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Seneca Poker Room Manager Amanda Scarcelli just handed us the payouts for Event #10. The 119 entries created a prize pool of $29,958, and the top 12 finishers will earn a minimum payday of $629. The eventual winner will take home $8,988.
| Place | Payout | Place | Payout | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,988 | 7 | $1,258 | |
| 2 | $5,572 | 8 | $1,019 | |
| 3 | $3,924 | 9 | $809 | |
| 4 | $2,846 | 10 | $629 | |
| 5 | $2,097 | 11 | $629 | |
| 6 | $1,558 | 12 | $629 |
Rick Block didn't want to be stuck with his 6,000-chip stack at the end of the level, so he decided to start moving in blind. If he busted, he could re-enter. If he doubled, he could try to get back to his starting stack of 20,000.
Block says he's been "running like God" all week, and it didn't stop now.
First, Block shoved blind for 5,925 preflop with the 
and received a call from a player holding the 
. The board ran out 
, giving Block a pair of fives on the river and a double-up.
On the next hand, Aaron Olshan opened to 400 from middle position and Block shoved blind for around 12,000. Another player called from the button, as did Olshan.
Block: 
Olshan: 
Button: 
The 
gave Olshan top pair, but Block picked up a flush draw. The 
on the turn completed Block's flush, and he picked up another pot to increase his stack to around 38,000
Block won another all-in on the very next hand, too. We didn't see it go down, but he told us he busted a player with 
against 
. Block is up to around 50,000, multiplying his stack by nearly 10 times in a matter of minutes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Before the Western New York Poker Challenge kicked off last week, we put together a list of players to watch for the 16-tournament series. Some of them have already found success; Rick Block and Randy Pfeifer finished second and third in Event#2, respectively, and Jason Nablo made the final table in each of the first two events on the schedule.
Event #10 is the first we've seen of Johannes Mueller, another player who made our list. According to the Hendon Mob, Mueller has made the final table in 11 of his 21 career live tournament cashes, including the Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event last November (he finished fourth for $14,558). Mueller's first tournament win came a month later at the SuperStacks Hold'em Series at Turning Stone, and he kept the momentum going by winning a side event at the Borgata Winter Poker Open in January. Last month he placed seventh in a $1,100 Fallsview Poker Classic event for $18,134. That tournament was eventually won by Mike Leah.
Welcome back to our coverage of the 2014 Western New York Poker Challenge at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York! Today the action is moving from the poker room up to the balcony of the casino, where players will compete in Event #10 of the 16-tournament series.
Thursday's event is a $300 no-limit hold'em tournament with re-entries available until the start of Level 5. Each player will receive 20,000 in chips and the blind levels will increase every 30 minutes. Today, for the first time ever, players 18-and-over will be permitted to play in an event held by the Seneca Poker Room. We'll keep any eye out for any youngsters who are competing in their first live tournament today.
Event #10 begins at 11 a.m., and the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be bringing you hand updates, photos, chip counts and more from the floor of the Seneca Poker Room. As always, PokerNews will be activating the My Stack app for today's event, allowing players to directly update their chip counts in the PokerNews blog using their iPhone or Android phone. You can even write up hand recaps yourself to update your family and friends of your progress.
The action will get underway shortly. See you then!
