The WPT Online Series Championship has begun with the first of four Day 1 opening flights seeing 808 entries with a buy-in of $3,200. That already means that the guaranteed prizepool of $5 million is almost halfway there, with $2,424,000 brought in from the entries so far, impressive stuff from the World Poker Tour and partypoker online, where the tournament is being held.

Of the 808 entries on Day 1a, it was Dutch player Abdelhakim Zoufri who has the chip lead, stacking up 791,877 chips at the end of play. With over a million dollars in live results, Zoufri is looking to add the very first wPT Online Championship Main Event to his already-impressive poker resume. He may previously have won the 2016 Master Classics of Poker, the 2018 Master Classics of Poker High Roller but he will take nothing for granted against the remaining field, of which 141 survived Day 1a on partypoker online.

Zoufri is being chased down by some talented players, with Canada’s Kevin Macdonald hottest on his heels. Macdonald bagged up 668,081 chips with another player from the Netherlands coming into the end-of-night chipcounts in 3rd place, with Julio Ribeiro totting up 590,228 in digital poker currency.

Elsewhere in the chasing pack, triple WSOP bracelet winner and mixed game specialist Benny Glaser (548,623) looms large in the rear-view mirror of the leader, with Canadian player Guillaume Nolet (443,152) also fighting hard to hang onto Zoufri’s coattails.