Stanford Ph.D. studies the physics of Vegas poker

ATHERTON — What's more impressive — winning $4 million at the poker table or earning a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Stanford?

Michael Binger checked off both those accomplishments this summer. He earned his doctorate in June, and earlier this month, he finished third at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Former Hollywood agent Jamie Gold won first place in the No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em showdown, raking in $12 million.

Binger, 29, began playing poker seriously in 2002, taking a year off from his graduate studies to play professionally. Since then, he has supported himself by playing in occasional tournaments. His biggest payday before his World Series performance was just over $100,000.

Though Binger's $4,123,310 will be chopped down by state and federal taxes, he is now wealthier than the average particle physicist. His only big purchase so far is a Lexus hybrid SUV. He plans to invest most of his winnings.

Binger said his research in physics has to do with questions about the fundamental constituents of matter, such as quarks, and the forces that bind them together.

Binger talked about poker and what comes next with staff writer Aaron Kinney.

Q. What are your plans? What will you do with your degree?

A. Even before this happened, my plan was to play poker for the next year and try to win big. So I'll probably be playing in a lot of the big tournaments, which are once a month or so, usually. In the meantime, I'll live in the area here and maybe do some physics as well.

Q. Now that you have some financial security, will you hole yourself up in a cabin and solve a long-standing physics problem?

A. I do have some research directions I want to get into. The cabin thing I hadn't thought of. Doing physics requires a lot of time. So it remains to be seen whether I can do good work while I'm running off and doing tournaments and my mind is divided. Maybe I can, but it remains to be seen.

Q. Does your science background help whenplaying poker?

A. The most basic thing about playing poker well is knowing the probabilities and statistics of it. And that was easy for me to learn, because being in physics, you have to know those things inside and out.

I would also say that the mindset it took to learn poker would be like how I would approach a physics problem: just taking a really rigorous approach to learning how to play. But other than that, I wouldn't say there's much overlap.

Q. What are your strengths as a player?

A. A lot of it is really experience. There are many little skills that you learn along the way that are applicable only in very rare situations, and the more hours you've put in, the more likely you'll be to put them all together at once.

There are certain kinds of players with certain characteristics. If you can recognize and adjust to them more quickly, then you can maybe figure out how to trap them. You are able build up a reservoir of tactics for use against players with certain styles and temperaments, and it becomes more automatic in how you adjust your game.

Other than that, I would say patience and mental discipline. I know a lot of people who know how to play well, but they get upset and unbalanced. They would play seemingly good poker all day and then make a ridiculously bad play at the end of the night.

Q. What was it like playing at the final table?

A. This tournament had 9,000 players. As time went on, there was definitely a better caliber of player, but in the short term, there is still a fair amount of luck involved.

I played the same game throughout the entire tournament. I had a short stack coming into the final table, so I had to be much more patient, actually, and that seemed to work for me. Early on, 90 percent of the time I was folding before the flop. It was such a short stack that if I was going to be playing, I was going to be risking all of my chips.

Q. How important is the ability to read people and bluff?

A. I think it's very important. If you really pay attention to what everyone does, even when they just fold, it can be very useful.

And again, I think having a lot of experience is useful. You notice how the Internet players don't how to handle themselves, and their emotions are kind of written all over their face. In general, they become more impatient, because they're used to playing much faster and playing multiple hands at once.

Q. How would you rate the play of the winner, Jamie Gold?

A. He played a pretty good game, but I think that, at the final table and in the two days leading up to it, he had the luckiest run of cards I've ever seen anyone get. That's not to say that he didn't play them well. I mean, he took the thing down, so all credit to him, but I wouldn't say he was necessarily the best player there.

Q. Have you gotten any unusual job offers from technology companies?

A. No, nothing like that. I haven't really had any solicitations in one way or another, really. Obviously, I've been doing a number of interviews. There's been four or five different newspapers around here and one in my home town of Raleigh, N.C., and a couple of radio stations also.

Q. Have you given any thought to a career in business?

A. Right now, I don't see myself doing that. For the time being, the plan is to educate myself on investing so I can make this money last. I couldn't rule out going into business, but I don't have any immediate plans.

Eventually, I'd like to do something serious besides poker, and my background in physics will help me with that. But for the coming year or so, I don't have any plans.

courtesy of Aaron Kinney

News Added: 21 August, 2006

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