Jason Koon played the most memorable hand on the recent episode of High Stakes Poker on PokerGO, a hand in which he found himself in a tough spot. The high stakes poker superstar was forced to make a difficult decision with pocket queens for more than $120,000.
Koon, one of the best players in the game, was joined on the felt by much of the same crew that appeared during last week's Episode 10 — Phil Hellmuth, Lazaro Hernandez, Brandon Adams, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Jake Daniels, and Chamath Palihapitiya.
Palihapitiya was the only player at the table who isn't a poker pro, although he is a competent player. And he was also far and away the wealthiest player in the game. The investor's net worth exceeds $1 billion.
The rich dude wasn't heavily involved in many pots during Episode 11. Instead, he sat back and watched the others fight for some five and six-figure pots.
The biggest hand of the day, and also the most exciting hand, involved Koon and Daniels. To put things bluntly, Jake Daniels owned Jason Koon's soul on this episode.
Before getting into the huge pot, we must recall an earlier hand that likely had an impact on the big pot in question. With three aces on the board along with a 10 and a 6, Daniels bet $40,000 on the river into a pot of $32,000 with king-high. Koon, who had the full house with a pair of 10's (10-5), tanked before folding. He would later find out he got bluffed.
Ladies unkind to Ja-Koon
Fast forward ahead a half hour and the two poker pros faced off yet again. But this time Daniels had it. Daniels raised pre-flop to $2,200 with pocket kings and Koon came over the top to $8,000 with queens. His opponent then popped it again to $29,000 and both players took a flop, which was J-K-4, giving Daniels top set and the nuts.
He wasn't about to slowplay that monster hand, so he fired out a small teaser bet of $14,300 and got a call. The turn was the 3, a good card for Koon because it gave him a flush draw for some outs. Daniels, however, bet again, this time for $40,000, about half the size of the pot. Again, Koon came along for the ride.
The deuce of hearts on the river was meaningless for both players. Daniels had a lock on the hand and moved all-in for $128,000. Koon was in a tough spot here. He knew he was bluffed by Daniels earlier, so that was likely on his mind.
The poker pro from West Virginia was confused with the situation as he tanked for a few minutes. He didn't want to get bluffed off such a large pot, especially against a player who bluffed him off a big pot earlier in the session. But his hand was vulnerable to a king, sets, and flushes, and he knew that.
Koon talked himself into making a bad call and lost the $425,000 pot, the biggest hand of the session, and one of the biggest all season.
Gave it all back
On the very next hand, Daniels bluffed off most of those chips with ace-high. Dwan, with suited 9-7, rivered a flush and Daniels bet $90,000 on a bluff into a pot of $169,000. "Durrrr" tanked briefly before making the call to win a huge pot of over $340,000.
Dwan came to play during this episode. He displayed the same aggressive demeanor that made him famous and wealthy during the poker boom era on the old High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark shows. He even bluffed Phil Hellmuth off pocket 10's with a pair of 6's in one hand, and got Daniels to fold bottom pair to his open-ended straight draw in another.
Poker Central brought back High Stakes Poker, which aired on the Game Show Network from 2006-2011, for the first time in a decade. Season 8 wraps up next Wednesday on the PokerGO app. The episode will be available on-demand, but won't be released until 5 pm PT. You can catch the current episode on the PokerGO app anytime. But you need a paid subscription to view the episodes, and any other Poker Central content.
Featured image source: Poker Central
