Jason Koon Wins PGT Championship for $500,000
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The Tour of PokerGO was first introduced in 2021. The stakes-focused tour was a rousing success in its initial run and still saw impressive growth in its second year. 2022 PGT extension The season featured 175 events, with 24,998 total entries made and over $426 million in prize money awarded along the way. This season concluded with the first ever run of the PGT extension Championship, a $500,000 winner-takes-all freeroll.
The event featured the top 21 from the final PGT extension invited to participate in the final showdown. Another difficulty unique to this event saw starting stacks determined by the final of qualifying players PGT extension total points. For example, top-ranked Stephen Chidwick’s 3,412 points saw him start with 342,000, while Benny Glaser, who qualified thanks to his second place in the WPT World Championship just one day before this event, he started with 165,000 thanks to 1,646 points. A complete list of the final PGT extension you can find the ranking for 2022 on the tour website.
After two days of action, Jason Koon emerged victorious, taking the trophy and first prize of half a million dollars. The 37-year-old poker pro now has more than $41.9 million in tournament earnings to his name, placing him seventh in the standings Card player all time money list.
This win came just weeks after Koon defeated all time World Series of Poker bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth in the largest High risk duel game again, with $1.6 million on the line.
“It’s always good. Somehow I overheat towards the end of the year. Do you remember the WPT at the Bellagio when they had those two 25Ks and I won them back to back at the end of December? It’s just that I get hot in December,” Koon said PGT extension reporters. “I don’t know if it’s Christmas or what, but it’s beautiful.”
Koon entered the PGT extension Championship with the third largest stack thanks to another strong year on the live high roller circuit. Koon has cashed 18 times PGT extension events, with three titles won and more than $6.7 million in qualifying earnings accrued along the way. This $500,000 win was his fourth biggest win of the year. His best payday of 2022 came when he won the €150,000 buy-in short deck event at the Tritone series Madrid festivals for $1,837,500. That win saw Koon equal the record for the most Triton titles, joining Mikita Badziakouski with four wins on the high-stakes tour.
Koon may have started this event in third place, but he finished day 1 as the clear chip leader with nearly 57% of the total chips in play and only six contenders left.
“Almost every time, unless it’s a total dream, you get to a final table and you have all the chips but at some point, usually three hands, the stacks will converge and switch hands, and you will almost always lose the chip lead” Koon said. “That’s why when I heard people say, ‘It’s your tournament to lose,’ I said, ‘Guys, I have 57 percent of the chips and there are six people here and they are the best players in the world. . This is not my tournament to lose. I’ll win it maybe half the time or whatever.’ I hugged it and then I looked up and there were basically 100 big blinds in three-handed play. I knew I wasn’t the chip leader, so I’ll do what I can and go from there. I took a few beats and then made a few hands, and there I was.
Poker World Tour Player of the Year Chad Eveslage was the first to fall on day 2, with his flopped flush colliding with a higher flopped flush for Koon. 2022 PGT extension Player of the Year Stephen Chidwick quickly followed suit when his K-10 was unable to beat Koon’s Q-8. Chidwick moved all-in four big blinds from the cutoff. Koon called from the big blind, flopped two pair, and held from there to narrow it down to four.
Glaser’s streak ended when his KQ seed failed to come from behind against Sean Winter’s A-4 seed. Glaser flopped a gutshot straight draw, but Winter’s top pair held until the river and saw him enter three-way action with the second-highest stack.
Koon and Winter butted heads several times during the next stretch of play, with Winter mostly getting the better of it. Koon then slipped to third place briefly after his A
k was beaten by the A
3 by two-time bracelet winner Nick Petrangelo in a preflop all-in.
Koon soon managed his way back to second place with his trip threes beating Petrangelo’s queens and threes. A preflop coin flip made it heads-up, with Winter’s pocket sixes beating Petrangelo’s K-10.
The final showdown, with the title and $500,000 on the line, began with Winter holding 2,035,000 to Koon’s 1,185,000. The pair continued to fight for nearly two hours. Soon enough, Koon doubled up with two pair on the turn to beat Winter’s flopped top pair. His all-in on the river was called to see him beat a 3:1 chip lead.
Winter battled his way back to the lead, but his last time on top was short-lived. Koon took down a big pot with aces full house beating the nut flush draw from Winter, who called the king-high river to hit two pair on the board.
When the final hand was dealt, Koon’s lead had grown to more than 6:1. Koon raised enough on the button to send Winter all-in. Winter called with J8
and was dominating the 10
8 by Koon, but a 106533 runout gave Koon tens and threes for the win.
Winter, who was 20 PGT extension cashes and three titles won in 2022, he was sent home empty-handed in this winner-takes-all tournament.
You can relive the excitement of the first ever PGT extension Championship looking at it exclusively on Poker GO. If you don’t have an account, register today using promo code “CardPlayer” for $20 off an annual subscription.
Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.
