Sharman Olshan was one of 25 players who bagged a stack on Day 1a, but she's back here on Day 1b to build something bigger than the 61,400 she finished with yesterday. Coincidentally, she's seated at the same table as yesterday, too.
Olshan is on a hot run in 2015. She cahsed in a $2,200 Turbo Bounty event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, and followed that up with back-to-back final tables at the Card Player Poker Tour series at Foxwoods last month.
We'll keep an eye on her progress throughout the day.
Considering his results so far at the 2015 Western New York Poker Challenge, Bruce Pace is developing a reputation for himself as the kind of player that builds a big stack early, but busts late, failing to find another gear as the tournament moves on to the later levels.
Once again, Pace is setting the pace here in the Main Event, pushing up close to 40,000 in chips already.
After calling a 450-chip raise preflop and being joined by the big blind, it was pace who led into a flop with a bet of 800.
It was enough to take down the pot and get Pace off to the same kind of start he's had in several events here so far. But it's the finish, not the start, where he's hoping to improve.
Maria Parlatore, who won the title of Poker Queen by capturing the L.I.P.S. Poker Queen Ladies Championship at The Grand Poker Series in Las Vegas last year, has been bounced early here.
She got short, got frustrated and got it in with on on a board against Todd Saffron holding . Saffron made his flush on the river.
Parlatore has had a result this week, posting a third-place finish in Event #6 at the 2015 Western New York Poker Challenge, but if she wants one here in the Main Event she'll have to re-enter.
The tournament board reads 113 entries, which means we're only 15 away from reaching the $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. With more than six hours of registration still open, it looks like the guarantee is a lock.
Some of the former Seneca champs we recently saw in the field include Scott Hosbach, Joe Ciffa, and Randy Pfeifer, who won Event #5 of this series on Thursday.
On the last hand before the break, John Stempien and Dominic Baranyi saw a flop of and the chips started to fly. Baranyi led out for 1,200, Stempien raised to 4,000, Baranyi three-bet to 11,000, and Stempien shoved about 25,000 total. Baranyi went into the tank for a couple minutes — even calling the clock on himself — before eventually deciding to commit the remaining 14,000.
Stempien:
Baranyi:
Stempien was in front with his overpair but had a plethora of outs to fade. He did just that when the and completed the board, and Stempien let out a "YES!" before heading off on his break.