Jason Koon Beats Phil Hellmuth in $1,600,000 High Stakes Duel Match

On Wednesday, high-stakes poker pro Jason Koon defeated Phil Hellmuth in their $1,600,000 High Stakes Duel 3 Round 5 match. Koon winning means that High Stakes Duel 3 will advance to Round 6 where a $3,200,000 match will be played. Hellmuth has first right to rematch Koon in Round 6, but if he passes on a rematch, then another competitor will need to pony up $1,600,000 to compete against Koon.

“I had great hands,” Koon told PokerGO after the match. “Even the hands that I bluffed, almost all of them kind of presented themselves in a natural way, so it was just one of those days where almost anybody in my seat is going to win.”

Koon continued: “Like I said coming in, I was ready to lose this thing quite often because of the structure. I could have been on the other end of that, where Phil just had huge hands all of the time, and that’s just the nature of poker. You shouldn’t feel bad the days that you run good, and you shouldn’t feel bad the days that you run bad. It’s just the process of it all. Today, I got to be the winner, and it’s nice to do that for gigantic stakes.”

High Stakes Duel is a PokerGO.com original series that begins with each player posting the $50,000 buy-in. The winner progresses through to the next round where the loser has the first option to challenge for a rematch. If the loser declines, the challenger seat is open for 30 days. The stakes will double each round and a potential $12,800,000 prize pool would be reached by Round 8.

The $1,600,000 match began with Hellmuth and Koon exchanged the lead often. Both players began with 800,000 in chips and the blinds at 1,500/2,500. For about 45 minutes, the two hovered around the starting chip stack amount before the first big hand came up, and it was one that Hellmuth picked the wrong time to bluff.

On the button with the blinds at 1,500/3,000 in the second level, Hellmuth limped in with queen-six offsuit. Koon had two black aces in the big blind and raised to 10,500. Hellmuth fired back with a three-bet to 32,000. Koon then four-bet to 120,000. Hellmuth put in a five-bet to 260,000. Koon opted to move all in for 773,000 total, and Hellmuth snap-folded.

With a big chunk of chips going Koon’s way, he was up to just about a 2-to-1 chip lead over Hellmuth with 1,033,000 to Hellmuth’s 567,000.

Hellmuth fought his way back to near even in chips, up to around 750,000 or so, but then things began to tilt further in Koon’s direction as he started to pull away again.

During the 2,000/4,000 level, Hellmuth tried a bluff with queen-jack that failed to work against Koon’s ace-queen of diamonds. On the final board of nine-nine-two-three-ten with 116,000 in the middle, Hellmuth fired 52,000 after both players checked the turn. Koon quickly called and correctly picked of the bluff.

Hellmuth soon found himself below 400,000 in chips and then below 300,000 in chips.

Use code “HSD3R5” for $20 off an annual PokerGO.com subscription now!

At the 3,000/6,000 level, Hellmuth saw his stack go from 215,000 to 137,000 when he lost a hand with nine-eight against Koon’s ace-five. Koon min-raised on the button, Hellmuth called, and the flop came queen-five-five with two clubs. Hellmuth checked, Koon bet 6,000, and Hellmuth made the call to see the six of clubs come on the turn. With three clubs now on board, Hellmuth checked, Koon bet 25,000, and Hellmuth check-raised to 60,000. Koon just called. The river was a three and Hellmuth checked. Koon bet 40,000 into 156,000, and Hellmuth folded.

Hellmuth fought his way back to 190,000 in chips, but just as we thought we might see Hellmuth start to mount a comeback, Koon knocked him right back down.

Hellmuth limped on the button with king-two of hearts, Koon raised to 24,000 with six-four of diamonds, and Hellmuth called. The flop came all jacks, Koon bet 30,000, and Hellmuth called. A queen came on the turn, and Koon slowed down with a check. Hellmuth checked back. The dealer placed a four on the river, improving Koon to a full house. Koon bet 36,000. Hellmuth called and immediately shot up out of his chair when he saw Koon had rivered a full house.

With that, Hellmuth was down to 103,000 in chips, and it was over on the very next hand.

Still in the 3,000/6,000 level, Koon min-raised on the button to 12,000 with queen-eight. Hellmuth made it 35,000 to go from the big blind with ace-king. Koon shoved after getting a count on Hellmuth’s stack, and Hellmuth called. The board ran out queen-ten-four-ten-three to give Koon his first High Stakes Duel victory.

Although Hellmuth did lose this High Stakes Duel match, which was the largest High Stakes Duel match to date, his record in the competition stands at 9-2 and he previously won two High Stakes Duel championship belts.

For Koon, he now awaits a challenger for High Stakes Duel 3 Round 6, which will be a $3,200,000 match that each player puts up $1,600,000 for. Hellmuth has first right to a rematch against Koon, and if he passes on that rematch, it will open up the door for another opponent to step into the ring.

“My preparation for this match was not only Phil-specific but it was also - I assumed it was going to go two ways,” Koon said. “One, there’s going to be some very rich recreational player who wants a sweat, which is great. Or there’s going to be some super alpha person who comes from Russia or somewhere who wants to play me, but I doubt it. I just can’t really see anyone that will play me. I’m not trying to be arrogant, it’s just that it’s a lot of money to move for a one-percent or two-percent edge that you’re going to have at most against me, but my preparation was to be ready to play an optimal player. I did not play an optimal strategy today. I played a very Phil-specific strategy. But if I play another player, I will be ready to play them if they play the way that a solver would play.”

When Koon does face his next challenger in High Stakes Duel, whether it’s Hellmuth or someone else, he’ll need to win that match in order to become the High Stakes Duel 3 champion and take home the championship belt. Per the rules of High Stakes Duel, a player must win two consecutive matches in order to win the championship belt once the competition reaches Round 4.

History of High Stakes Duel

High Stakes Duel began with Phil Hellmuth versus Antonio Esfandiari. Hellmuth defeated Esfandiari in three straight matches to win the first-ever High Stakes Duel championship belt. The buy-ins for those matches were $50,000, $100,000, and $200,000, meaning Hellmuth profited $350,000 in prize money.

After Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu stepped into the ring to battle Hellmuth. It was once again a sweep for Hellmuth, as he defeated Negreanu in three straight matches to score another $350,000 in profit and his second High Stakes Duel championship belt.

For High Stakes Duel 3, Hellmuth battled with sports media personality Nick Wright in Round 1. Hellmuth came out on top against Wright, then Wright passed on a rematch. That allowed Tom Dan to enter the ring. Dwan issued Hellmuth his first-ever High Stakes Duel loss in High Stakes Duel 3 Round 2, but Hellmuth rematched Dwan and got the victory in High Stakes Duel 3 Round 3.

Dwan was set to face Hellmuth again in High Stakes Duel 3 Round 4, but a scheduling conflict got in the way and Dwan stepped out of the ring. Scott Seiver took the opportunity to challenge Hellmuth at the $400,000 buy-in level. Hellmuth defeated Seiver to push High Stakes Duel 3 to Round 5. Seiver was first in line to rematch Hellmuth but ended up backing out of the match. In came Jason Koon with his $800,000 to play Hellmuth in the largest High Stakes Duel match to date. As outlined above, Koon defeated Hellmuth in their $1,600,000 match to advance to High Stakes Duel 3 Round 6.

Connect with PokerGO.com on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Use code “HSD3R5” for $20 off an annual PokerGO subscription now!