User1912 Survives Early Scare to Win the PNOC Mystery Opening Event

The largest guaranteed event of the 2026 PokerNews Online Championship so far has crowned its champion, with the $109 buy-in, $80,000 guaranteed PokerNews Mystery Opening Event wrapping up on October 19.

888 processed 730 entries, and it was Moldova’s “User1912” who emerged victorious after two days of play. The champion took home $7,614, with bounties included, after seeing their stack fall to less than 15 big blinds early into the final table action.

The champion elect’s pocket sixes lost to the superior pocket queens in the hand of “TheHueyLewis” during the opening levels, but they composed themselves and eventually came out on top.

$80,000 PokerNews Mystery Opening Event Final Table Results

Brazil’s “MachadadaRS” was the first player to leave the final table. They lost all but 0.3 big blinds after missing a flush draw in a hand where “Clay_Born” held pocket kings. A comeback was unlikely at best, and they busted in the next hand.

The much-fancied “C3H5NO33” fell in seventh after a clash with “TheHueyLewis” didn’t go to plan. “C3H5NO33” opened with act-ten of hearts, and “TheHueyLewis” called in the small blind with pocket sixes. Those sixes improved to a set on the flop, with the chips going into the middle when a ten appeared on the turn.

Down to Only Five Players

Another 20 minutes passed before the next elimination was confirmed. Germany’s “Nik32112” lost a couple of pots and found themselves with less than five big blinds after paying the big blind. Their final action of this event was to call an open-shove from “otteotteotte” with jack-seven of hearts and lose to the aggressor’s king-eight.

The final five became four shortly after the players returned from a scheduled break. The action folded to “Clay_Born” in the small blind, and they committed their last 8.8 big blinds with queen-four of spades. “TheHueyLewis” called with king-ten in the big blind and proceeded to flop trip tens.

Finding Aces at the Perfect Time

Four-handed play spanned more than half an hour, with none of the players able to pull away from the others. That changed when “otteotteottte” min-raised under the gun with pocket eights, “User1912” three-bet from the big blind, and then called the 26 big blind shove from their opponent, doing so with pocket aces. “User1912” flopped a set, which held, and they claimed the chip lead, while “otteotteotte” was left nursing fewer than five big blinds and was in the big blind on the next hand.

“otteotteotte” managed to double their stack twice to claw their way back into contention, and they looked set to double again when they were all-in with ace-ten against the ace-five of hearts of “Lurich28.” However, a five landed on the river to send the potential comeback king to the rail.

Heads-Up Reached

That elimination left “User1912” battling a pair of Brazilians, “Lurich28” and “TheHueyLewis.” The Brazilians clashed in a battle of the blinds, and “TheHueyLewis” busted. “Lurich28” set their opponent on in on a draw-heavy board after turning two pair with their jack-eight. “TheHueyLewis” called with queen-jack, and heads-up was set.

“Lurich28” held a 70 big blind to 21.3 big blind going into heads-up and had one hand on the victory. “User1912” had other plans and wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“User1912” was all-in almost immediately. Their ace-king was up against queen-jack of spades. The flop contained a queen, but kings landed on the turn and river to all but level the stacks.

Overly Aggressive With Ace-Six?

A thrilling one-on-one battle ensued, one that saw the chip lead change hands several times, including when “Lurich28” three-bet all-in for more than 36 big blinds holding ace-six when “User1912” held ace-king.

“User1912” now held a nine-to-one chip lead, and it was all over on the very next hand.

Looking down at queen-jack, “Lurich28” moved all-in for a shade over seven big blinds, and “User1912” called with pocket deuces. The lowly pair held on a ten-high board, busting “Lurich28” in second place and locking in the victory and a $7,614 payday for “User1912.”

PokerNews Online Championship Results

Ten PokerNews Online Championship events have crowned their champions. Check out the table below to see which players won which events and for how much.

2026 PokerNews Online Championship by 888 Schedule

Another three PokerNews Online Championship events take place on October 20. All three are Super Knockout events where you receive a sizeable bounty for each opponent you eliminate.

You win a $150 for each eliminated player in the $320 buy-in event, $4 in the $8.80 event, and $50 in the $109 event.

Expanding the table reveals the full, remaining schedule of this exciting series. Check it out, plan your schedule, and see if you can become a poker champion.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.