Poker pro Jason Koon, in his first year of eligibility at age 40, has been elected to the Poker Hall of Fame. Koon is the only person in the Hall’s Class of 2026.
“When I found poker, I was immediately and forever in it,” Koon wrote in a social media post on Tuesday. “It was my path to independence, my teacher in handling defeat and most importantly the vessel for introducing me to a large portion of the greatest relationships in my life.”
“Poker is my life’s passion. I’ve truly given it everything I have.”
Koon is the first person to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame under the new voting system. As usual, the eight finalists were nominated by the public. Then, the 33 living Hall of Fame members were given up to four votes each to use as they please. They could give one vote to four players, vote for nobody at all, or something in between.
Anyone who received two-thirds of the vote – so 22 votes – made it in. If nobody hit that threshold, the highest vote getter would be the only person to be inducted.
Koon received 23 votes, or 69.7%, making home the lone nominee to reach the required vote count. This is also the first time that the vote tallies have been made public. After Koon, Scott Seiver was the closest, receiving 19 votes.
The remaining six finalists, in order of votes, were Isai Scheinberg (17), Shaun Deeb (15), Mike Matusow (10), Isaac Haxton (9), Chris Moorman (4), and Justin Bonomo (3).
Jason Koon has been one of the game’s most dominant high-stakes players for years and the fact that the Poker Hall of Fame members voted for him above everyone else shows the immense respect he has garnered at such a young age.
He is a regular on the super high roller Triton Poker Series, ranking second in earnings with nearly $41 million, and first in both cashes (81) and Triton titles (12). He also has two World Series of Poker bracelets. Overall, Koon is third on the all-time live poker tournament earnings list with $77,032,156.
