Jason Koon Wins Poker Masters $50,000 Buy-In Event For $666,000

The 2022 Poker Masters high roller series is now officially in the books. The high-stakes tournament festival that was held in the PokerGO studio at ARIA Resort & Casino reached its climax on Monday, Oct. 3 with the conclusion of the $50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event. World Series of Poker bracelet winner Jason Koon emerged victorious from a stacked final table to capture the final title of the series. The 37-year-old poker pro based out of Las Vegas secured $666,000 as the champion.

This win saw Koon increase his lifetime tournament earnings to more than $41.4 million in the process. He now sits in seventh place on poker’s all-time money list.

This was Koon’s second title and 15th final-table finish of 2022. He earned 408 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event, bringing his point total to 4,104. With nearly $6 million in POY earnings so far, he has climbed into 15th place in the POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

“I haven’t played many tournaments, but I guess the ones I have played have gone pretty good,” Koon told PokerGO commentator Jeff Platt after the win. “I’ve played a lot less and hung out with my family, but when I’ve come to play I’ve really been focused and I feel like I’ve played some of my best poker this year.”

Koon also took home 400 PokerGO Tour points for the win, bringing his total to 449 for the series when combined with the 49 points he earned for a sixth-place showing in event no. 9. This resulted in Koon finishing in second place in the race for the Poker Masters Purple Jacket. The player of the series $50,000 and the jacket were ultimately awarded to Sean Winter, who secured a first and a second-place finish in two of the $25,000 buy-in high rollers during the final days of the series. Koon now sits in third place in the year-long PGT points race after his strong showing at the Poker Masters.

This event drew 37 entries to build a prize pool of $1,850,000. Only the top six finishers would make the money, but seven players survived to day 2 action. Joining Koon were three other players among the top ten on the all-time money list in six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu ($45.5 million), nine-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel ($43.1 million), and bracelet winner Mikita Badziakouski ($40.5 million).

A preflop cooler saw World Poker Tour champion Seth Davies lose much of his stack on the money bubble, with his A-K suited running into the pocket aces of four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos. The pocket pair held up and Davies was left with just over 20 big blinds. He was on the wrong side of another cooler when his pocket jacks ran into the pocket aces of six-time bracelet winner Negreanu, but a jack on the flop quickly turned the tables. The turn and river were of no help to Negreanu and he was the last person eliminated outside of the money.

Badziakouski was the first to fall after the bubble burst. He defended his big blind with J-8 suited and got the money in with a pair of eights and an open-ended straight flush draw facing the turned set of tens held by four-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver. The river was not one of Badizakouski’s many outs, though, and he was eliminated in sixth place ($92,500). The score saw him increase his lifetime tournament earnings to more than $40.5 million, good for eighth on the earnings leaderboard.

Davies hung around as the clear short stack for nearly an hour after Badziakouski was eliminated, but he eventually got all-in with his A-10 trailing the A-J of bracelet winner Jason Koon. The board kept Koon ahead and Davies was knocked out in fifth place ($148,000). Davies now has $17.9 million in career cashes to his name.

Seidel was left as the only player that might be able to deny Sean Winter the Purple Jacket, which he could do if he came away with the title in this event. He overtook the lead at one point during four-handed action, but doubled up Mateos to slide to the bottom of the counts. He was ultimately knocked out via a three-way all-in, with his A-Q running into the pocket kings of Koon and the A-10 of Mateos, who had both of his opponents covered. The pocket pair held up for Koon to see him surge into the chip lead while Seidel was sent to the rail in fourth place ($203,500).

This was Seidel’s 15th final-table finish of the year, with one title and nearly $3.5 million in POY earnings secured along the way. With 4,692 total points, he has moved into fifth place in the POY race heading into the final quarter of the year.

Seiver’s run in this event concluded when he shoved just shy 15 big blinds from the button with Q-J and ran into the pocket sixes of Koon in the small blind. Seiver flopped a jack to take the lead, but Koon caught running cards to a straight to win the hand and narrow the field to two. Seiver earned $296,000 for his third-place showing in this event, increasing his lifetime earnings to $25.5 million.

With that, Koon took 4,690,000 into heads-up play with Mateos, who sat with 2,710,000. The pair went on to battle for more than an hour, with Koon pulling away to more than a 4.5:1 lead by the time the final hand was dealt. In that hand, Koon limped in with K6 and Mateos checked with A2. The KJ2 flop saw Mateos check-call a bet of 80,000 and the turn brought the 3. Mateos checked again. Koon bet 325,000 into the pot of 400,000 with his top pair and Mateos called with bottom pair. The 5 completed the board and Mateos checked a third time. Koon bet enough to put Mateos all-in. After some consideration, Mateos made the hero call only to be shown the better pair. He earned $444,000 as the runner-up, surpassing $30.2 million in lifetime earnings as a result.

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

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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