Uncovering the mysterious Jason Mo

You may not have heard of Jason Mo before his second-place finish to Vanessa Selbst in World Series of Poker Event #2 on Friday, but he’s familiar to those with insider knowledge of the online poker world. It was even said by some that he would likely hold a skill edge over her in the long run heads up, even playing live. So who is this guy?

It’s not uncommon for online players to be secretive these days, as the game continues to toughen and good games become fewer and farther between. This goes double heads-up players, for whom name recognition can be immensely damaging in that it can make finding a soft opponent that much tougher.

Although Mo has opted out of all tracking services and generally avoids tying his real name and screen name together, he’s nonetheless possible to track down due to past efforts to get staked, and his current tendency to brag and talk trash.

Going by “klink10k” in the forums/social media community and “carrycakes” on PokerStars, Mo is a Canadian player who appears, from what one can dig up, to focus on heads-up cash games and Sit-n-Gos. He has played as high as 50/100 in the past, facing off against Ignat Liviu at those stakes in 2012. Just last month, he came second in the $21,000 heads up SCOOP High Roller, a $168,100 score that presumably contributed to his decision to show up for some of the higher buy-in events at this year’s WSOP.

This has been his first real breakout year for tournament performance, but he’s had some success in the past, finishing 5th in the 2012 SCOOP Main Event at the $1050 buy-in level, while in live play he has previously come 2nd in a $10,000 WSOP heads-up event, also in 2012.

Following his success in the $25,000 Mixed-Max, Mo has been talking on Twitter about the possibility of taking a stab at the One Drop, though it remains to be seen how serious he is about that. Selbst has already laid down her million dollars to participate in that event, and is expected to have fairly good chances in it; if Mo were to dive in as well, the possibility would be there for a seven-figure rematch, an eventuality which would definitely be one to go down in the history books.

Alex Weldon is a game designer by day and poker tournament wizard by night. You can read more from Alex at www.benefactum.ca and follow him on Twitter at @benefactumgames

Register at PokerForums.org and keep the conversation going!

Relevant news