Let’s face it, not many players are going to have a Sunday — or a poker career— like GGPoker’s newest ambassador Jason Koon just had at the World Series of Poker.
The day started off with Koon guiding his short stack through Day 2 of the $25,000, 8-max high-roller event, which was eventually won by Tyler Cornell, giving him his first WSOP Bracelet and his 36th cash.
Winning isn’t everything for Koon at the WSOP
During a break in the action, Koon was the guest of honor at a press conference where he was introduced as the latest GGPoker ambassador. After smiling for the cameras and becoming the newest face of the rapidly growing poker site, he returned to the tables. Koon joins Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Fedor Holz, and Dan Bilzerian as GGPoker ambassadors. He formerly represented partypoker.
But playing the $25,000 event must not have been stimulating enough for him, so as he was grinding his way to an eventual ninth-place finish ($79,834), he entered the $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em freezeout event online, and played both tournaments simultaneously.
Koon, whose WSOP Online name is “EddieVedder,” finished sixth in that tournament for $39,000. Martin “Bathroomline” Zamani won his second bracelet of the series by taking down the event. Despite not winning either tournament, Koon still had what many would consider a very strong day at the WSOP, scoring two top-10 finishes and being named a GGPoker ambassador all in less than 12 hours.
GG making a lot of good moves recently, @JasonKoon is a brilliant player & a fantastic human. Very inspiring guy https://t.co/qadHhunTp4
— Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel) October 4, 2021
A poker inspiration
Koon, who’s a dominating high-roller tournament regular with a dozen victories in events with buy-ins of $25,000 or more, may be the best player in the world without any WSOP or WPT hardware his name. Even so, he has 11 final tables and 52 cashes for more than $2.3 million in WSOP events.
His $33.7 million in tournament winnings put him eighth on the all-time money list, according to the Hendon Mob’s database. He’s also an ambassador to the Triton Super High Roller Series, where he won $3.5 million in a single event in 2018.
The West Virginia native and brand-new father — his wife Bianca birthed a boy on Sept. 21 — started playing poker in college and never looked back after winning $300,000 in an online event in 2009.
“I’m really excited to join GGPoker, particularly so soon after they’ve taken a leading role in the poker world. I’m also thrilled to be in a position to help with game security and player advocacy, making GGPoker an even better place to play our favorite game,” Koon said in a press release.
He expanded on that a bit when asked by CardsChat.
“I will be an open set of ears and eyes that works with the players, as well as the team at GG, to protect all levels of poker action. I will apply my familiarity with solvers and game theory to help spot cheating, specifically people using real time assistance,” Koon said.
He also said he wants to use his influence to make sure online poker is welcoming to all levels of players and continues to give them opportunities to turn a small bankroll into something significant.
“One of the main reasons I’m so excited about joining GGPoker is that they are making efforts to protect the poker ecosystem. I started playing the smallest stakes available on the internet and climbed my way up. I want that dreamy to be still possible if the player puts in the right amount of work,” he said.
Poker sites have long used players and famous people as marketing tools. These “ambassadors” are used to drive players to the sites and, as in this case, help reassure online poker players that the sites are safe and secure.
“At GGPoker, we view ambassadors as part of our overall team. We want them as bought into keeping GGPoker the #1 site in the world as we are,” said John Scanlon, Director of Sponsorships & Live Events at GGPoker in the press release. “Jason’s reputation and how he handles himself personally and professionally makes him an ideal Global Ambassador. Having a player of his caliber providing advice and direction, and representing the most committed segment of our player community, is invaluable for us.”
