The toddler got joy nearly every day, his mom said, from dumping the coins in his piggy bank onto the floor, then counting his riches over and over.

These days, the graduate of Millbrook High School and N.C. State University will have a lot to count. Last week, after finishing third in the World Series of Poker, the 29-year-old math whiz added a $4.1 million payday to his holdings.

On Tuesday, after much motherly prodding to retire his nine-year-old Honda Civic, Binger shopped for a Lexus.

"He said his splurge is going to be a car," said his mother, Tania, a Raleigh resident since 1990.

The Lexus that Binger wanted was only available in silver, so he set his sights on a new $55,000 hybrid sports utility vehicle made by the company.

"You can get it in more colors," he said.

Binger plans to continue to play in big tournaments and invest the bulk of his winnings.

He has been generous with family and friends. Last week, after being guaranteed $1.5 million for making it to the final nine in the televised event, Binger flew his mother, two brothers, sister-in-law and more than a dozen friends to Las Vegas.

They gathered at the Rio Suite Hotel and Casino for a night of cards that brought Binger together with recent Duke Unversity graduate Doug Kim and seven others who were competing for the $12 million grand prize.

"I was a nervous wreck the whole time," Tania Binger said. "It's so exciting."

Kim, a May graduate of Duke, made it to the final seven, taking away $2.39 million.

Binger, who received a doctorate in physics from Stanford University in June, outlasted the Duke alum in the 12-day marathon that started with a record 8,733 players.

By winning at poker, Binger hopes to be able to do the kind of physics research he likes.

Offers from Los Alamos in New Mexico have not appealed to him. He hopes to continue studying theoretical particles at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a research site run by Stanford University and the federal department of energy.

"My plans for the year are to play poker for money and continue to do my research on a part-time basis," Binger said.

His brother, Rick, 32, a creative director for French/West/Vaughan advertising firm in Raleigh, said Michael Binger showed an analytical aptitude in high school. Michael Binger made a perfect score on the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and read physics books for fun.

"In high school, he was always extremely smart," said Casey Loyd, a 1995 Millbrook High graduate who went to Las Vegas to watch the final round. "We played chess and a lot of other strategy games."

When Binger was 12, he exhibited an understanding of casinos. His mother remembers him making a slot machine out of cardboard that really worked.

He also collected baseball cards and pored over the statistics on the back.

"It's just a general analytical mind that I've always had," Binger said.

Another Binger, Nick, 24, is making a mark among big-time poker players. The nonplaying brother is hoping to see two Bingers at the final table next year.

"I told Nick, we better see him next year going head-to-head with Michael," Rick Binger said.

That would be long odds.

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