Jason Koon Extends Triton Titles Record With Eighth Win

Jason Koon is a titan of the Triton Poker circuit. The 37-year-old American poker pro already held the record for the most titles on the high-stakes-centric tour, but he extended his lead over the field even further by taking down the 2023 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London $60,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em seven-max event for $1,570,000.

Koon now has eight Triton wins, which is twice as many as his nearest competitor Mikita Badziakouski, who has four victories on tour. Koon has accumulated more than $23.7 million in earnings in Triton events. His 35 in-the-money finishes also give him the record for the most cashes on tour.

“I play because I love the game. I play a lot less than I used to but when I show up I’m very focused and I’m the best version of myself,” Koon told Triton’s Ali Nejad during his post-win interview on the streaming broadcast of the event.

It’s eight, mate! @jasonkoon stuns the crowd with his 8th win, proving once again that he’s the . Will he continue to dominate with his mind-blowing strategy? Congratulations again, Jason! pic.twitter.com/DFExuxGvLb

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) August 1, 2023

With this victory, Koon increased his total career tournament earnings to over $49 million. He remains in fifth place on poker’s all-time money list. The win also saw Koon earn 1,020 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his fourth title and tenth final-table finish of the year. With 4,930 total points and more than $6.9 million in to-date POY earnings, Koon is now the tenth-ranked player in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This tournament drew 104 entries, creating a prize pool of $6,240,000 that was ultimately paid out among the top 17 finishers. The second and final day of play inside the JW Marriott Grosvenor House began with 32 contenders remaining. Plenty of notables made the money but fell short of the final table, including Fedor Holz (17th), Daniel Dvoress (15th), Sam Greenwood (13th), Leon Sturm (10th), Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero (9th), and Alex Kulev (8th).

When the official seven-handed final table began it was Koon in the lead, with two-time Triton winner Matthias Eibinger in second and the other five contenders all sitting on fewer than 25 big blinds.

2022 World Series of Poker main event champion and recent Triton London $40,000 mystery bounty event winner Espen Jorstad’s A-10 (7th – $277,500) was unable to hold up against the A-8 suited of two-time bracelet winner Justin Saliba.

Ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey soon joined Jorstad on the rail, with his AK being outrun by the J10 of bracelet winner Dan Smith after all of the chips went in preflop. Ivey secured $363,000 as the sixth-place finisher, growing his career earnings to over $38.9 million in the process.

Eibinger had slid to the bottom of the chip counts as the final table played on. He eventually found himself at risk for eight big blinds with J-5 trailing the K-5 suited of Saliba. A king-high flop extended Saliba’s lead in the hand, but the turn gave Eibinger a glimmer of hope with outs to a gutshot. A blank on the river was no help, though, and Eibinger’s run ended in fifth place ($460,600).

During four-handed play, Smith was forced off of the best hand by Koon on a four-flush board. Shortly after that he three-bet shoved with A7 from the small blind over the top of Koon’s cutoff open. Koon called with 1010 and the flop came down 663 to give Smith the nut flush draw to go along with his overcard. The 3 double paired the board on the turn to keep Koon ahead. The J on the river sent the pot to Koon, sending Smith home with $571,000 for his fourth-place showing. He now has more than $45.5 million in career cashes, good for seventh on the earnings leaderboard.

Saliba’s last ten big blinds went in with K-8 suited from the big blind. He called all-in facing a small-blind shove from Koon, who had him well covered. Koon revealed K-9. Saliba picked up a flush draw on the turn, but a board pair on the end sent him packing in third place ($690,000). This was the largest score yet for Saliba, increasing his career earnings to nearly $4.5 million.

With that, heads-up play began with Koon holding 13,150,000 to Rodrigo Selouan’s 7,650,000. Stacks had not shifted much by the time the final hand of the tournament was dealt. Koon raised from the button with AK and Selouan called from the big blind with J6. The flop came down K63 and Selouan check-called a two-blind continuation bet. The turn brought the A and Selouan check-called again, this time for just shy of two-thirds pot. The 4 completed the board and Selouan checked yet again. The pot had swelled to 5.7 million, while Selouan had just 5.1 million left in his stack. Koon moved all-in and Selouan, after some consideration, made the hero call with third pair. He was quickly shown top two pair by Koon, who locked up the pot and the title with the hand. Selouan was awarded $1,060,300 as the runner-up, his first seven-figure tournament score.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: Triton Poker / Joe Giron.