Bernhard Binder Wins 1st Bracelet in $25K Super Main Event at WSOP Paradise for $10 Million

WSOP Paradise has concluded from Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Nassau, with Bernhard Binder winning the Event #11: $25,000 Super Main Event for $10,000,000. Binder topped the 2,891-entrant field to win his first WSOP bracelet and earn 1,600 PGT points to thrust his way into the Top 10 on the PGT leaderboard.

The Austrian now sits fifth on his country's All-Time Money List with more than $10,328,000 in live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob. He trails Matthias Eibinger, Thomas Muehlocker, Samuel Mullur, and Daniel Rezaei. Binder also joins Max Neugebauer as Austrian WSOP Main Event champions, with Neugebauer winning WSOP Europe in 2023.

The Super Main Event featured a record-setting $60,000,000 prize pool guarantee, and with players given six different days to enter, the final number of 2,891 entrants would create a prize pool of $70,106,750. With many players cashing twice, a total of 436 players would finish in the money. On Day 3, the field would combine and the payouts would begin to escalate. Falling short of a Day 4 berth were Ebony Kenney, Sam Soverel, Joni Jouhkimainen, Lexy Gavin, David Benyamine, Byron Kaverman, Nick Schulman, Noah Schwartz, Michael Moncek, Brock Wilson, Koray Aldemir, Chris Moneymaker, Rainer Kempe, Sergio Aido, Jonathan Jaffe, Joe Cada, Lou Garza, Gabriel Andrade, Nguyen Le, Alex Kulev, Ari Engel, Chad Eveslage, Ren Lin, and Lautaro Guerra. 

Day 4 would play down to the final table of eight as Pascal LeFrancois, Chalie Hook, Faraz Jaka, and Benny Glaser all fell to the rail, before Leonard Maue was eliminated on the final table bubble. Jean-Noel Thorel would hold a dominating chip lead of 89 big blinds over his nearest rival, Binder. Argentinian Franco Spitale was the first casualty when his ace-jack was unable to improve against the pocket queens of Eric Wasserson. The first hand that Canadian Peter Chien would play at the final table would be his elimination as his ace-king would be four-flushed by Binder's ace-queen.

Natasha Mercier exited in sixth place when she shoved all-in with ace-queen and was looked up by Thorel and his king-eight suited. Mercier turned a queen, but a king on the river would send her to the rail. Wasserson exited next when he was all-in with ace-jack against Binder's king-queen. Binder flopped top pair and a flush draw, and found a fourth diamond on the turn to eliminate Wasserson in fifth. Poker.org's Terrance Reid carried the hopes and dreams of poker media, and his fairytale run ended in fourth-place when he shoved second pair on the flop into Binder's flopped flush and was unable to improve.

Brazilian Belarmino De Souza would be eliminated in third place when his pocket jacks was rundown by Thorel's runner-runner quads. Heads-up play would begin with Binder holding a 905 million to 542 million chip lead over Thorel. Thorel would take the lead, but Binder managed to snatch it back, and after three hours of heads-up play, Binder would emerge victorious when his ace-eight suited held against Thorel's king-queen.

WSOP Paradise Event #11: $25,000 Super Main Event Final Table Results

Bernhard Binder moved to 10th on the PGT leaderboard with 1,614 PGT points, while Jean-Noel Thorel sits 32nd with 1,200 PGT points. Belarmino De Souza sits 50th and Terrance Reid is 59th. Eric Wasserson moved to 17th with 1,487 PGT points, and he is the only player from the final table who has enough PGT-eligible cashes to participate in the upcoming PGT $1,000,000 Championship. Both Binder and Reid have two, and if they can secure one more at the upcoming PGT Last Chance series, they'll likely be able to participate in the PGT $1,000,000 Championship. 

The other big changes from the Super Main Event were that Michael Mizrachi and John Wasnock each secured their third PGT cash of the season, meaning they are eligible to participate in the PGT $1,000,000 Championship. Deep runs from Lautaro Guerra (18th), Chad Eveslage (19th), Nguyen Le (24th), and Viktor Blom (25th) all but secure their seat in the PGT $1,000,000 Championship on January 12, 2026.

PGT Leaderboard Top 10 

These are the leaderboard standings as of Thursday, December 18, 2025. The current PGT leaderboard is at pgt.com/leaderboard.

What's Next On the PGT Schedule?

Super High Roller Bowl X concludes the calendar year with a $101,000 buy-in, running December 20-22. The 2025 PGT season concludes in January with PGT Last Chance (January 5-10) and the PGT $1,000,000 Championship (January 12-13). The 2026 PGT Season will begin with PGT Kickoff from January 26-31, and players will earn double PGT points for all cashes.

For full PGT schedule information, check out pgt.com/schedule.

Image courtesy of the WSOP.

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