Jason Koon Leads Final Six into Winner-Take-All Final of 2022 PGT Championship

The PokerGO Tour’s final tournament of the season is a special one – a winner-take-all classic where the top 21 players gather in Las Vegas to play for the win and the win alone. Whoever takes down the title will take home $500,000, but whoever comes second – and every position behind it – will leave with nothing.

After a stunning first day at the purple felt, the top 21 players of 2022 were reduced to just half a dozen players as the final ix reached the promised land of the final table. Now five of them have to stop the runaway chip leader from having it all his own way.

Early Levels Take Out Poker Legends

The unique format of the PokerGO Tour (PGT) Championship is such that only the winner receives all the money on offer – a cool half-million dollars. Battling towards that $500,000 sole top prize was a difficult balance between staying in the race and pushing for the win. WSOP Main Event world champion Espen Jorstad got off to a great start, as did PokerGO supremo Cary Katz who made quads in an early pot, but neither man would reach the final six.

It didn’t take long for the eliminations to begin, and Belarussian player Mikita Badziakouski was among those to make an early exit. He called all-in on the river of a board showing 6-6-T-5-J with pocket fives but was surprisingly wrong to do so, with Petrangelo holding pocket jacks for a better full house.

By the time Isaac Kempton lost out in 14^th place, things were getting serious and a great deal closer to the six-handed final table. Kempton, one of the most successful players in the previous 12 months, was all-in with ace-jack of spades on a board showing Q-3-6-9 with the latter two cards being spades. Cary Katz called with king-ten of diamonds and it was his flush that came in on the river of a five of diamonds.

Negreanu Misses Out on the Final in Cooler

The bust-outs kept coming and a Canadian poker legend was the next to leave. Sam Greenwood moved all-in on the turn of a board showing A-3-3-5 with ace-jack but was called by Jeremy Ausmus with king-three for flopped trips. Only an ace would save Greenwood, and it didn’t come on the river of another king, giving Ausmus a full house and reducing the field to a dozen players.

Alex Foxen has enjoyed a superb 2022 that included winning his maiden WSOP bracelet, but he couldn’t make the latter stages, busting in the halfway position of 12^th place. Foxen was all-in from pre-flop when short-stacked with ace-jack too, but he was called by Seth Davies with pocket eights and in winter season, ‘The Snowmen’ held as the board ran out 9-4-3-8-5 and left Foxen drawing dead to the river.

Out in 11^th place was the world champion Espen Jorstad. Daniel Negreanu had doubled up through him by the time the Norwegian shoved with ace-three, and when Sean Winter called with ace-ten, Jorstad was frozen out of the action, as the board came 8-8-2-8-7 and the field was reduced to ten players.

The last player to bust before two tables were reduced to one was Daniel Negreanu. The Canadian, who has won six WSOP bracelets and took down the Vegas-based Super High Roller Bowl this year for over $3 million, was all-in with pocket queens but ran into Sean Winter’s pocket kings. Kings defeated Negreanu in a stunning WPT World Championship earlier this week as Eliot Hudon eventually won the title and history repeated itself here albeit without the rivered two-outer. This time, a king was in the window as the brutal cooler never looked like turning round on the board of K-6-4-3-7.

Koon Takes Control

Jason Koon simply took charge of the remaining play. Jeremy Ausmus was the man who busted in ninth place, leaving after being eliminated by the eventual winner. Ausmus bet his last chips on a board of K-Q-8-6-T with just ace-four offsuit and was called by Jason Koon with a suite nine-seven that had brought him a flush – and straight flush draw – on the turn.

With eight left and one table playing down to the six-handed final, Cary Katz was the next man to bust. All-in with six-three of spades on a board showing J-T-4-5 on the turn with two spades, Katz was drawing to both a straight and flush against Koon’s pocket aces. Sadly for the former, neither draw was fulfilled as an offsuit jack on the river send Katz home and further bolstered Koon’s already chip-leading stack.

The last player to bust on the night was Seth Davies, who held ace-king. The board of Q-7-3-5-A saw Koon shove and Davies call, but Koon hadn’t just hit the river but also the flop with his ace-queen. That pot send Davies to the showers and made Koon a massive chip leader with over 1.8 million chips, the equivalent of 152 big blinds. With Koon’s nearest challenger being second-placed Chad Eveslage on 347,000 chips (29 big blinds), it is the West Virginian’s title to lose.