5, and instead of calling or folding, Binder raised and put Lee to a decision for his last chip. Lee let it go, leaving himself with one blind behind.
Binder took that last chip on the next hand. His 10-2 outran both Lee’s 9-4 and Velasevic’s K-9 when the board fell his way. Velasevic dropped back to 12 big blinds, and Lee was out in third, collecting the $1,907,447 he had locked up in the deal. It was already his first, third and fourth finish of the Jeju trip.
Binder held an overwhelming lead with Velasevic needing a massive comeback. It never materialised. On the very first hand of heads-up play, Binder moved all in with J-7. Velasevic called for his tournament life holding A-K. The 7 on the turn put him out in front.
The 2 on the river changed nothing. Velasevic finished second.
The tournament and the trophy belonged to the young Austrian who once slept under Triton bed sheets.
Results: Event 8, $125,000 NLH 7-Handed
Dates: March 22-23, 2026
Entries: 84 (including 30 re-entries)
Prize Pool: $10,500,000
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bernhard Binder | Austria | $2,137,953* |
| 2 | Danilo Velasevic | Serbia | $1,825,600 |
| 3 | Kiat Lee | Malaysia | $1,907,447* |
| 4 | Jesse Lonis | USA | $1,001,000 |
| 5 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | $804,000 |
| 6 | Yosuke Miki | Japan | $628,000 |
| 7 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | Lithuania | $493,000 |
*Reflects three-way ICM deal with $200,000 remaining for the winner.
