A 33-year-old Grocery Manager at Tops Friendly Markets, playing in his first ever live Pot-Limit Omaha tournament, won the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $300 Pot-Limit Omaha event on Thursday night.
Albion, NY's Geoff Saxton defeated a field of 77 entries to earn a $5,356 first-place prize after a three-way chop with Ray LaRouech and eventual runner-up Evan Shaughnessy left $1,356 and the title to play for.
The event smashed it's $15,000 Guarantee, creating a $19,385 prize pool that paid the top eight finishers. Play was fast and loose up until the final table bubble when things tightened up considerably.
Abe Reinhardt bubbled the money and Shaughnessy was steamrolling the final table at that point, potting liberally and taking advantage of the tight play to build a considerable lead.
Domenic Olivo busted eighth, Mark Roberts seventh, and [Removed:300] sixth, with Shaughnessy still rolling, until he ran into Saxton. They got it in on a ten-high flop with Shaughnessy holding queens and Saxton on ace-queen with a gutshot. Sure enough, the gutshot hit, and Shaughnessy's time at the top was over.
Michael O'Hallaran's tournament ended with a fifth-place finish, and Elvis Palmeri busted fourth before things evened out a bit three-handed and the deal was struck.
A three-way all-in pot soon after put Shaughnessy back in front, and after LaRouech busted third, he took a 2:1 lead heads up. Saxton ramped up the aggression at that point, and snatched the lead back, before a massive set-over-set cooler ended it all.
With that, the $300 Pot-Limit Hold'em event ended with Saxton on top, but PokerNews' coverage of the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam continues Friday with the first of two starting flights in the $600 Main Event beginning at 11 a.m. local time.
Evan Shaughnessy made it 80,000 and Geoff Saxton raised to 240,000 from the big blind.
Shaughnessy called and they checked it all the way down to the river on an board. Saxton checked and Shaughnessy shoved in.
Saxton called with the for a set of jacks and Shaughnessy was on the wrong end of a cooler with the for a set of fives.
Shaughnessy was eliminated in second place and Saxton became the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $300 Pot-Limit Omaha champion. A recap will follow.
[Removed:300] raised the button and Ray LaRouech and Domenic Olivo called in the blinds.
LaRouech potted a flop and Olivo moved in for a 80,000. [Removed:301] folded and LaRouech called with the . Olivo had the and fell after the turn and river did not improve him further.
Rumor has it Pot-Limit Omaha is spread in some of the biggest cash games across Western New York, which means a gaggle of home-game heroes from near and far are expected to join the usual group of local tournament wizards for the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $300 Pot-Limit Omaha event beginning at 11 a.m. local time today.
The event comes with a $15,000 prize pool guarantee, but that seems just a formality, as organizers are expecting a field of 80 entries or more.
The tournament will kick off with 20,000-chip stacks and blinds at 50/100. Blind levels are 30-minutes and registration and unlimited reentry is available until the start of Level 9. As a traditional PLO tournament, there will be no antes from start to finish.
It's time for a little four-card poker in the Niagara Falls Poker Room and PokerNews will be on hand for all the action, from the call to shuffle up and deal until a 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $300 Pot-Limit Omaha champion is crowned.
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board. Saxton checked and Shaughnessy shoved in.
for a set of jacks and Shaughnessy was on the wrong end of a cooler with the 
for a set of fives. 
and Ray LaRouech called all in with the 
.
and Shaughnessy made a full house to eliminate LaRouech and take a 2:1 lead into heads-up play with Geoff Saxton.
against Palmeri's 
. Shaughnessy made a flush on the 
, but Saxton flushed out on the 
board to end his run in fifth.
run out to end Roberts' day.
. Olivo had the 
