Four Remain at Final Table of the 2017 WNYPC Main Event

April 09, 2017

Four players will return to battle it out for a $57,738 first-place prize and the title of 2017 Western New York Poker Challenge Main Event Champion in Niagara Falls, NY on Monday.

Day 2 of the event began Sunday at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino with 55 players remaining and the 27-player money bubble in sight.

Niagara Falls, Canada's Matt Brunskole came in with the chip lead, and although he made the money, he did not get a sniff of the final table.

Top local rounder DJ MacKinnon got a sniff, but that was all, finishing 10th to bubble the official final table of nine.

Erik Christensen and WSOP Bracelet winner Michael Malm were leading when the final table began, but Christensen pulled out in front, busting Scott Murawa in ninth and Hayden Glassman in eighth.

Malm doubled up Buffalonian Guy Klass and Canadian Anne Jones in short order and suddenly had the smallest stack. Damian Baird then ran into Christensen to bust seventh. However, things began to go south for Christensen at that point.

Eventually he dipped out of the lead and Peter Beshay took it, sending Christensen out sixth in a massive cooler. Beshay made a boat versus Christensen's trip nines in that massive pot, and after also busting Mark Bowersock fifth; he had more than a third of the chips in play.

Beshay could not hold the lead either, and the table swapped chips around four-handed before Klass, who finished third in this event in 2015, moved out front. They talked about a chop, but ultimately bagged up at the end of Level 25 and will come back Monday to finish up.

They will resume play at 12 p.m. local time Monday inside the Niagara Falls Poker Room. Each of the returning players will be guaranteed at least $19,326.

PokerNews will be on hand providing live coverage from start to finish Monday. Tune in to see who becomes the 2017 WNYPC Main Event Champion and who pockets the rest of the prize money.

The chip counts are listed below: