"hittinthebax" Leads Final 21 Players in Inaugural ONCOOP Main Event
Poker players from across Canada��s most populous province gathered on Sunday for the inaugural edition of the PokerStars Ontario Championship of Online Poker (ONCOOP) Main Event.
Event 61-L: $50 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event - Low] attracted 724 total entries, including 435 unique players and 289 reentries, each chasing a share of the $40,000 guaranteed prize pool. After nearly eight hours of play on Day 1, just 21 remain with the chance to call themselves the first-ever PokerStars Ontario champion.
Leading the way is ��hittinthebax,�� who busted both ��johnstxn�� and former chip leader ��TraVision�� towards the end of the day to become the only player over 4,000,000, finishing with 4,586,504. ��ShowYouHow�� won a 1,600,000 pot against ��grishanin121�� with four tables remaining after walking up with kings in the small blind, ending up in second place with 3,687,899.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "hittinthebax" | 4,586,504 | 115 |
| 2 | "ShowYouHow" | 3,687,899 | 92 |
| 3 | "gellyfish112" | 2,772,277 | 69 |
| 4 | "SmartAcesGuy" | 2,385,234 | 60 |
| 5 | "rockgodd" | 2,231,908 | 56 |
| 6 | Gareth "GarethC23" Chantler | 2,010,717 | 50 |
| 7 | "OV3R--WATCH" | 1,998,051 | 50 |
| 8 | "TAA66" | 1,866,062 | 47 |
| 9 | "RyCoSuave" | 1,809,411 | 45 |
| 10 | Jeffrey "Jefffrr8" Reardon | 1,792,030 | 45 |
Right behind them are ��gellyfish112�� (2,772,277), ��SmartAcesGuy�� (2,385,234), ��rockgodd�� (2,231,908), and Gareth ��GarethC23�� Chantler (2,010,717). Jeffrey ��Jefffrr8�� Reardon is in 10th place with 1,792,030, while ONCOOP champions ��Legiit4�� (1,384,168), ��muggsyboges�� (980,764), and ��Tournigan�� (787,188) will be looking to add another title.
Shyam ��G��s zee�� Srinivasan, one of the biggest winners in online poker history with $10 million in career earnings, went through four bullets but busted each one before the money. Julien ��L1VeYRdrEamS�� Perouse entered the maximum six times but couldn��t survive the money bubble, which came at 127th place. Four-time ONCOOP champion ��fuzztacular�� also fired four times and managed to cash in 104th place.
Team PokerStars Pro Arlie ��Prince Pablo�� Shaban, who is already enjoying a spectacular series with five titles to his credit, finished in 35th place, while popular Twitch streamer Patrick ��Egption�� Tardif made it to 33rd (on just one bullet) before having his run come to an end.
Action will resume on Monday at 7:05 p.m. ET and play down to a winner. Blinds pick up on Level 29 at 20,000-40,000 and a 5,000 ante, with the average stack around 43 big blinds.
The 21 remaining players have already navigated through a massive field, but only one can make Ontario poker history tomorrow. PokerNews will be on hand providing all the updates until an inaugural champion is crowned.