Generation Next -- Jason Koon

Online phenom Jason Koon slid into the World Series of Poker this year on a raging hot streak. In April, he captured the no-limit hold’em $2,000 cubed event No. 17 of the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker for $302,700, and won $92,000 in a $1,000 Monday event. And let’s not forget to mention more than $1 million in total cashes online. It all sounds like a good recipe for confidence and momentum to take down a coveted gold bracelet. Yet, Koon went home with no bling adorning either wrist. What happened?

“I think being overconfident may be one thing that bit me,” said Koon. “I did go to the World Series thinking I’d take some jewelry home. I was excited. But you really need to go in with the mindset that you’re in this for the long run, and not hit the tables trying to make too many fancy plays. What wins those bracelets most of the time is good, solid, patient, ABC poker.”

Koon learned that an open mind would open doors to a new perspective on the game, far from the ultra-aggressive online world he’d become accustomed to. Live poker was much different than online battles at six tables simultaneously online. Koon learned to adjust, pull back on the four-bet shoves preflop, and sit back and let the chips glide to him. He got back to basics, back to patience, and back to the fundamentals that had built his game.

Craig Tapscott: What were the most glaring adjustments that you had to make when coming into live events from such great online success?

Jason Koon: Basically, there are a couple of huge differences that I learned when making the transition from online to live poker. Online, there’s a lot more three-bet bluffing preflop, while in live poker, there is hardly any of that. And there is practically zero four-bet bluffing preflop.

CT: How did you adjust?

JK: Well, online, when you’re opening a less than 20 big blinds stack, you usually aren’t planning on making any hero folds or any kind of laydowns. If I raise a stack that’s 20 big blinds or less, I’m usually going to go with it, excluding a couple of circumstances. So, during the WSOP, I would open A-9 suited from the cutoff and a player would jam 20 blinds on me from one of the blinds. I was certain that it was a completely standard call and it would be silly to fold. Then, the guy would flip over K-K or A-K. Most of those players aren’t thinking in terms of chip equity or positive expected value; they’re thinking I have a really big hand and I have to shove.

CT: Knowing this, how did you combat your normal online aggression?

JK: If there is any advice I can give to people, it is to generally give people credit until they give you a reason not to. It’s not like online, where the best-structured tournaments have 15- or 20-minute levels. You have 90-minute levels and there are different concepts that apply. You can raise a sub-20 blinds stack and fold to a reshove. Perhaps you need to open lighter to shorter stacks and fold to reshoves, because there’s going to be so much more passive play and blinds folding. Most players are playing their cards, and not their opponents, the blinds, and the stacks.

CT: What other tips do you have for online players who are dipping their toes into the live arena?

JK: Generally, players are not bluffing that often at all. They are not sticking in insane amounts of chips on bluffs, excluding crazy circumstances. If a guy is a good player, he needs to trust his ability to play solid poker and let good situations come to him. Let players hand over their chips. If you’re patient, a guy is going to misplay his hand somewhere in the tournament, and that’s where you will make your chips. You won’t make them by making some hero all-in four-bet on some 60-year-old man who has K-K in his hand. And it’s more about your tournament life in live play, whereas online, you can register for 30 MTTs [multitable tournaments] a day.

CT: When did your game online take off for you?

JK: Well, I had the aggressive approach down and built big stacks, but the problem was that I still hadn’t really developed the ability to switch gears. Now I can. You can’t be results-oriented. I used to just go, go, go, and always try to be the aggressor. Sometimes when you’re at a tough table, you have to stick to the fundamentals and let cards come to you. I started becoming a big winner when I learned how to turn it on and off, and switch gears when it was appropriate.