Jason Kuhn is officially crowned champion High stakes duel 3. The 37-year-old poker pro has dethroned 16-time bracelet-winning Phil Hellmuth, who had an astounding 9-1 winning record when the duo squared off in the unique Showdown Poker series of Poker Joe. Conn defeated Hellmuth in a $1,600,000 match but was not yet able to walk away from his winnings. Display rules dictate that it be declared the most recent HSD Champion, Conn would need to either win again in the $3,200,000 round or have no challengers advance within 30 days after Hellmuth refused a rematch against him.
In the end, it turns out that no one is willing to spread $1,600,000 million to play Koon knowing that they will then need to not only win the match but also have to win the next round (with a whopping $6,400,000 at stake) or no one will be challenged. them in the allotted time period.
Kun seemed to expect few competitors. He said after beating Hellmuth Poker Joe Reporters, “Not only was my preparation for this match specific to Phil, but it was also — I assumed it would go two ways … One, there’s going to be a very rich recreational player who wants to sweat it out, which is great. Or there’s going to be a super alpha guy who comes from Russia or From somewhere he wants to play me, but I doubt it. I can’t see anyone who would play me. I’m not trying to be arrogant, it’s just that it’s a lot of money to move for the 1% or 2% advantage you’ll have against me at most, But my preliminary was to be ready to play MVP. I didn’t play perfect strategy today. I played very Phil’s specific strategy. But if I played another player, I would be ready to play them if they played the way the analyst would play.”
With no competitor left, Koon became the first player Hellmuth was not called upon to secure a wrestling style HSD Championship belt. Kon may have only had to play one match, but his early December victory over Hellmuth came with the highest stakes yet on the show, and against an opponent who won. High stakes duel 1 and 2 with clean sweeps from the game’s living legends Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu.
High stakes duel 3 started with another win for Hellmuth, this time over sports commentator Nick Wright. Wright elected not to rematch in the second round, and regular Tom Dwan interfered in the high-stakes cash game to hand Hellmuth his first loss in the second round, ending his amazing 7-round winning streak. Hellmuth himself capitalized on the rematch and came out on top, setting up an $800,000 showdown with Scott Seiver, who interfered in Dwan’s place. Hellmuth came out on top, setting up a $1.6 match which was eventually contested against Koon. Had Helmuth won that match, he could have chosen to leave three times HSD winner.
Koon’s fight against Hellmuth lasted about 2.5 hours, with the challenger taking the lead relatively early thanks to a five-bet misfire from Hellmuth. As it turns out, he chose to make the move when Koon held the best hand in Hold’em: pocket aces.
bubble he goes the dynamite!!!
JasonKoon</a> wakes up with aces and <a href="https://twitter.com/phil_hellmuth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Phil_Hellmuth He puts in both three bets and five bets with only the coin high.– You don’t want to miss this game! Watch it here: pic.twitter.com/bDvSKFdw8w
– PokerGO (PokerGO) December 8, 2022
Koon managed to increase his lead fairly steadily after winning that previous big encounter, eventually closing the match when his Q-8 bested Hellmuth’s short-stack AK.
Watch a replay of the $1,600,000 round with no other round High stakes duel Loops and a huge library of other top poker content you’ll need Poker Joe the account. Sign up today with the promo code “CardPlayer” for $20 for an annual subscription.
Image credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.
