General Information on Jason Koon
Born on the 14th of August, 1985, Koon is an American professional poker player who hails from Weston in West Virginia. He is famous for his numerous achievements at online poker tournaments as well as live events. Of course, he is not one of those poker players who jumped right into the game of poker from cradle. He took some time before he discovered his flair for the game of poker. He enrolled at the Lewis County High School at a young age and graduated from the school in the year 2003. He later enrolled in West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon where he earned his Masters’ in Business Administration and Finance. Koon had his first taste of poker winning while in school. However, he didn’t drop out of school to focus on the game fully, like many of his poker colleagues. He still finished his studies and earned his Masters’ degree. His focus in school while taking out time to play poker was really a great feat for Jason, giving the fact that many of colleagues in the industry dropped out of school when they discovered the kind of money they could make in the game of poker. This seems to be one of the reasons why Jason is always composed and unruffled by what happens around him.
It is important to mention that even though he didn’t start playing full time professional poker while in school; Jason first discovered his interest in the game while in school. According to him, he accidentally started playing the game of poker after he had an injury. In order to avoid boredom and to get his mind off his injury, his roommate taught him, and introduced him to Texas Hold’em. It was at this time that Jason Koon began to give serious thoughts to the game. He realized that he could actually make good money from the game.
Jason Koon Early Poker Career
Jason started playing poker in the year 2006 while in college. He signed up at a couple of online platforms where he began to play his games. He played at PokerStars under the moniker, ‘JAKoon1985’ and he also played at Full Tilt Poker, under the alias ‘NovaSky’. He made his first big win in April of 2009 where he played at a tournament at the Spring Championship of Online Poker. He won the event and earned more than $300,000 cash prize. It is essential to mention that he started to participate in tournaments in the year 2008.
In 2009, he appeared in his first World Series of Poker event where he cashed two times. In the year 2010, he finished in the fourth place at the World Poker Tour main event in Bellagio. He made a winning of $225,000 for his place at the event. In the year 2011, he also participated at Full Tilt Poker’s FTOPS event with a field of 11,343 players. He won the prize of $458,550 during this tournament.
He played at a high roller event in 2012. This event took place at the European Poker Tour, Bahamas and Jason Koon won more than $270,000 at this event. Still in 2012, he participated at the World Series of Poker and finished in the second place at the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up event. He earned $128,660 at the end of the event.
The year 2013 saw Jason at the $10,000 Bellagio Cup event where he finished as a runner up to David Peters. He made a winning of $316,000 at the event. All these earnings contributed to Jason Koon net worth.
The year 2015 was a great year for Koon. He practically turned his $100 into a huge $110,820 at the SCOOP event. He spent 18 hours grinding at the table and ended up in the third place at the low buy event. In the year 2016, Koon made a huge winning at the Seminole Hard Rock Open. He finished in the first place and defeated Seth Davies in the heads-up to win $1,000,000. This winning significantly impacted on Jason Koon net worth.
Koon also participated in the hybrid cash game during a session of Poker After Dark. He went against Doug Polk, the professional poker player, and won against him. It was reported that he won a large pot against Polk. One of the most memorable and profitable tournament winning of Koon till date was at the 2018 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro, at Budva. He participated in a short deck ante only tournament with a buy-in of HK$1 million, which totals $127,000 USD at the tournament time. This event had a total of 103 participants. Jason went ahead to win the first prize and defeated Xuan Tan in the heads-up play. He won a total of HK$28,000,102,000, which translates to $3,579,914 USD. This winning impacted hugely on Jason Koon net worth.
As at May of 2019, Jason Koon net worth from his total live tournament earnings was above $28,000,000. In total, he has won about twenty live titles and takes his place in the 8th position in the World All Time Money List. No doubt, Jason Koon is one of the top league poker players in the world.
Jason Koon Live Tournaments
No doubt, as far as live tournaments are concerned, Jason Koon is one of the top successful poker players in poker history. As at August 3rd of 2019, Jason occupies the 8th position of All Time Money List on Hendon. Jason Koon net worth from his live tournaments since he stepped into the world of poker is a few thousands shy of $29 million USD. These monies came from about 130 cashes over the course of eleven years.
His first game ever reported online was at the $1,000 + 60 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Extravaganza III in Las Vegas. He finished in the 17th place and earned $1,976 USD. Although it wasn’t such a big win, this still marked the beginning of numerous winnings for him and the beginning of the growth of Jason Koon net worth. In the year 2010, Koon made his first ever six-figure cash winning at the $10K + 300 No Limit Hold’em – Championship Event at Festa Al Lago, Las Vegas. He finished in the 4th place and made a winning of $225,680 USD.
His first seven-figure cash winning was at the $5,250 No Limit Hold’em – SHRPO Championship Event #22 at the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood. He finished in the first place and won the first prize of $1,000,000 USD. This earning significantly contributed to Jason Koon net worth.
Since the year 2016, Jason has begun to focus more on high roller tournaments. He buys into super high buy-in, and small field tourneys that are generally world poker very best in the industry. He sometimes plays at the Triton series events also. In the year 2018, he played at the HK$2 million Triton Main Event, which held in Jeju, South Korea. He finished in the fifth place and took home the prize of HK$8,470,000, which translates to $1,079,443 USD at the time of the tournament. Some days earlier, he had won a third place at the HK$500K Short Deck event in the Triton High Roller Series. He won HK$3,630,000 at the event, which translate into $462,586 USD at the time. All these winnings greatly helped the growth of Jason Koon net worth and his bankroll for other super high buy-ins.
The winnings mentioned above were just the prelude to the great winnings that were to come in the year 2018 for Koon. In May of the same year, he participated in the Short Deck Triton Super High Roller tournament, which took place in Montenegro. He won the event and took home the grand prize of $3,579,836 USD. After this winning, he returned to the United States to participate in another high roller event at the $100K Event of the World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions Festival, which took place at the Aria. He won the event and walked away with the grand prize of $1,039,940 USD. It is essential to mention that his short deck championship title and earnings from Montenegro is the biggest single live cash of Jason Koon till date.
In March of 2019, he also won another big prize at the HK$1 million No Limit Hold’em – Short Deck Ante Only event at Triton Poker Super High Roller Series. He placed first at this event and made a winning of HK$22,300,000, which translates to $2,840,945. Few days later, he won another first place prize at the HK$1 million No Limit Hold’em – Triton Refresh at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju. He won HK$7,640,160, which converts to $973,306. In the month of May, he placed fifth and made a winning of $378,556 (HK$2.97 million) at the HK$500K No Limit Hold’em – Six Handed Event at Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro.
In addition to the above, some other remarkable tournament scores of Jason include his victory in 2016 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, with a winning of $1 million, one LA Poker Classic Turbo High Roller in 2015, with a winning of $436,344, and one PCA $100K High Roller event in 2017, which earned him $1,650,300 and a championship title. All the earnings have contributed to what Jason Koon net worth is today.
Jason Koon World Series of Poker Participation
Jason participated in his first World Series of Poker tournament in the year 2009. In that same year, he cashed twice. His first cash for the year was at the 40th World Series of Poker $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event. He placed 17th and made a winning of $20,400 USD. In 2012, he placed 2nd at the 43rd World Series of Poker when he played in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha – Heads-up event #3. He earned $128,660 at this event. In total, Jason Koon has had over 40 WSOP cashes with combined earnings of about $1.7 million USD.
It is important to mention that Koon has not won any bracelet yet. The best he has come to winning the title was when he placed second at the $3,000 Heads-up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha mixed event in the year 2012. He went against Leif Force at the final match up and contest for the title. Unfortunately, he lost to Force and placed second. To date, Jason’s biggest World Series of Poker prize is $372,894 USD, which he won when he placed 7th at the $100K High Roller event in the year 2018.
When speaking about his participations at the World Series of Poker in an interview, Koon revealed that he is not willing to play at every event simply because he wants to earn his first bracelet. Instead, he would focus his attention on the high buy-ins tournaments that he usually plays outside of the World Series of Poker events, since those games are more lucrative for him. According to him, he would continue to play at the Main Events and the One Drops events, as well as other high stakes cash games that run simultaneously with the World Series of Poker events.
Jason Koon’s Live Cash Games
Koon is no doubt famous for his tournament games. However, he also plays at high stakes cash games sometimes. As a matter of fact, he plays on camera once in a while. He participated in the $300/$600 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha mixed cash game on Poker After Dark. At this TV show, he played against other poker pros like Isaac Haxton, Doug Polk, and Matt Berkey. The game was a big hit and Polk went ahead to create a video to analyze a hand that both himself and Koon were involved in. He posted the video on his popular YouTube channel.
Apart from Poker After Dark, Jason has also made an appearance on Triton Poker’s live stream, where he was shown playing at a super highs takes short deck cash game with Andrew Robl, Tom Dwan, and some other professional poker player.
Koon definitely has something to say about his feelings when it comes to his cash game and tournament skills. According to him, he was sometimes ago looking at the vision board he wrote during the early part of his poker career. He discovered that his vision at that time was to be good enough to be able to defeat other professional players at the best cash games and best tournaments in the world at some point in his career. Jason confessed that he was not sure if his vision was attainable or possible at that time. For him, it was more of a very long term goal or even a pipe dream than a dream that would actually become a reality. Interestingly, everything he wrote on his vision board came to pass. He acknowledged that it was a very long road and it took him a long time and a lot of work, and of course, a lot of help from some of the most talented people in the industry, but eventually, he got there. He achieved his goal.
Koon’s Online Poker Games
Jason Koon was a popular name at the online platform. He was a regular player at the online platforms – PokerStars and Full Tilt, where he played under the name JAKoon1985 and NovaSky respectively. His online games have experienced both negative and positive results. According to the report from HighstakesDB, the total amount of money Jason had lost in high stakes cash games at PokerStars was about $14,000. He lost these monies while playing at No Limit Hold’em games.
Although he lost so much, he has also experienced some great winnings at the online platform. He enjoyed great success while playing at MTT online. In 2009, he won a total of $302,000 when he played at the $2,150 Spring Championship of Online Poker event. He won this event and took home the grand prize. Also in 2011, he also came second while playing at a Full Tilt Online Series event. He participated in the game with a field of about 11,343 other players and even though he didn’t win at the tournament, he won the biggest money at the event, thanks to the heads-up deal he made. He took home a total of $458,550 USD. These earnings from his online poker games contributed to Jason Koon net worth to a great extent.
Although Jason rarely play at the online platform anymore but he still pays exclusive games at small field live tournaments. For many that are not aware, a field of 11,343 players is not the biggest field that Jason has beaten at an online MTT. For instance, in the year 2015, he participated in a $100 SCOOP tourney with a field of over 22,000 players. He finished third at the event, after 18 long hours at the game. His third place position earned him $110,820 at the end of the day, which means he turned his $100 USD into a huge $100k+ win.
Jason Koon Biggest Winnings
Jason has undoubtedly made some great winning in the course of his poker career. Here, we highlight some of his biggest winning, taking account of only winnings above $500,000 USD.
| Year | Tournaments | Earnings |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | HK$1 Million No Limit Hold’em Triton Refresh Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, Jeju | $973,306 |
| 2019 | HK$1 Million No Limit Hold’em Short Deck Ante Only: Triton Poker Super High Roller Series | $2,840,945 |
| 2018 | $100K No Limit Hold’em Bellagio 100K – 01 Event World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic | $888,000 |
| 2018 | HK$2 Million No Limit Hold’em Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Main Event | $1,079,443 |
| 2018 | $300K No Limit Hold’em 2018 Super High Roller Bowl | $2,100,000 |
| 2018 | $100K No Limit Hold’em ARIA 100K High Roller Season XVI World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions Festival | $1,039,940 |
| 2018 | HK$1 Million No Limit Hold’em Short Deck Ante Only: Triton Poker Super High Roller Series | $3,579,836 |
| 2018 | €100K + 1K No Limit Hold’em – €100k Super High Roller PartyPoker Millions Grand Final, Barcelona | $614,787 |
| 2018 | HK$2 Million + 100K No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Bowl, Macau | $742,012 |
| 2017 | $98K + 2K No Limit Hold’em PokerStar Championship Super High Roller: PokerStars Championship Bahamas | $1,650,300 |
| 2016 | $5,250 No Limit Hold’em – SHRPO Championship 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, Hollywood | $1,000,000 |
| 2016 | $24K + 1K No Limit Hold’em High Roller 7 Bellagio High Roller VII, Las Vegas | $514,080 |
Sponsorship Deals of Jason Koon
Jason is an active member of Team PartyPoker. This is a team of professional poker players that have signed up to promote PartyPoker online poker room. Apart from this sponsorship deal, Koon was also a one time coach for the strategy site of Phil Galfond, which is named RunItOnce. Recently, January of 2019 precisely, Koon got picked and signed up as an ambassador for the Triton High Roller Series. Of course, his sponsorship deals are not for free; he makes some great income from them too. Therefore, these sponsorship deals have in some way also contributed to Jason Koon net worth.
Jason Koon Scandals
When it comes to scandal, there are not many professional poker players that have not gotten involved in one or two of such. Interestingly, Jason Koon is one of such. He tries as much as possible to keep away from anything that could associate him with any sort of scandal. Obviously, he is one of the very special breed.
If there is anything you would find about Jason, it would be more about stories of the level of attention he gives to himself. One thing that many people have not stopped talking about in relation to Jason Koon is the level of efforts he put into keeping fit. Jason is no doubt a body fit freak. He pays so much attention to the way he looks to the point that many have wondered if he is actually not obsessed with himself.
One other juicy story that you might come across when searching for interesting news about Jason will be his quick adoption of the short deck poker game long before his contemporary got hitched to the game. Short deck poker is a new variation of the game, Texas Hold’em. However, this variation originates from the Asian high stakes cash game environment. There is a different technique used in playing this game, which is quite different from Texas Hold’em. In this game, the cards two’s through five’s are generally removed from the deck of cards.
As a testament to his skills at this game, Jason Koon was the winner of the HK$1 million short deck Triton High Roller event that took place in Montenegro. He also finished in the third place at the HK$500K Short deck event that held at Jeju. In the year 2018, he cashed in the short deck event at the famous Poker Masters. Suffice to mention that this was the year when big names in the poker community began to play 6+ poker games for seriously large money. Koon has also played and made some great winnings at Jeju super high stakes short deck cash games. His early adoption of the game brought him great wins in the long run. He has made huge earnings from his various participations at short deck events and these have significantly improved the growth of Jason Koon net worth.
Jason Koon Net Worth
Jason, a United States nationality and Weston-born professional poker player, has made quite a fortune for himself in the world of poker. As at the time of writing this article on August 3rd, 2019, Jason Koon net worth is placed at $28,915,360 from his total live earnings. This is according to theHendonmob.com. These earnings are separate from his sponsorship deals.
His best live cash is $3,579,836. He places 8th on the All Time Money List and 6th on the United States All Time Money List. He occupies the first position on the West Virginia, USA All Time Money List and 8th on All Time Money List Current Rank and All Time Money List Best Rank. He ranks 22nd on the Global Poker Index Ranking and 56th on Popularity Ranking.
Conclusion
Although Jason Koon has not earned any World Series of Poker bracelet or any World Poker Tour title, he still holds his place among the top poker players in the field. He focuses more of his attentions on high stakes games and rarely plays at low buy-ins. These choices of games have significantly enhanced Jason Koon net worth. His participations and earnings at WSOP have not been great but he has made quite a great fortune from the various private games and high stakes tournaments he plays at. Koon is still very much in the game and the world of poker is earnestly waiting for his next big win at the poker table.