Jason Koon's historic run in Triton Super High Roller Series poker events continued on Sunday with his latest win under the Triton flag, a victory in the Triton North Cyprus main event. Koon's triumph in the Triton Series main event was his second win of the series and his seventh Triton title overall, and it was worth $2,451,082.
Koon topped a 101-entry field in the tourney, in the process pushing his career earnings well over $47 million. The West Virginia native and current resident of Canada has enjoyed a series-long heater in North Cyprus. He also won one of the preliminary events, the $20,000 No Limit Hold'em - 7-Handed Event #2 for another $663,000, finished as the runner-up in a third event, and has logged five cashes overall.
Koon's North Cyprus heater also pushed him just ahead of British star Stephen Chidwick in the race for the Triton Series' inaugural Player of the Year honor, which will be decided when the North Cyprus stop wraps on Wednesday. The Triton Player of the Year race is named in honor of Triton co-founder Ivan Leow, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 41 while playing at the September 2022 Cyprus stop.
For Koon, a Triton Series brand ambassador, thoughts of Leow were prominent as he took down the main event. An emotional Koon fought tears moments later, and in commenting after the win, he said, “I was here a little under a year ago when we lost Ivan. 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 added, “You deal with a lot. You hold in a ton of your feelings, and this was one of those ones where it wasn’t just joy. It was just, like, ‘I can’t believe this.’ This is it for me. I don’t really play other poker tournaments. These are the most important to me. I’m sure [Phil] Hellmuth would feel the same whenever he wins a bracelet. To me, these are the most important. I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude.”
Koon's main-event win was an upset in itself. He arrived at the final table on the second-shortest stack, but a couple of early double-ups, including one through Chidwick, pushed him into the heart of the battle. Koon won after he and runner-up Sam Greenwood reached a heads-up deal, and in addition to the big payday, Koon collected an exclusive Jacob & Co watch. Another of Triton's founders, Paul Phua, also promised Koon a second watch from his personal collection if Koon holds on for the inaugural Ivan Leow Player of the Year title.
Featured image source: Triton-series.com
