Binger wins WSOP championship event at Harveys at Lake Tahoe

James “Drew” Marks of South Lake Tahoe finished in 17th place and won $7,042 at the World Series of Poker Lake Tahoe Circuit Event $5,150 buy-in No Limit Hold’em championship on Saturday at Harveys Resort Casino in Stateline.

Marks was one of 132 players who participated in the three-day tournament that started on Friday. By Saturday evening, the field was whittled down to nine players, setting up Sunday’s final table.

Michael Binger of Las Vegas entered Sunday’s action as the leader with $403,500 in tournament chips. Binger and Sacramento’s Ty Stewart ended up as the final two players, with Stewart ($1,023,000) holding a slight chip lead over Binger ($957,000) as of 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Binger won the tournament shortly after when his pair of 9s beat Stewart’s pair of 8s. A Stanford University graduate, Binger won $181,379 for his first-place finish. His career earnings are now more than $5.7 million. Stewart pocketed $112,675.

Defending champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, who won the event last year, finished 11th — two short of the final table — and claimed $9,603 in prize money. Poker pro Johnny Chan also entered the tournament, but he was knocked out early on.