In one of the more unexpected verbal clashes among the world’s elite, Jason Koon has called Dan Smith “obnoxious” for repeatedly asking for quiet as he makes decisions at the poker table at Triton Poker Cyprus.
Dan smith ask table to “get a moment”(for the table to stop talking)while thinking pre in a single raise pot. Jason calls him out for doing this all the time. Things are heating up at the 100k main! pic.twitter.com/HdN7arX8Z9
— Pokerguru740 (@RobKuhn_) May 22, 2023
The verbals came at the final table of the Triton Poker North Cyprus SHR series final table, with a top prize of $2.6million awaiting the winner.
Unhappy at the table chatter while thinking, Dan Smith asked for a moment to think in peace, but was called out by Jason Koon for asking too much, too often.
Smith, unhappy at Koon taking him to task at the table, stated: “I think I’m allowed to ask for a moment. People can reject it, and I will say you are the only person this whole week who has berated me.”
Koon, however, had clearly had enough of Smith’s antics: “Buddy, I had two VIPs – not one, but two – come up to me and say how awful it was playing with you. You berated them for having a conversation at a live poker table.”
With the Luxon Invitational just completed, where 32 amateurs paid $200k apiece and invited 32 pros to do the same, there were plenty of suspects as to who Smith had pissed off.
Koon continued: “You want to have that conversation with them, that’s fine, but you act like this is a one-time occurrence. You literally do this every time we’re playing – it doesn’t matter what the stakes.
The Triton Poker ambassador finished his dressing down: “Like, it’s obnoxious, man. You’ve got 5 timebanks, you’ve got 20 bigs, you know what you’re gonna do … like, it’s just obnoxious. This is what we do for a living … learn how to operate.”
A chastened Smith responded: “I think if you wanted to address that point, you could have said it in a much kinder way, away from the table…but ok, I hear you.”
Rob Kuhn, who tweeted out the initial screengrab of the verbals, explained in further tweets:
fwiw @JasonKoon is 100% right here. This was my first Triton series and Dan was the only person to do this kind of stuff. While having headphones on he told me and @ICuRaRook to have a “moment” while playing a hand in level 3.
Made me not want to be at table at all tbh
— Pokerguru740 (@RobKuhn_) May 22, 2023
Kuhn disagreed that both players had a point: “Not really, Dan did this twice in the extremely limited sample I played with him and it was obnoxious. Imagine @JasonKoon who has played with him at these stakes for 10 years. Has to be tilting.”
Dan Smith may still have been smarting about his introduction to the final table of the flagship Triton North Cyprus event …
Chidwick gets introduced as one of the best players of his generations. I get called an avid chess player. 🖕
— Dan Smith (@DanSmithHolla) May 22, 2023
… and thankfully another spot of humour was brought to the table by Sean Winter, who play-acted the villainous role to perfection…
V next moment ……… pic.twitter.com/Fhgm4Cg8Kk
— Zaiii.888 ® 🐸 (@bennychua8) May 22, 2023
It was almost written in the stars that Koon would dispose of Smith, his pocket 10s too good for Smith’s AQoff.
Indeed, Jason Koon would go on to take down the title, his 7th Triton trophy, and $2.451million, while Smith had to settle for 5th place and $762k, one ahead of Winter’s $595k 6th spot finish.
Who do you think is right in the Koon/Smith debate? Let us know in the comments on our social media!
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