High roller crusher, nice guy, poker legend. What more is there to say about Jason Koon? Well, how about Poker Players Championship winner? It’s the tournament all the professionals want to win, the one with the ultimate in bragging rights, and with a massive $1.8 million up top, Koon will go into the final table this coming Saturday with the chip lead.

The prestige of the mixed game title cannot be underestimated. Whether live in Las Vegas with a $50,000 buy-in or remotely from home this year with a $25,000 entry fee, the Poker Players Championship carries with it a certain caché. Winning a World Series of bracelet of any kind is a great achievement, but winning one at those stakes against the sort of specialists in mixed games that arrive to play for the Chip Reese Trophy is something else.

This year, of course, due to Coronavirus, players are behind computer screens, so the best in the world get to appraise their opponents’ moves by the time it takes them to raise, or the bet-size of that power play instead of looking into the whites of their eyes. That didn’t deter 407 players ponying up the exorbitant high roller entry fee to take part.

With a guarantee of $10 million in the kitty, the entries mean that was raised to just past the initial prizepool, with a massive $10,175,000 to be played for.