Jason Koon Wins Triton Super High Roller Jeju $1 Million Short Deck Event

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Jason Koon has not only established himself as one of the top high rollers in the world, he has also made a name for himself in Short Deck Hold’em events, simply dominating them over the last couple of years.

Koon continued his awesome runs in Short Deck tournaments at the Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju on Thursday. He took down Event #5, the HK $1M Short Deck Event, winning the second largest score of his live tournament career in the process.

Koon Wins $1 Million Short Deck For $2.84 Million

Event #5 of the Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju concluded on Thursday. The event drew a field of 33 players with 44 re-entries to create a total prize pool of $9.69 Million USD. The event paid the final nine and the final table was varied and stellar.

Poker Hall of Famer John Juanda made the final along with Gabe Patgorski, Paul Phua, Jason Koon, and Richard Yong. The final day of action on Thursday only saw four players return, all having locked up at least $1 million in prize money.

Jun Wang of China was the first to bust when his Q-10 failed to improve against the pocket jacks of Furkat Rakhimov. This was just Wang’s second-ever tournament, and he walked away with just over $1 million in prize money.

Rakhimov was the next player to hit the rail, he shoved with J-10 but Paul Phua picked up A-J and make the easy call. The hand held and Rakhimov left to collect $1.33 million in prize money.

Heads-up play was between Jason Koon and Paul Phua. Koon started with the chip lead, but Phua managed to double to take the lead. Koon retook the chip lead in a full house vs. trips confrontation and then in the final hand Koon had to get lucky to win. Phua was all-in with A-9 but Koon’s K-Q managed to outdraw Phua.

Paul Phua took home $2.02 million while Koon ended up winning $2.84 million for first place. This was the second largest score for Koon in live tournaments.

After winning the event, he told reporters, “It was extremely tough, Paul is a great player. I had a good feeling that him and I would possibly have a showdown. He’s just so, so good.”

Koon Simply Dominant in Short Deck Hold’em

Thursday’s win was the latest in a string of dominant performances by Koon in Short Deck tournaments in Triton Super High Roller Series events. Last year, Koon made three final tables in Triton events, winning the $1 Million Short Deck event at Montenegro. Koon made two Short Deck final tables at Jeju, finishing fourth in Event #2.

Koon had a career year in 2018, earning $12.47 million in events, with over half of those earnings coming internationally. He had four six-figure scores with the Montengro victory earning him a career-best $3.57 million.

Koon has been dominant in both Short Deck and standard NL Events, winning $100k High Roller at ARIA in May and then finishing third in the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl. Koon also made final tables in the $100k High Roller and $25k PLO High Roller at the 2018 World Series of Poker.

Koon has already been crushing it in 2019, having won $3.66 million in live tournaments through early March. He established himself as one of the world’s top high rollers last year and was one of the game’s top earners. He is presently seventh on the US All-Time Money List and ninth overall on Poker’s All-Time Money List. At the rate he’s going, he will close the gap on Justin Bonomo as the year progresses.