Poker After Dark: Third Time Is a Charm for Jason Koon

Fresh off the Labor Day weekend, Poker After Dark returned live on PokerGO for three new nights of “Rumble with Jungle” action. Tuesday night was a $50,000 winner-take-all Sit & Go with Daniel “Jungleman” Cates anchoring the action for his first appearance on the show, but two new PAD vets squared off heads-up before Jason Koon won the title and $300,000.

Koon picked up his first Poker After Dark title and celebrated with saying, “It looks like I just satellited my way into the $200K minimum buy-in cash game tomorrow. It’s a good start to the week, hopefully I win a bunch of money with a crazy, tough lineup, but it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

The full lineup featured Isaac Haxton, Doug Polk, Frank Kassela and Brian Rast. Cates, Polk, Kassela and Haxton made their first appearance on PAD, while Koon and Rast played in “The Return of Tom Dwan” and “Voices Carry.”

Rast had an early showdown with Polk, where Cates was positive Rast was bluffing.

King @tsarrast Rast makes @DougPolkPoker‘s pocket aces bend the knee in the #PokerAfterDark $50K SNG pic.twitter.com/fIYrlpYaZe

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) September 6, 2017

“There were four of us on the flop – which means my aces are pretty good right now,” Polk said. “The turn completed the flush and some straights, so I was a pretty unhappy camper about that. I check-called and faced a really big river bet.”

“You know, it’s probably a hand you’re not supposed to get away from – but it’s a pretty tough spot to bluff there overall,” Polk added. Staring directly in the camera, he paused to break the fourth wall – “Even though he was bluffing… You can’t be afraid to make a laydown sometimes and run into a bluff.”

The table didn’t lose a player until after the first break when Haxton made a move holding Ah 5h and Rast called with pocket fours. The flop of 9s 8d 3d didn’t help either player, but the running fours gave Rast quads and knocked Haxton out.

“This has to be one of the toughest Poker After Dark lineups that’s ever run,” Haxton said. “The next two nights we’re playing cash, so hopefully this is a warm-up and hopefully I got the runbad out of the way here.”

Polk was left as the short stack, but he took a wild 30-minute ride where he he doubled up twice, to land second in chips, only to bust in fifth place.  Rast was the chip leader with pocket jacks, moved in and Polk called with pocket nines. The board ran out Qh Js 2s 9h 3d, Polk was done and Rast was the significant chip leader with both knockouts.

“I looked at the lineup…and I have seen softer lineups. Basically, any lineup would have been softer,” Polk said. “It wasn’t exactly ideal, but that’s poker – sometimes you have to play tough lineups, sometimes you get soft ones – I’m just happy to come out and play.”

Play settled down for around an hour before Koon and Cates had chips in the middle with cards face up. Koon had the best of it holding Ac 8c, Cates had kicker problems with Ad 3c and he didn’t go to the showdown feeling positive.

The “Rumble with Jungle” $50K SNG is now rumbling without @JunglemanDan. Don’t miss the three-handed #PokerAfterDark action. pic.twitter.com/4noBPyba7c

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) September 6, 2017

Three-handed play began with Rast in control holding the chip lead (518,000) over Kassela (228,000) and Koon (167,000). But over two hours the blinds increased so fast that chips were flying around the table. Koon got short, was at risk but his “Shooter McGavin” saved him.

Barry Greenstein. Shooter McGavin. Whatever you want to call it, @JasonKoon hits to avoid @DreaRenee_N and stay alive on #PokerAfterDark pic.twitter.com/dtmR7c65u6

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) September 6, 2017

After two hours, Rast’s lead wavered but he kept the other two players in check. Kassela ran card dead as the blinds and antes climbed to a point where he was all in from the big blind holding 8d 7s. Rast called with Js Th, hit top pair on the flop, which was enough to clear the way for heads-up.

The finalists took a short break, Koon held 497,000 to Rast’s 403,000 – which appeared to have been first significant point of the event where Rast did not hold the chip lead. The final hand was a cooler for Rast but it played out methodically slow.

Koon raised to 50,000 preflop with pocket jacks and Rast flatted holding pocket aces. The flop came Kc Jd 8d, Koon bet 40,000 on his set and Rast called. The turn came 2h, Koon bet 65,000 and Rast called again. The river came Tc, Koon moved all in and Rast snap-called to see his night was over.

???? Spoiler & Cooler Alert ????
Third time is the charm for @JasonKoon, who breaks his #PokerAfterDark curse for a huge $300K win! pic.twitter.com/xxvpHM8wFG

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) September 6, 2017

The first night of “Rumble with Jungle” will be available in the archives within hours on PokerGO under the Event Replays tab. Catch up on all the new episodes of Poker After Dark or the growing archive of the first four seasons.