ShareJason Koon has done the unimaginable and taken down the Triton Poker North Cyprus Main Event title, his 7th career Triton title and a massive $2,451,082 payday to celebrate as well.
Koon was among 101 entries to the $100k buy-in flagship event at Triton’s North Cyprus stop, a prizepool topping the $10million mark and 15 players set to cash.
First stop on the money-go-round was the cash bubble, and a disastrous turn card put paid to Badziakouski’s hopes, Mike “SirWatts” Watson filling his boat to dispose of the Belarus number one.
The names left in would grace any highroller final table, but Chris Brewer, Fedor Holz and Michael Addamo bowed out before that stage. Someone did the maths on those who did make the final nine and their tournament earnings totalled somewhere around the $250million mark.
Although there was plenty of drama as the stakes got ever higher, perhaps the most unusual and unexpected action came from a spat between Koon and Smith.
Smith had pleaded for a bit of quiet to contemplate playing his hand, but Koon wasn’t having it. That led to a rather unseemly exchange, where Koon put Smith in his place...
As fate would have it, Koon was also the man to crush Smith’s dreams of Triton Main Event glory, KOing the cowboy in 5th spot, having already taken out Winter and Chidwick.
By the time Koon and Greenwood met heads-up, Koon had sent both Hecklen and O’Dwyer to the rail and was eyeing up his second title of the North Cyprus stoop and his 7th career Triton victory.
An ICM chop of Koon’s 80 BBs to Greenwood’s 21 BBs with 10% left behind saw Koon guaranteed $2,367,082 and Greenwood $1,923,918, with $84,000 left to play for.
That ended going Koon’s way, along with the Main Event trophy and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece, on the first hand of heads-up play...
♦ ♣ ♠♥
Koon: Q♠10♦
Greenwood: A♦ K♣
Flop: Q♥ 9♥ J♣
Turn: Jâ™
River: 7♥
Final results
| 1 | Jason Koon | $2,451,082* |
| 2 | Sam Greenwood | $1,923,918* |
| 3 | Steve O’Dwyer | $1,171,000 |
| 4 | Henrik Hecklen | $946,000 |
| 5 | Dan Smith | $762,000 |
| 6 | Sean Winter | $595,000 |
| 7 | Mike Watson | $469,500 |
| 8 | Stephen Chidwick | $358,500 |
| 9 | Viacheslav Buldygin | $263,000 |
*denotes heads up deal
“I feel pretty good. I’m always a happy guy when I’m playing,” Koon told Alii Nejad after his victory, adding: “But it’s been a long trip. I’ve made a lot of long, deep runs and I’ve pushed myself really, really hard.”
Koon’s thoughts went to the late Ivan Leow, whose name will grace the Player of the Year trophy award.
“I was here a little under a year ago when we lost Ivan,” Koon said. “Ivan was a good friend of mine. And walking through these halls every day I feel a little bit emotional about that. Just the title of Player of the Year, it gets me emotional. I miss the guy.”
Koon, a Triton Poker ambassador, also explained: “I don’t really play other poker tournaments. These are the most important to me. I’m sure Hellmuth would feel the same whenever he wins a bracelet. To me, these are the most important. I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude.”
