Jason Koon Wins €1 Million in Monte Carlo Poker Showdown

Jason Koon won a €1 million winner-take-all poker tournament in Monte Carlo. The PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo festival hosted a special invitational event in 2026, pitting nine of the best players in the game against each other in a €100,000 buy-in, winner-take-all no-limit hold’em showdown. The combined total across these nine superstars exceeds $448.9 million, with the breakdown by player as follows: Stephen Chidwick: $79,517,944 Jason Koon: $72,676,513 Mikita Badziakouski: $71,665,501 Daniel Dvoress: $54,587,004 Aleksejs Ponakovs: $39,982,594 Artur Martirosian $38,555,215 Ben Tollerene: $36,770,869 Patrik Antonius: $32,356,515 Kayhan Mokri: $22,814,111.

The event took roughly 7.5 hours to complete. It took over two hours for the first elimination to arrive, with Badziakouski’s (9th) pocket kings running into a flopped set of tens for Ponakovs. The three-time bracelet winner from Latvia also scored the next knockout a few hours later, with pocket aces holding against the pocket nines of Dvoress (8th). Ponakovs was also involved in the next big showdown, with his pocket tens falling to the pocket aces of Antonius. The Finnish legend made a wheel to double, leaving Ponakovs on fumes. He won his first all-in after that, though, giving him enough breathing room to outlast Ben Tollerene (7th). The American pro’s final stand pitted Q♦J♦ against the K♦K♣ of Chidwick. The comeback continued for Ponakovs, who found another double after flopping trips sevens against the aces up of Koon. He improved to sevens full on the turn and held from there. A while later, though, that momentum was halted when Ponakovs’ (6th) pocket deuces lost all-in against the A-Q suited of Chidwick.

Patrik Antonius was the next to fall, with Q-J facing off against A-5 for Martirosian. The Hall of Famer never improved and was sent to the rail in fifth place. Martirosian (4th) soon followed, running top pair of aces into the flopped sevens and sixes of Koon. He found himself all-in on the turn and failed to improve, leaving Koon in the lead with three remaining. Chidwick’s run came to an end in third. He was left on fumes after his A♥9♥ failed to come from behind against the A♦K♦ of Mokri. Neither player connected with a jack-high runout and Chidwick was left with just a handful of big blinds. He got all-in with pocket tens a few minutes later, but lost a flip against the Q-J of Mokri. The final heads-up match began with 6,050,000 for Koon and 2,950,000 for Mokri. On the first hand, Mokri ripped from the button with K♦4♦ and Koon called with K♠2♠ from the big blind. The A♠K♥8♥ gave both player’s second pair and made a chop the most likely outcome. The Q♠ turn gave Koon a fully-fledged flush draw, though, and the 8♠ on the end completed it. With that, he locked up the win, sending Mokri to the rail empty-handed.