Jason Koon Wins 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas $100,000 Super High Roller

Jason Koon has won the inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas $100,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em super high roller event. The 31-year-old American poker pro topped a field of 54 entries in the six-figure buy-in tournament to capture the title and the first-place prize of $1,650,300.

The event was the first major tournament to wrap up at the 2017 running of the series formerly known as the PokerStars Caribbean Aventure. The massive poker festival, held once again at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas, is sporting a new name as part of a rebranding and streamlining of PokerStars’ most popular stops from their live tours like the European Poker Tour, the Latin American Poker Tour and others. The largest and most prestigious live events thrown by PokerStars now all fall under the PokerStars Championship title.

This was Koon’s largest ever tournament score, outshining the $1 million he won by taking down the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open main event. He now has more than $8.1 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.

In addition to the title and the money Koon also earned 600 Card Player Player of the Year points, and will be one of the early leaders in the 2017 Player of the Year race, which is presented by the Commerce Hotel & Casino.

Koon came into the final day of this three-day event in third chip position with seven players remaining. Charlie Carrel entered the final day with the chip lead, but Koon was able to overtake the lead by eliminating defending champion of this event Bryn Kenney in seventh place. The 2016 PCA super high roller champ earned $275,060 for his deep run this year.

From there Carrel knocked out three of the next four players to set up a heads-up battle with Koon. Carrel began with 8.7 million to Koon’s 4.8 million in chips. He was able to stretch to his lead to more than a 3-to-1 advantage before Koon began to mount his comeback. He won a big hand without showdown, betting each street and moving all-in on the river, drawing a fold from Carrel and evening up the stacks in the process.

The heads-up match lasted just under two hours. By the time the final hand arose Koon had taken the lead and stretched it to roughly a 5-to-1 advantage. With blinds of 60,000-120,000 and an ante of 20,000 Koon limped in and Carrel checked. The flop brought the KQ2 and both players checked. The 8 on the turn also prompted checks from both players. The J hit the river and Carrel bet 400,000 from his stack of around 2.8 million. Koon announced that he was all in and Carrel went into the tank. He eventually decided to make the call with the K7 for top pair, only to muck when Koon showed the Q8 for two pair made on the turn.

With that Carrel was sent to the rail in second place with $1,191,900 while Koon secured the title.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

Photo courtesy of PokerStars / Neil Stoddart.

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