With the board reading 4♥9♣9♥, Jeffrey Sowell checked in early position, and Brandon Elmore bet 2,000 from middle position. A player in the hijack raised to 5,100, Sowell called, and Elmore position player called.
All three players checked the J♥ turn, leading to the 7♣ river. Sowell bet 7,500, Elmore shoved for 22,300, the player in the hijack folded, and Sowell called with a covering stack.
Sowell had a flush with K♥Q♥, but Elmore turned over a full house with J♦9♦ to win the hand, leaving Elmore extremely short-stacked.
Have you heard about MyStack by PokerNews? It is a free-to-use tool built into the PokerNews website that puts you in control of your chip counts on our live reporting pages. MyStack directly connects you to PokerNews' live reporting pages, making you an even bigger part of the action in the events you play.
MyStack is a free poker tool and PokerNews activates MyStack for every event it is live reporting from, regardless of that tournament's buy-in. Once you have created a free PokerNews account, you can use MyStack to update your chip counts in real time; hopefully, your stack will continue increasing throughout the event!
In a preflop confrontation, William McCracken was all-in from under the gun for a bit over 30,000, and up against the covering stack of Eric bunch on the button.
William McCracken: K♥K♣
Eric Bunch: Q♠Q♥
McCracken's kings held up on the 7♣8♦9♦7♦6♦ runout, resulting in a full double.
One starting flight has come and gone, and one remains in the 2026 Oklahoma State Championship of Poker $800 Main Event. Yesterday’s Day 1a saw nine players advance to Day 2 from a field of 146 entries. Today, a new group of players will descend on the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa in the hopes of replicating their success.
Brad Stevens finished Day 1a with the chip lead at 888,000. Stevens went on a heater shortly after the bubble burst, eliminating fellow big-stack Daniel Hughes en route to bagging the largest stack of the night.
Brad Stevens
Day 1a Chip Counts:
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Brad Stevens
United States
888,000
111
2
Arturo Toscano
United States
667,000
83
3
Justin Barclay
United States
605,000
76
4
Michael Varnell
United States
559,000
70
5
Stephen Culpepper
United States
558,000
70
6
Kyle Michael
United States
308,000
39
7
Charles Stafford
United States
299,000
37
8
Justin Brevik
United States
296,000
37
9
Raymond Whitley
United States
199,000
25
Players start with 30,000 chips, worth 150 big blinds at the start of the day. Blind levels increase every 40 minutes, with a break at the conclusion of every third level. A 60-minute dinner break will occur after Level 12, at approximately 7:45 p.m. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are permitted until the start of Level 10, at approximately 5:45 p.m. The day will conclude when 5% of the field remains, when 9 players remain, or after 18 levels (whichever occurs first).
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action throughout the Main Event here at the 2026 Oklahoma State Championship of Poker.
button in Safari
