Jason Koon: Ready, Rested and Willing in the Main Event

The World Series of Poker $10,000 World Championship Main Event rolled into Day 3 with 2,572 hopefuls returning to play. Among them is Jason Koon, a recent Pokerography subject, and through the first level of the day he padded his stack with an extra 100,000 chips.

“It’s going great – yesterday was absurd I was up to 166,000 and got down to 25,000 at one point,” Koon said. “Then I got back up above 160K – it was just a roller coaster day. Today has be easier – I’ve had the nuts a lot. It’s nice when people are betting into you when you have the nuts.”

While many poker pros have the thousand-yard stare at this point of the summer, Koon kept himself fresh with a limited schedule. “I haven’t played many tournaments at the Rio this year, I’ve been playing a lot of the big ARIA events,” said Koon. “For the first third of the Series I was only playing cash at the ARIA.”

“I haven’t put up much results this summer – I’ve played maybe eight tournaments here,” he added. Koon cashed twice this WSOP: 70th place in a $2,500 No Limit event and 959th place in the Millionaire Maker. He finished runner-up twice in $25,000 ARIA High Rollers this summer for a combined $331,600.

Jason Koon still plays for the love of the game. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Koon’s stack puts him in a position for a deep run and he knows he has to avoid certain spots. “I feel pretty great, I may not be playing my best against the weaker opposition,” he said. “I’ve been mainly playing $25Ks and that’s a very different dynamic than playing here. I’m trying my best to slow down and do the small pot thing, but at times it’s difficult to adjust to.”

Koon has $9.1 million in career earnings but his WSOP come in at $945,548. A deep run could put him into the WSOP millionaire club – which he wasn’t aware. “Oh cool, it’s nice to rack it up and as a fanboy of the game I would love to eventually get a bracelet,” said Koon. “It’s nice to put up a bunch of cashes at the World Series – it has a soft sport in my heart.”

“It means a lot to come here and play every year,” he added. “It reminds me of my first summer when I was just excited to come and play. It’s nice to rekindle that passion of playing for fun.”

“I don’t know . I’m certainly playing my best. It’s a long shot for me to do anything great,” said Koon. “If there’s a year I could do it, then this is a good one. I have a bunch of chips and I feel great.”

I guess everyone I know is going to win the main.

— Jason Koon (@JasonKoon) July 10, 2017

Including myself…

— Jason Koon (@JasonKoon) July 10, 2017