Jason Koon wins $3.5 million in Montenegro

Phil Ivey got 3rd for a seven-figure score, while Tom "durrrr" Dwan bubbled hugely.

Jason, who has been grinding the online- and live tournaments for a decade, hit his biggest ever score by taking down the HK$1,000,000 Short Deck Ante Only event. The event featuring the newest format of the game created a field of 103 entries, generating a prize pool of HKD96,902,400 (~$12,344,397) - the biggest ever in the history of the Triton Super High Roller Series.

After grinding for 14 hours, the tournament finally ended at 5.30 am. Jason beat Xuan Tan in the heads-up who is rumored to be the biggest winner on the side action. The legendary Phil Ivey got 3rd to book his second cash in Montenegro after he won the HK$ 250,000 Short Deck event [3] a few days earlier. Only six players made the money, with Peter Jetten - who finished third in the Main Event [4] -, "min-cashing" for $641,918.

"I was very short in chips and knew I needed to get very lucky to move up and win the tournament," - said Peter after his bust out.

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The Canadian pro lost his last chips in a coin flip situation when his pocket Queens couldn't manage to hold against the Ace-king of Jason's. Even though Peter is also pretty new to the game, he seems pretty excited about it: “Very very little, weeks, a couple months maybe. Yeah, definitely, I love the game. There is a ton of entries, a lot of money to be played for in this tournament and it's very exciting. Any game is very exciting when that's the case."

Peter was followed by Main Event runner-up [4], Rui Cao, who lost his remaining stack to Phil Ivey in a cooler situation. Cao flopped trips against a full house. The Frenchman walked away with a paycheck of $802,430. After this, Jason Koon moved up the gears. He eliminated Winfred Yu holding King-Jack against Queens and then flopped the nut straight with Jack-Ten against the pocket Jacks of Ivey's. The Hong Kong-based grinder earned $1,172,752, while Ivey added $1,666,480 to his winnings.

“Yeah I enjoyed it, I think the structure was great, I love Montenegro. This casino is wonderful, and I'm gonna come every year hopefully,” Ivey said.

 

In the heads-up, Jason had to face Xuan Tan from China, who is considered to be one of the most experienced short-deck players. “I was playing a player that was much better than I am, at least short-handed, much more experienced, and really talented in cash games. I just coolered him to win the tournament, and I am glad it worked out that way because it could have been a really long night. I know he was in for the long haul, he was trying to play small pots, as he should, I definitely think he had an edge on me.”

In the final hand, Koon turned a full-house with the same card which gave Xuan a straight. This set up ended things quickly and Jason could raise the trophy and his living standards thanks to the whopping $3.5 million first prize. Tan pocketed $2,308,434 for finishing 2nd.

Final results