Jason Koon Beats ‘Mentor’ Ben Tollerene to Record-Extending Triton Title

Some of the biggest names in poker assembled at the Maestral Resort in Budva, Montenegro as Jason Koon beat his friend and mentor Ben Tollerene to claim the 11^th Triton title of his poker career. Koon, whose winnings now exceed $63 million, won another massive seven-figure score after surviving a final table that included some of the best to ever do it, such as Isaac Haxton, Phil Ivey and Wiktor Malinowski.

Bumper Numbers in Budva

There were huge numbers again in Montenegro as Koon’s victory came after he outlasted 152 total entries. All-Time Money List leader on The Hendon Mob Bryn Kenney was busted outside the money and while he still ranks highest in tournament winnings, his $75m is now a target in reach for several players after this series in Montenegro.

Among those to reach the final 17 paid places were stars of the poker felt such as Joao Simao (15^th for $267,000), Patrik Antonius (13^th for $292,000), Daniel Dvoress (12^th for $292,000) and Santhosh Suvarna, who won $332,000 in 11^th place. By the time the final nine were reached, Koon led the field, with 5.37 million chips. Isaac Haxton was the short stack and that proved important as he slid out from the final table first for $405,000. All-in with ace-jack, he ran into Ben Tollerene’s ace-queen to bust.

Soon, eight became seven, as Christoph Vogelsang was dominated to defeat too, his ace-eight at risk and Tollerene the one holding ace-queen again. Once again, Tollerene held, to send the German home with $543,000. Two eliminations for Tollerene had put him almost on a par with Koon at the top of the chipcounts, and that prompted action from the eventual winner. Koon took out Wiktor Malinowski from Poland for $721,000 after the latter shoved with queen-seven and Koon’s ace-six survived the board to send play six-handed.

Parssinen Beaten by Cold Deck

Eelis Parssinen was unlucky to bust in sixth place for $943,000. All-in with pocket kings, he had the beating of Tollerene’s pocket jacks but only until the J-9-2 flop. No help came on the queen turn and six river for Parssinen and the fantastic Finn departed outside the final five. Tollerene even found time in this period to sneak a successful salvo in against the chip leader, taking some off Koon with pocket aces.

The first seven-figure score of an event packed with them came next, as Pokercode co-founder Matthias Eibinger won $1,195,000. Phil Ivey had survived after shoving twice as short stack before the Austrian Eibinger moved all-in with pocket fives. It came around to Tollerene, who had the easiest call with pocket kings, which held to reduce the field to four.

Phil Ivey had nimbly climbed the ladder to fourth place but the rungs were about to slip out of their sockets. The all-time poker legend, who has 11 WSOP bracelets and is arguably the greatest to ever play poker, shoved with ace-five, and saw Jason Koon call with pocket sevens. They not only held but turned into a full house across the board and Ivey exited stage left with $1,482,000.

Koon and Tollerene ICM Chop it Up

“I just had to beat the greatest poker player of all time.”

Both Koon and Tollerene had 45 big blinds, with Wayne Heung holding just 17 big blinds. The Hong Kong player cashed for $1,790,000 in fourth soon after, shoving with ten-nine and running into Tollerene’s ace-ten. The board of K-J-9-Q-8 was a dramatic one but a Broadway straight on the turn gave Tollerene the pot and another elimination.

Heads-up, Tollerene’s lead of 62 bigs to 45 led to a conversation about the payments. Sure enough, the two best friends, who often name each other when asked which opponent they find the most difficult to face, came to an agreement. Tollerene took the largest amount of money, as the pair agreed on the ICM numbers and just $130,000 and the trophy were put to one side for a winner.

Koon made a terrific call to double up with second pair on a board where Tollerene had a combo draw, and that gave him the lead. All the chips went in pre-flop in the final hand when Tollerene’s ace-nine needed to hit against Koon’s pocket sixes. The two men stood up and watched the dealer decide their fate.

“Let’s sweat it together buddy,” Koon said. No help came on the flop, turn or river and Koon had done it again on the Triton tour, with both men embracing as Tollerene claimed $3,437,344 to Koon’s $3,393,656.

“I just had to beat the greatest poker player of all time,” Koon told Triton after victory.  “I got heads-up with my best pal and mentor. Twelve years ago, when I first saw what elite poker looked like, it was through Ben. Honestly, I never thought I’d be the one standing here with 11 titles.”

Koon explained that heads-up, it was always going to be a levelling war.

“We’re committed to executing a strategy that we know is optimal, so if you watch him and I play poker hands, it can become pretty violent. It’s paradoxical, you have somebody you love so much as a person, but we just rip each other’s faces off. We wouldn’t respect one another if we didn’t play absolutely as hard as we could.”

You can watch all the action from Budva as Jason Koon won his record-extending 11^th Triton Poker Series title in dramatic style here: