"Stackhe20" raised to 120,000 from the small blind, and "pompii23" three-bet shoved in the big blind. "Stackhe20" called off for their last 1,109,136.
"Stackhe20":
"pompii23":
"gg" was all "Stackhe20" could say after a 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.
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" Funarobusted 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!