Michael Binger was born in Delray Beach FL on December 20th, 1976. After moving to Raleigh NC at age 12 he began to show an interest in science, math, and competitive games. He attended college at NCSU from 1995–1999 where he graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in physics and a B.S. in mathematics, while simultaneously completing research in theoretical particle physics and earning a Masters degree in physics. Michael then moved to the San Fancsico Bay area in 1999 to attend graduate school at Stanford University where he continued his study of theoretical physics. At the same time, he became interested in gambling, first learning to play blackjack seriously, and then turning to poker.
After discovering that he could make good money playing poker, Binger decided to take a year off of graduate school from 2002–2003 to play poker full-time. He returned to school the next year while continuing to play poker part-time. After completing his Ph.D. in particle physics in June 2006, he immediately turned his full attention to preparing for the World Series of Poker. In the six events he played, he made two final tables, including a 6th place finish out of 2126 players in a $1,500 buy-in event for a win of over $100,000 and a 3rd place finish out of 8,773 players in the World Championship Main Event for a win of over $4.1 million. Since then, Michael has traveled the world playing in the biggest tournaments and cash games around.
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