Start Strong, Finish Strong
John Koo is one of the local players you can usually find in the tournament room during any tournament series at Graton Casino & Resort.The resident of Novato, California – just down the road from Graton – made a strong showing during the tournament series hosted by Graton back in October of last year ,by winning both the opening and closing tournaments.
Those victories in the opener and closer NLH events earned him the nickname of The Bookends from those of us here on media row thanks to his impressive performance.
The two tournament wins also gave Koo two RunGood rings to put on his mantle back at home (more on that later). His career tournament earnings are now just shy of $120,000. Koo is making another strong showing here in May with four cashes so far, and his run in the Main Event is currently in play.
Koo made the final table of the Opener once again during this series, but his run ended in seventh place this time around. We caught up with Koo the other day to talk about the unique two-for-two he pulled off last time they ran a big series here at Graton.
“It’s pretty surreal to be honest, man. That last turbo flight, to be honest, I wasn’t even going to play in that. Then a couple of the dealers were like, ‘Hey, come play.’ I had a good sweat on my buddy in the Main Event, so I wanted to watch him. So instead of just sitting here and waiting since I got busted in like 50th place or something like that in the Main Event, I decided to just hop in it and play it. And then Dan [Ross] gave me the nickname Bookends and it’s stuck. It’s pretty cool, getting recognition from people around here,” said John when he was asked about the dual victories and his newfound nickname.
He continued, “The RunGood series is great, everyone has been great here, the people are great here, you guys are great.”
When asked if he would be adding any more rings to his trophy case soon along with appreciating the victoires when they come, John replied: “That would be sweet man, I was trying to get one of those stands to put my rings at the house. My wife would say, ‘What are you doing?’ It doesn’t matter how many people are in it whether it’s 50 or 100, whatever.
Tournaments are hard, and I never take it for granted in any tournament. A daily tournament or whatever, you have to respect everyone equally.”
When you’re on a heater in poker the confidence boost is undeniable, so we asked John about that as he finishes out the tournament series. “It’s 100-percent confidence, and just getting that recognition from people. People that I didn’t even know, they knew who I was because I was one of the RunGood leaders in the top 10-11. And I only play here so it’s very cool. And the confidence thing … you have all those people who are crushers, but you’re just as good as … everyone is on an equal playing field,” said Koo.
John is one of the local players who is welcoming and generous to players that come here from other parts of the country as a pseudo-ambassador. Here are his thoughts on poker in the region as well as some of the other things it has to offer that was a perfect way to end the interview:
“It’s great, we’ve been pushing it for a long time. It’s a beautiful room back here. To be honest, the first time RunGood came back here I didn’t even know they had this big beautiful room. It’s been amazing and great. It’s putting us on the map for California poker, and especially Northern California poker, and West Coast poker eventually in the long run. I love it, there’s more options. I don’t have to travel to Vegas and beg the wife to be gone to play for seven days [laughs]. Honestly, people like you guys spreading the word in your blogs so people can pass the word, and Greg here along with the staff at Graton. It’s been great. It’s so convenient for me to drive here in 20-30 minutes, it’s in my backyard, that’s an advantage. The different variety of food … you’ve got San Francisco with good food, we’ve got Napa here with the wineries, and you’ve got Sebastopol with good scenery. We’re close to the ocean, people fishing and seafood, It’s just a great stop I think. I know it might be a long flight from the East Coast, but you’ve got all these other options here and this property is great here too.”
Dan is the founder of PokerLiveUpdates, a veteran poker tournament reporter who can be found wandering somewhat aimlessly through tournament arenas worldwide. As a founding member of FunTour2.0, he searches for the best in craft beer at all locations in the poker world.
