ChampionBernhard Binder!
Bernhard Binder celebrated his first win on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju tonight with an arrow-sharp moment of Austrian humour.
"This is super special," Binder said, preparing to collect his first trophy and a paycheck of $2,137,953. "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 gaggle of Vienna-based poker pros railing the event and seeing another one of their group dominate on the biggest stage. But even though this was clearly a tongue-in-cheek moment, Binder's cruise to the win seemed so straightforward it was as if he might have been doing it in his sleep.
"I love to play the highest buy-ins, I love to play the toughest fields," the 27-year-old said. And this dream run came in an event with a $125,000 buy-in, which meant all the very best in the world took a seat.
But Binder destroyed them all — as he had in the $25K WSOP Main Event in the Bahamas in December, which he won for $10 million.
The Austrian crew join Bernhard Binder
In this tournament, Binder held the chip lead for long periods of the second and final day, entering the final behind only the three-time Triton champion Kiat Lee. But Binder had put himself back at the top of the leaderboard by the time he, Lee and Danilo Velasevic agreed a three-way deal, with Binder locking up the most.
He won a huge pot from Velasevic to gain a true stranglehold on proceedings. And with Lee hitting the rail in third, Binder made short work of Velasevic too, winning the tournament on the first hand of heads-up.
Binder said he didn't take 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 win in Paradise catapulted him into the limelight, Binder seems like he is here to stay.
Another big win for Bernhard Binder
TOURNAMENT ACTION
The buy-in hit six figures for the first time in the hold'em phase of this festival, and with each stack of 200,000 chips costing $125,000, it meant that 84 entries put a stunning $10.5 million in the prize pool.
All the usual bosses were in town and aiming for the top positions, but as the field slimmed towards the money, and then further towards the final, there were plenty of slightly less familiar names still involved. Bernhard Binder led the way for long periods, with Yosuke Miki also enjoying his best run near the top of the counts.
The stone bubble accounted for another familiar name: Wang Ye, who perished in 15th. Wang, who has three times finished in the top three in $100K+ buy-in events, finished this one in the worst place. He lost all but one of his nine blinds in a flip against Eelis Parssinen (55 < AK) and Miki finished him off.
Bubble this time for Wang Ye
The contraction to the final ended the runs of recent champ Daniel Rezaei, as well as perennial challengers Jason Koon and Kayhan Mokri. Meanwhile fellow multiple winner Kiat Lee won a huge pot from Duc Anh Nguyen — boat over boat — to soar into the lead, with Nguyen's eventual elimination in eighth confirming the final table line up.
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)
Event 8 final table players (clockwise from back left): Yosuke Miki, Jesse Lonis, Danilo Velasevic, Bernhard Binder, Paulius Vaitiekunas, Kiat Lee, Danny Tang.
Paulius Vaitiekunas was at his third final table of this trip to Jeju, having finished fifth in the Triton ONE High Roller and followed up with an eighth-place finish in the $25K Jupiter event. The good form rolled into this event too, although he reached the final with the smallest stack.
He did what he had to do, which was get his remaining chips in when he found the first playable hand. And he might have been hoping for a double when he took pocket 10s up against Binder's A10. The desperately unlucky runout of QJJ4Q counterfeited his pair, however, and Binder's ace proved decisive.
Vaitiekunas added another $493,000 to his balance sheet, however, which is his biggest score from all those successes this time in Jeju.
NO HARD FEELINGS AS BINDER, RIGHT, BUSTS PAULIUS VAITIEKUNAS
Danny Tang was now the shortest stack, but things also hadn't been going according to plan for Miki. The last Japanese in the field lost half his stack to Binder, who flopped trips holding Q9. That left Miki with a sub-15 blind stack, and he too was looking for a good spot.
When action folded to him on the button, he had A10 and pushed. However, Lee was sitting in the big blind with pocket eights and had plenty of chips. He made the call.
There was nothing for Miki to get excited about on the flop, and then the 8 turn left Miki drawing dead. Sixth place here was a new career high for him, and it was worth $628,000.
A NEW HIGH FOR YOSUKE MIKI
Tang still hadn't managed to get anything going at this final, but crucially he was still involved as the tournament reached its last five. He managed to pick up the blinds a few times with unanswered pre-flop raises, but still had only six blinds when he committed almost all of it from the button holding K3 and his good friend Lee called from the small blind.
Tang had kept one small blind behind, and that didn't go in until the dealer had put the 66J flop and 7 turn in the middle, by which point Lee's Q10 had become a flush draw. The 3 river was one of the cards Tang was praying not to see, but the fates were against him on this one.
All the same, another excellent showing from Tang earned him another $804,000 for fifth. It was already his fourth final table of the trip, including one in Triton ONE.
DANNY TANG FELL TO HIS GOOD FRIEND KIAT LEE
Jesse Lonis was another player with a sensational reputation and all the tools at his disposal to make a run at the title, but for whom things hadn't quite fallen his way at the final.
He wisely sat out most of the early action as shorter stacks took the walk, but with Tang and Vaitikunas gone (as well as Miki), Lonis became the player most under threat. He took matters into his own hands and, in the space of five hands, was all in four times. He chopped one with Lee, picked up blinds and antes uncontested on two others, but then bust on the fifth.
He three-bet shoved AJ over Binder's open. But Binder called with AQ and both players hit their kickers on the flop. The river was an ace to give them both two pair, but Binder's hand remained best.
Lonis won $1,001,000 for fourth — the first time this trip a fourth place has been worth more than $1 million.
A million bucks and a fourth place for Jesse Lonis
With three players left, the stacks were close. Binder had 49 blinds, Lee had 46 and Danilo Velasevic had 39. They called for Luca Vivaldi and asked to look at the numbers, quickly agreeing on a straight ICM deal.
That meant Binder guaranteed himself $1,937,953. Lee locked up $1,907,447. Velasevic signed for a minimum $1,825,600. There was $200,000 still to play for, as well as a Triton trophy and baseball cap.
The last three agree a deal, with the help of Luca Vivaldi
Velasevic might have had the shortest stack when they restarted, but he quickly moved into the lead. And that ended up giving him a small cushion when the biggest pot of the tournament played out soon after and put Binder into an overwhelming lead.
This is one for the highlights reel. Velasevic opened his button holding AK. Lee called in the small blind, and Binder also opted to call, despite holding only 72. The flop was the intriguing 9K5.
Lee checked, Binder checked and Velasevic bet his top pair. Lee folded but Binder called with his draw. The 7 turn gave Binder a pair now to go with that draw, and he check-called Velasevic's further bet.
The 9 river was gin for Binder. He checked again and Velasevic put in a bet big enough to cover Binder. He called, of course, with his flush and won an absolute monster. He suddenly had 98 blinds; Lee had 25 and Velasevic's chip lead had evaporated to 8 blinds.
If anyone asks you why poker players agree to deals at the end of poker tournaments, tell them about this hand.
Velasevic doubled. His K7 beat Binder's 98. But Lee was heading in the other direction. He lost almost everything he had in a pot against Binder when Lee bet the river for all but one of his chips looking at a board of 52325 and instead of either just calling or folding, Binder raised and asked for the last of it. Lee folded, leaving a solitary chip.
Another incredible run from Kiat Lee
Binder took it on the next hand instead, when his 102 beat not only Lee's 94 but Velasevic's K9 as well. Velasevic was down to 12 blinds again, but Lee was out. He took that $1,907,447 he had locked up earlier. That's a first, a third and a fourth already for Lee on this trip.
Binder had an absolutely overwhelming lead at this point, and Velasevic had a mountain to climb. And though we've seen it before, this wasn't to be one of those monumental comebacks. Velasevic couldn't even get his hiking boots on, much less start scaling even the foothills.
On the very first had of heads up, Binder jammed with J7 and Velasevic called for his tournament holding AK. But there was simply no stopping Binder. Two diamonds on the flop gave him plenty of outs, then the 7 turn put him ahead.
Danilo Velasevic battled to second
Velasevic wasn't saved by the 2 river. The tournament, and the delight, belonged to that young Austrian boy who slept beneath the Triton bed sheets.
Event 8 - $125,000 NLH 7-Handed
Dates: March 22-23, 2026
Entries: 84 (inc. 30 re-entries)
Prize pool: $10,500,000
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
