Jason Koon triomphe enfin (243.981$)
The 2021 World Series of Poker has crowned a new gold bracelet winner at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. One of poker's biggest names has finally joined the elusive winner's circle. Out of a field of 57 entries in Event #11: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship, American poker pro Jason Koon came out on top of hard-fought duel with Hungary's Gabor Szabo to get the monkey off his back.
The top eight finishers out of the 32-player bracket earned a portion of the $721,625 in prize money while all those who won their match in the round of 64 also had their buy-ins refunded. Eventual winner Koon was among them and came out on top of six heads-up matches to claim the top prize of $243,981. For Szabo, the runner-up finish came a consolation prize of $150,790 while the semi-finalists Henri Puustinen and Daniel Zack received $89,787 for their efforts.
Prior to his final duel with Szabo, Koon said "I don't vlog, I don't stream, I just play the game," and that's exactly what he did throughout the last three days. The freshly minted GGPoker global ambassador defeated Chris Brewer, Nicolai Morris, and Johannes Becker to reach the money stages. In the round of eight, he only needed 13 minutes to eliminate Jake Daniels and then came out on top of Finnish heads-up specialist Henri Puustinen en route to the final heads-up match.
| Road to the Final | Jason Koon | Gabor Szabo |
|---|---|---|
| Round of 64 | Chris Brewer | Bye |
| Round of 32 | Nicolai Morris | Johan Guilbert |
| Round of 16 | Johannes Becker | David Peters |
| Round of 8 | Jake Daniels | Mikita Badziakouski |
| Round of 4 | Henri Puustinen | Dan Zack |
, Koon took the lead and said "that's a good start" while his rail was gearing up for the festivities. Szabo picked up a gutshot on the 
turn but bricked the 
on the river to see his run end up in 2nd place for $150,790.
flop gave Szabo a gutshot royal flush draw and Koon asked for a deuce, the rail behind him started chanting for it as well. Szabo picked up even more outs on the 
turn as Koon now asked for the deuce of hearts.
flop, Henri Puustinen checked and Jason Koon bet 60,000 into 80,000 for his opponent to call. The 
hit the muck. The online heads-up specialist has been eliminated in the semifinals for $89,787 while Koon punched his ticket to the final.
for Zack to be left drawing dead on the turn as Szabo hit a Broadway to secure his spot in the final.
for Koon to comment that the board was running out too clean while Puustinen earned a much-needed double-up.
, Koon check-called the 20,000 continuation-bet of Puustinen.
and Koon checked again. This time, Puustinen decided to bet 75,000 and Koon called again.
for trips but Koon held the 
for the flush and the first pot of the heads-up match.