Jason Koon took some time off this year to get his mind right and refocused on the future. Now he's back and fired up as the newest PokerStars Team Pro — the site where it all began for him.
Koon — along with the also-introduced Caitlin Comeskey — will be the new faces of PokerStars poker in the USA. It's a full-circle moment for the man with just over $58 million in career earnings. Back when that number was still $0, you could find him on PokerStars.
"I was running track in college and my buddy was playing online poker on PokerStars," Koon said about those first steps into the poker world. "And he said, you know, you should try this out."
They were hooked overnight, like many others at the time. It started with play money. It always does. "That was the gateway drug to winning some freerolls. And then for me, it was an incredible success."
A 'surreal, bizarre experience'
Koon quickly had a way to pay for college and something to wake up excited about in the morning.
"In my life I had never experienced anything like I experienced playing online poker. I made my Stars account 20 years ago. All my biggest scores early were on PokerStars. I won my first major score in a SCOOP for $300,000."
For Koon, it now adds up to a "surreal, bizarre experience" to see himself associated with the Red Spade. "I'm an ambassador for the site that I first started playing online poker for? It goes to show how much of a time warp all of this has been, you know?"
The fire returns
The plan now is to play a lot of poker after some time off with his growing family. Koon played just a handful of WSOP events this summer. Most of that time was spent in Lake Tahoe with the wife and kids.
"I'm still working very, very hard at poker. And even though I've played maybe 25% of the volume this year as I've played in previous years, I've just been thrilled to be with my two sons and my wife."
But as much as he enjoyed family time, Koon got the fire back as summer turned into fall. He started dedicating more time to studying again and digging into research.
"I was hoping this would happen," he said. "And so, you know, for the past 90 days or so, I've been working really hard at my game. I'm at that stage in my career where luckily I get to choose what I want to play and I'm only going to play when I'm excited to play, but this winter and next year we're going to play a lot of live poker."
'Next year I'm coming for it all'
Koon will be front and center at live events in North America and he plans to play at European Poker Tour stops. It's a big shift for someone who seemed like he was starting to wind down his career just a few years ago when he became a father. Now the family will come along in support.
"We chose to do that as a family, not because it's necessary for us to get by. And I think that you're going to see a very excited version of me executing at a very high level. And you'll see me really bring it next year. This year was a much-needed slower year for me to be with my kids and get that fire back in my belly to play again. And next year I'm coming for it all. So the fire's back."
"The whole thing is to be objective, be honest with myself, and make sure I'm playing when I want to play. And a good barometer for me is if I'm doing all the work off the table, that means I'm ready to go. As long as I'm rolling out of bed choosing the study because that's what I want to do, you're gonna see me show up and play. I'm back and I'm ready."
Photos courtesy of PokerStars/Matthew Berglund
