In a clash of the poker titans, Jason Koon’s debut on High Stakes Duel saw him squaring off against all-time WSOP bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth, who entered the match with an incredible 9-1 record on the heads-up showdown series from PokerGo. Each of the two had put up $800k buy-in for this Round 5 match of High Stakes Duel 3, making it the biggest heads-up duel on the show: $1.6 million.
Hellmuth, who has more than $25 million in tournament earnings, was high on confidence. His aggressive style served him well in the first four rounds but it backfired in Round 5 as he lost the high-stakes duel to Koon, a 37-year-old poker pro with more than $41 million in poker tournament earnings. This was the second defeat for Hellmuth in 11 matches played so far on the show.
The exciting duel match ended in a little under two and a half hours, with Koon winning and making a smashing debut on High Stakes Duel. Talking to PokerGo reporters about his grand victory, Koon said “I had great hands. Even the hands that I bluffed, almost all of them kind of presented themselves in a natural way, so it was just one of those days where almost anybody in my seat is going to win”.
“I was ready to lose this thing quite often because of the structure. I could have been on the other end of that, where Phil just had huge hands all of the time, and that’s just the nature of poker. You shouldn’t feel bad the days that you run good, and you shouldn’t feel bad the days that you run bad. It’s just the process of it all. Today, I got to be the winner, and it’s nice to do that for gigantic stakes.”- Koon added
With the Round 5 win, Koon has moved on to Round 6, which will see him compete for a $3,200,000 HU match against either a new contender or Hellmuth if he decides to continue for the challenge. A 16-time WSOP bracelet winner, Hellmuth is yet to announce whether he wants a rematch or not.
In total, 11 High Stakes Duel matches have been played so far. Given below the results:
- Duel 1 Round 1 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Antonio Esfandiari – $100,000
- Duel 1 Round 2 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Antonio Esfandiari – $200,000
- Duel 1 Round 3 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Antonio Esfandiari – $400,000
- Duel 2 Round 1 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Daniel Negreanu – $100,000
- Duel 2 Round 2 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Daniel Negreanu $200,000
- Duel 2 Round 3 Phil Hellmuth defeated Daniel Negreanu – $400,000
- Duel 3 Round 1 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Nick Wright – $100,000
- Duel 3 Round 2 – Tom Dwan Defeated Phil Hellmuth – $200,000
- Duel 3 Round 3 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Tom Dwan – $400,000
- Duel 3 Round 4 – Phil Hellmuth defeated Scott Seiver – $800,000
- Duel 3 Round 5 – Jason Koon Defeated Phil Hellmuth – $1,600,000