Jason Koon Claims Largest Top Prize to Date at 2025 WSOP

Jason Koon converted a final day lead into his latest high-stakes tournament triumph, besting a field of 171 entries in the 2025 World Series of Poker $50,000 no-limit hold’em high roller to earn his second gold bracelet and the first-place prize of $1,968,927.

This was the largest payout awarded through the first 31 completed events of this year’s festival, but it doesn’t even crack Koon’s personal top five. The 12-time Triton Poker champion has five multi-million-dollar scores on his long list of accomplishments, with another 10 cashes between $1 million and $2 million.

Koon has been particularly hot recently, cashing for more than $6.5 million since the start of May. This includes two wins at Triton Montenegro, which extended his lead as the tour’s all-time title leader by seven more than any other player. The largest triumph of this streak saw him take down the $150,000 buy-in event at that stop for just shy of $3.4 million.

The upshot of all this success is that the 39-year-old has now climbed to third place on poker’s all-time money list, with nearly $66 million in lifetime earnings accrued across more than 300 recorded cashes. His consistency at the very largest buy-in events offered has allowed him to shift his approach as a professional. Earlier in his career, the WSOP would represent a nonstop grind for the West Virginian, who now calls Las Vegas home. These days, he only targets a select few events.

“I just play when I want to now. I’m very committed to that,” said Koon after coming out on top. “My family’s with me if I travel. So I’m going to travel less, and when I play, I’m going to be on my A-game, and skip some tournaments. And whenever I show up, I’m ready to do the thing.”

Koon earned his first bracelet back in 2021, taking down the $25,000 heads-up championship after more than a decade of chasing the gold. In recent years, his focus has shifted away from the bracelet chase towards focusing on the high roller circuit, but he still has a soft spot for the WSOP.

“I really love it,” said Koon when asked about having success at the series. “You know, it’s nostalgia for me. Whenever I was in college, obviously, I was just watching WSOP all the time on ESPN, and first time I was here, I remember the buzz and how excited I was, and I still, I come back, and I may not feel that same buzz anymore, but I see young people here that are excited to play, that makes me really happy.”

This latest victory came with plenty of rankings points. The 750 PokerGO Tour points he secured moved him into 12th place on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard. He also locked up 936 Card Player Player of the Year points, putting himself in the mix once again in the POY race.

Jason Koon is your winner for Event #32: $50,000 NLH High Roller. After battling through a 171 high rollers, which included some of the toughest tablemates in poker, @JasonKoon took down $1.9mil and his 2nd WSOP gold bracelet. #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/88nj4kMJYU

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 12, 2025

Setting The Stage

The final day began with 10 players remaining and Koon out in front. His sizable lead over the rest of the field was due in part to the massive cooler that saw his pocket aces best the pocket kings of 11th-place finisher Sean Winter, with all of the chips going in preflop. The larger pair held and Winter settled for $130,082.

Dominykas Mikolaitis (10th – $130,082), who recently took down a $50,000 high roller at Triton Poker Montenegro, was the first to fall. He was soon joined by Chongxian Yang (9th – $161,048) and Aliaksei Boika (8th – $203,919). Boika got his last chips in well ahead, with pocket aces leading K-J suited for bracelet winner Andrew Lichtenberger.

‘Lucky Chewy’ flopped an open-ended straight draw and then got there on the turn. Boika had improved to top set, but the board did not pair on the end and he was eliminated in eighth place. This was the Belarusian’s third cash of the series, including a runner-up showing in the $25,000 heads-up championship.

Sergey Lebedev came from behind with K♠Q♠ beating the A♦K♦ of Reagan Silber (7th – $263,944) to narrow the field to six. Silber flopped top pair of aces, but Lebedev turned a king-high flush and held from there to earn the knockout.

Viktor Blom was left short after losing a hefty pot against Ben Tollerene. The Swedish high-stakes star, known to many as ‘Isildur1,’ then got his last ten or so big blinds in with A♦6♦ from the button. Koon called from the small blind with A♠10♠ and flopped top pair of tens to expand his advantage. He held through the turn and river to send Blom home with $349,068 for his sixth-place showing. He now has more than $8.3 million in career tournament scores under his belt.

Lichtenberger Busts Two Before A Cooler Catapults Koon Ahead

The final five then went on a break ahead of the start of PokerGO’s exclusive live streaming coverage of the event. Koon had just shy of 39 percent of the chips in play when action resumed.

A battle of the blinds led to the first elimination on broadcast, with Lichtenberger open-shoving A♥Q♦ from the small blind and receiving a quick call from Lebedev, who had just 13 big blinds to start the hand.  Lebedev was dominated with A♦8♦ and was in even worse shape after a queen-high flop with no diamonds. He was drawing dead by the turn, and said his goodbyes to the table before heading to collect his $471,473 payday.

Brock Wilson was left quite short when a turn shove from Koon, holding top pair with an eight kicker, forced Wilson to fold his own top pair with an eight kicker. Wilson was down to just over ten big blinds when he looked down at A♠8♦ on the button facing an under-the-gun open from Lichtenberger, who held A♥Q♥. He three-bet from 600,000 to 1,800,000 and it folded back to Lichtenberger, who moved all-in. Wilson called off his remaining 855,000 and the 10♠6♣3♦J♠3♠ runout saw Wilson knocked out in fourth place. The $650,074 payout was a new career-best for Wilson, who now has more than $11.8 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

Lichtenberger was out in front with Koon in second and Tollerene well behind when an ice-cold cooler totally reshaped the leaderboard. Tollerene opened to 700,000 with K♣7♣ from the button and Koon three-bet to 2,050,000 from the small blind with A♠A♥. Lichtenberger picked up K♥K♦ in the big blind and cold four-bet to 4,200,000. Koon five-bet to 7,500,000 and Lichtenberger moved all-in, an effective shove of 19,250,000. Koon snap called for that amount and hit top set on an A♦J♥3♣ flop. The turn made it a little interesting with the 10♥ giving Lichtenberger a gutshot straight draw, but the 10♦ river gave Koon aces full to take down a pot worth more than three-quarters of the chips in play.

ACES VS. KINGS!!!

Watch this @WSOP final table live on https://t.co/2RQh5RNM18. pic.twitter.com/5BfGvwKySg

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 12, 2025

‘Chewy’ Battles Back, Busts Ben

Lichtenberger doubled up through Koon fairly quickly after losing that pot, with a battle of the blinds pitting his A-7 against K-2 for around 16 big blinds a piece. Lichtenberger called off when Koon open-shoved and won with aces up.

In the very next hand, Lichtenberger open-shoved with 10♠7♠ from the small blind and Tollerene called off his last 20 or so big blinds with A♠10♦ from the big blind. The 7♥6♦5♦J♠4♠ runout saw Tollerene eliminated in third place. He earned $914,634 for his latest deep run. Just a few weeks earlier he finished second to Koon in the $150,000 no-limit hold’em event at Triton Poker Montenegro for $3.4 million, then turned around and won the $100,000 pot-limit Omaha main event for another $2.4 million. He now has nearly $30.5 million in tournament cashes to his name after this high-stakes spree.

Heads Up For The Hardware

With that Koon took 35,075,000 into heads-up play against the 16,250,000 of Lichtenberger. It was a clash of two bracelet winners, both looking to secure their second title at the series. Lichtenberger landed the first sizable blow when he made the nut flush against Koon’s wheel, with both players’ draws coming in on the river. Koon raised Lichtenberger’s river bet for value, but was able to fold when his opponent came back over the top with a shove.

Lichtenberger was able to edge into the lead for a bit after winning another sizable pot with the nut flush. Koon soon bounced back, though, retaking the lead with the same top pair but the superior kicker to win a hefty pot. He began to pull away from there.

By the time the final hand was dealt, Lichtenberger was down to fewer than nine big blinds. He shoved from the button with A♠10♦ and Koon called from the big blind with K♦Q♠. The board came down K♥J♥2♠8♦7♣ and Koon’s pair of kings took down the pot and the title.

Lichtenberger earned $1,312,610 as the runner-up. This was the fourth-largest score of his career. He now has nearly $23.5 million in lifetime cashes after factoring in this impressive showing.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.