Jason Koon (born August 14, 1985) is an American professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player from

Weston, West Virginia Weston is a city in Lewis County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,943 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lewis County, and home to the Museum of American Glass in West Virginia and the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum ...

known for his accomplishments in live and online poker tournaments.

Early life

Koon graduated from Lewis County High School in 2003 and then attended

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

Buckhannon Buckhannon is the only incorporated city in, and the county seat of, Upshur County, West Virginia, Upshur County, West Virginia, United States, and is located along the Buckhannon River. The population was 5,299 at the 2020 United States Census ...

. There he received his Masters in Business Administration and Finance. He declared he started to play poker following an injury. To avoid boredom, his roommate taught him Texas Hold'Em, and Jason Koon realized he could make a lot of money.

Poker career

Koon began playing poker in 2006 during college. He played online under the alias ''JAKoon1985'' on

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...

and ''NovaSky'' on

Full Tilt Poker Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group (then known as Amaya ...

. In April 2009, he won a tournament in the Spring Championship of Online Poker earning over $300,000 prize money. Since 2008, Koon has participated in live tournaments. Koon played in his first WSOP in 2009 where he cashed twice. In 2010, Koon finished 4th in the World Poker Tour main event at the Bellagio for $225,000. In 2011, Koon chopped a Full Tilt Poker "FTOPS" event that had 11,343 runners for $458,550. In 2012, Koon played in the high roller event at the Bahamas EPT event earning over $270,000. At the 2012 WSOP Koon finish 2nd in the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha - Heads-Up event earning $128,660. In 2013, Koon finished runner up to David Peters in the $10,000 Bellagio Cup earning $316,000. In 2015, Koon turned $100 into $110,820 after 18 hours of play finishing third in a low buy in event at the SCOOP. In 2016, Koon won Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open for $1,000,000. He defeated Seth Davies in heads up. Koon won a large pot off

Doug Polk Douglas K. Polk (born December 16, 1988) is an American professional poker player. Polk played under the alias WCGRider, specializing in heads-up No Limit hold'em (HUNL). Early life Polk was born in Pasadena, California, and has loved strategy ...

in the hybrid cash game on ''

Poker After Dark ''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007.

''. Koon's most lucrative tournament win to date was in Triton Poker's 2018 Super High Roller Series

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Budva Budva ( cnr, Будва, or ) is a Montenegrin town on the Adriatic Sea. It has 19,218 inhabitants, and it is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budva riviera, is the center of Montenegrin tourism, kno ...

. In a short-deck ante-only tournament with a 1 million buy-in (127,000 at tournament time) and 103 entrants, he won 28,102,000 (3,579,914), defeating Xuan Tan in heads-up play. In August 2019 He finished 2nd in the Event 3 of London Triton Poker Super High Roller Series (£50,000 No Limit Hold'em - 8 Handed) for £907,000. As of January 2021, Koon's total live tournament earnings exceed $31,100,000. He has won 15 live titles and stands 10th in the world all-time money list. On January 13, 2021, Koon made his debut on ''

High Stakes Poker ''High Stakes Poker'' is an American cash game poker television program. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. The first four seasons ran from January 16, 2006 to December 17, 2007 on GSN. The next three seasons ran fr ...

'' after filling the seat left empty by

Jean-Robert Bellande Jean-Robert F. Bellande (; born September 17, 1970 in Long Island, New York) is an American professional poker player, reality TV contestant, and a nightclub owner and promoter. Background Bellande was born in Long Island, New York to paren ...

in Episode 5 of Season 8. Koon bought in for $300,000 and the game was $400/$800 No-Limit Hold'em. During the 2021 WSOP, Koon won Event #11, the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship for his first WSOP bracelet. In October 2022, Koon won Event #10: $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em of the 2022 Poker Masters. Koon topped a 37-entrant field to win $666,000. In December 2022, Koon faced off with

Phil Hellmuth Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player who has won a record sixteen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Even ...

in Round 5 of

High Stakes Duel High Stakes Duel is an American poker television program that airs on PokerGO and premiered on July 30, 2020. The original series was announced by PokerGO on July 22, 2020, and would see two players play heads-up No-Limit Hold'em in a poker to ...

3. Koon defeated Hellmuth and won the $1,600,000 prize while advancing to Round 6 where he will await his next opponent. In December 2022, Koon finished third overall on the 2022 PGT leaderboard with 2,833 PGT points. Koon was one of the 21-eligible players that were able to participate in the season-ending PGT Championship. Koon finished Day 1 as the overwhelming chip leader before winning the event after defeating Sean Winter heads-up for $500,000. In January 2023, no challenger stepped up to take on Koon in Round 6 of

3, and he was declared the champion. As of January 2023, Koon has cashed for over $42,300,000 in live poker tournaments.

Personal life

Koon became engaged to Bianca Armstrong after three years of dating. The couple first met while on the track and field team at

. They married on October 26, 2019, at the Redwood Cathedral at Ventana Big Sur, California. They welcomed their first child in September 2021.

Sponsorships

In October 2017, Jason Koon was announced as a member of partypoker’s team pro. In August 2021, Koon left partypoker. He also works as a coach on RunItOnce. In October 2021 at the 2021 World Series of Poker, Koon was announced as a GGPoker Global Ambassador.

References

External links

Jason Koon Hendon Mob profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koon, Jason 1985 births American expatriates in Canada American poker players Living people People from Weston, West Virginia West Virginia Wesleyan College alumni