Jason Koon Wins the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 Single-Day High Roller for $421,080
Jason Koon emerged victorious in the $25,000 Single-Day High Roller at the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $421,080, besting a field of 41 unique players who collectively made 58 total entries. He came out on top of a stacked final table that included the likes of Nick Petrangelo, Chris Hunichen, and Isaac Haxton. With this latest victory, Koon crossed the $11,000,000-mark in live tournament earnings.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Koon | United States | $421,080 |
| 2 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $304,580 |
| 3 | Timothy Adams | Canada | $196,500 |
| 4 | Nick Petrangelo | United States | $148,780 |
| 5 | Benjamin Pollak | France | $115,100 |
| 6 | Chris Hunichen | United States | $89,840 |
| 7 | Christopher Kruk | Canada | $71,580 |
| 8 | Isaac Haxton | United States | $56,140 |
This tournament was an eventful one from the get-go; before the first level was over, Erik Seidel had lost his stack to Chance Kornuth. Although Seidel reentered (as did 16 others who busted their first bullet before the conclusion of level 8), he was eliminated during level five when he lost a flip to the eventual champion. The unofficial final table was reached after the dinner break and the bubble broke when PokerStars Team Pro Igor Kurganov got his stack in preflop with nines only to see Timothy Adams flip over queens and got no help from the board.
The first player to finish in the money was Isaac Haxton, who departed in eighth place when he got his chips in preflop with pocket sevens and couldn’t improve against Adams’s pocket tens. Christopher Kruk became the seventh-place finisher when he jammed preflop with eight-seven suited, was called by Jason Koon holding queen-ten suited, and the board missed both players entirely. Chris Hunichen was eliminated in sixth place when he shoved preflop with a suited king and got action from Koon who held ace-jack suited; Koon made trips and Hunichen didn’t connect.
Koon’s hot streak continued when he dispatched Benjamin Pollak in fifth place. The two players got all the chips in before the flop; Koon held ace-ten suited, Pollak held queen-jack, and Koon was still best after the last card fell. Nick Petrangelo fell in fourth when he got his stack in on the flop holding a king-high flush draw and gutshot only to find himself trailing Mikalai Vaskaboinikau’s nut-flush draw. He got no help from the turn and made the second-best flush on the river.
Next, Adams became the third-place finisher when he got his stack in preflop with jacks against Vaskaboinikau’s ace-nine, and although he retained his lead after the flop and turn, an ace fell on the river to give Vaskaboinikau the winning hand. Heads-up play between Koon and Vaskaboinikau lasted over an hour. The tournament ultimately came to an end when Vaskaboinikau shoved from the button with king-six and Koon, who had the larger of the two stacks by a somewhat narrow margin, woke up with aces.
Although this event is in the books, the action on Paradise Island is far from over. The $10,300 Main Event is ongoing and the final high roller event of the series, Event #22 $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller, kicks off Saturday at noon local time. Be sure to check back for continuing coverage of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure presented by the PokerNews Live Reporting Team.
