Jason Koon wins PokerGO Cup Event #6 for $324,000

Jason Koon beat a field of 36 top pros to win Event #6 at the PokerGO Cup. The $25,000 buy-in made for a prize pool of $900,000, split among the top six finishers.

Koon plowed through the final table field, eliminating four of his five opponents at the table. By the time he was heads up with Thomas Winters, Koon had a dominating chip lead.

The final hand saw a short-stacked Winters shove from the big blind with K♣6♣. Koon called with pocket nines. A nine on the flop all but cinched it for Koon, giving him a set.

The turn and the river offered no help to Winters, letting Koon take down the event. In doing so, Koon bumped himself up to second place on the PokerGO Cup leaderboard, just below Ali Imsirovic.

This kind of success was unthinkable for Koon just a few years ago.

"My career is kind of funny," he told PokerGO's interviewers. "Because the first maybe eight to 10 years of it, I was kind of floating around in purgatory, not really having a direction, and just knowing that I like to play and think about the game. But once I learned what worked for me and how to learn about the game in a theoretical sense, it kind of all came together."

As well as a solid theoretical grounding, Koon advocated hard for the need to work on himself away from the table. Fitness, mindfulness, and emotional stability are things he works on away from the table. Though they're all still works in progress.

"In the long run it’s easy to burn out in poker," he said. "Even if you’re winning, your body goes, your mind goes. Even me having the endurance from playing live poker in a long time, I’ve definitely made some mistakes this week. I bubbled a tournament acting when a guy was waiting to act in front of me. [...] It was just a sign that I needed to get focused, build my stamina back, and slow down."

The PokerGO Cup continues

The $25k events were sadly missing Phil Hellmuth, who seemed to be avoiding having to start his Aria-bet with Negreanu.

While Koon was trouncing his rivals at the top table yesterday, the rest of the PokerGO studio at the Aria was bustling with the opening action for Event #7: $50,000 No Limit Hold 'em.

The $50k event is still going on today, with Daniel Negreanu in play at the final table. Negreanu hasn't taken first in an event since 2013, so he's got to be viewing this final table as a shot at redemption from a long dry spell.

Starting up alongside the $50k final table is Event #8: $100,000 No Limit Hold'em.

With plenty more events to go, competition is still stiff in the money standing, leader points, and individual event successes. We'll be following along with the action here.

PokerGO Cup Event #6: $25,000 No Limit Hold 'em final table results

PokerGO Cup Leaderboard top 10 after Event #6

Featured image source: PokerGO