Earlier this month, poker professional Jason Koon had no downside taking down Phil Hellmuth once they met in a Excessive Stakes Duel match. However Koon didn’t dissipate all his expertise on that heads-up battle, as he had sufficient left over to now win the PokerGO Tour (PGT) Championship.
Poker professional Jason Koon holds the trophy he earned after profitable the PokerGO Championship. The West Virginia participant is having one other banner 12 months on the felt. (Picture: PokerGO)
Making its second run this 12 months, the high-stakes PGT included 175 occasions that noticed over 24,998 mixed entries and $426 million within the pot. Shaking issues up because it made its return, the PGT launched the PGT Championship this 12 months.
The occasion is a winner-takes-all freeroll – no money for anybody however the victor. When the ultimate hand performed out, it was Koon who was standing on prime of the most important stack. This earned him all the $500,000 that was up for grabs.
Texas Maintain’em With A Twist
The PGT Championship was, in just a few methods, completely different than most tournaments. Along with giving the prize pool to at least one participant, versus the highest finishers, all gamers had completely different chip stacks as they sat down on the tables.
The stack sizes had been decided by the variety of factors every participant gained through the PGT. The upper the rating on the leaderboard, the extra chips the participant began with.
Stephen Chidwick was on the prime of the checklist, sitting down with 342,000 in chips. Koon wasn’t far behind, with the third-largest stack, however began with a transparent drawback.
The freeroll was open to the highest 21 gamers of the PGT, and the motion moved at a gentle tempo till the very finish. Koon closed out Day 1 because the chip chief, controlling about 57% of the pile.
On Day 2, he continued to work his magic to take dwelling the trophy and the cash. Now, in line with Hendon Mob, the West Virginia native has amassed over $41.9 million in dwell event cash and one WSOP bracelet.
Koon lastly bumped into Sean Winter to find out the winner. The 2 would go at it for nearly two hours, exchanging the lead a number of instances alongside the best way. Lastly, with Koon up 6:1 in chips, the dying blow got here.
Koon had 10-8 when he compelled Winter, virtually out of chips, to go all-in together with his J-8. When the board ran out 10-6-5-3-3, it was throughout. Winter nonetheless has loads of causes to have a good time – he cashed in a number of PGT tournaments and has over $21 million in dwell motion winnings.
On-line Poker Will get A Enhance
On-line poker within the US has been stifled for a few years due to archaic legal guidelines that nobody appears keen to handle. The Wire Act of 1961 has made it just about unimaginable for on-line gaming operators to conduct exercise throughout state strains. However that’s altering.
In consequence, on-line poker is lastly making a return. There’s nonetheless loads of work to do, however PokerStars goes to assist push the difficulty ahead. It introduced final Friday that, starting January 1 of subsequent 12 months, it’ll begin pooling its gamers in Michigan and New Jersey.
Multi-state on-line poker (MSOP) will rework the gaming section. It’s going to create the flexibility to have bigger tournaments with larger prize swimming pools and ensures, in addition to gasoline curiosity within the recreation.
Not since Chris Moneymaker gained a WSOP bracelet in 2003 after gaining entry via a web-based satellite tv for pc has something had the flexibility to change the poker house like MSOP. It’s taken virtually 20 years and poker’s Black Friday, which noticed the sudden and controversial killing of on-line poker by the Division of Justice, to make it occur.
Michigan entered the Multi-State Web Gaming Settlement (MSIGA) this previous Might, opening the door for expanded MSOP offers. The settlement, which covers on-line poker and sure on-line on line casino video games, now consists of Delaware, Michigan, Nevada and New Jersey.
