"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.