Sridhar "sri100k" Sangannagari Leads as Fifteen Advance From Day 1 of NJCOOP Event #52: $300 NLHE Main Event
The final trophy to be given out at this year's New Jersey Championship of Online Poker has just fifteen players left in the chase, after a brisk seven-and-a-half hour Day 1 of NJCOOP Event #52: $300 NLHE Main Event reduced a starting field of 334 entrants down to just 15 by night's end.
Leading the way of the remaining contenders is Sridhar "sri100k" Sangannagari, who went on a tear late to surge up the counts and bag up 6,416,124, more than a million chips ahead of second place "pompii23". Sangannagari has yet to taste victory in this year's NJCOOP, but the accomplished online veteran has more than $1.3 million in Pocket Fives recorded cashes to his name, and will be looking to add the coveted NJCOOP Championship Trophy to his already impressive mantle of accolades in tomorrow's final day.
NJCOOP Event #52: $300 Main Event Day 1 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sridhar "sri100k" Sangannagari | 6,416,124 | 80 |
| 2 | pompii23 | 5,318,146 | 66 |
| 3 | Jaime "moosedeer17" Reyes | 3,372,976 | 42 |
| 4 | TiltedHard | 2,147,531 | 27 |
| 5 | soothsay | 2,074,738 | 26 |
| 6 | iFoldN0t | 1,844,717 | 23 |
| 7 | JohnnyMania | 1,764,699 | 22 |
| 8 | deeeeeeeeez | 1,522,704 | 19 |
| 9 | Christopher "Chalmisi6" Hill | 1,492,828 | 19 |
| 10 | jpmcmanus14 | 1,445,438 | 18 |
| 11 | borachinhak | 1,435,070 | 18 |
| 12 | URpoker64 | 1,419,902 | 18 |
| 13 | Benji “OtB_RedHeron” Felson | 1,312,611 | 16 |
| 14 | Randy "Rhino609" Evans | 1,300,758 | 16 |
| 15 | newport_kangbaz | 531,758 | 7 |
Day 1 Action
For much of Day 1, the tournament looked like it would be ran by "jpmcmanus14", as he soared to a commanding chip lead just after registration closed. After Frank "thewholefunk" Funaro busted two spots shy of the money, "slipinjimy" jammed their short stack in with queen-jack a few hands later, only to run into the aces of Christopher "Chalmisi6" Hill, to fall as the bubble boy.
Once the money bubble burst, over thirty players managed to grab a chunk of the $100,000 prize pool, which missed the guarantee by $6,480. Some notables who earned a payday include Michael “mikeyeager” Yeager (19th - $956), NJCOOP Event #44: $250 NLHE Thursday Thrill PKO Championship winner Xingang "wxg1989" Wang (29th - $807), and WSOP Bracelet winner Ryan "hagz2richez" Hagerty (34th - $807).
Day 2 Agenda
The remaining fifteen players will return at 5:00 p.m. EST, with blinds at 40,000/80,000 and an ante of 12,500. Blind levels will remain at 15-minutes in length for the remainder of the tournament. Play will resume until a winner is crowned, who will walk away with the NJCOOP Championship Trophy, in addition to $18,660 in prize money.
PokerNews will be providing all the action from start to finish tomorrow, so stay tuned as the final NJCOOP Championship Trophy winner of the 2021 NJCOOP is crowned!
flop gave "pompii23" top pair and the lead. No king came on the 
turn or 
river, and "Stackhe20" was eliminated with just minutes remaining in Day 1 play.
runout gave Sangannagari a king-high straight and the win.
runout to double up and nearly even their stack with "jpmcmanus14".
flop gave "DavidFreese23" a gutshot to go with their overcards, but the 
runout, and "iFoldN0t" scored the knockout with a set of kings.
