$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em $200,000 Guaranteed Main Event
Day 3 Started
$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em $200,000 Guaranteed Main Event
Day 3 Started
Welcome to our Day 3 coverage of the 2014 Seneca Niagara Fall Poker Classic $1,000 Main Event! Over the past three days inside the Seneca Niagara Hotel & Casino Events center, a field of 263 entrants was trimmed down to nine. The conclusion of the tournament will take place today inside the poker room, where each of the nine players will play for the trophy and a top prize of $57,736.
Leading the way entering the final table is Rick Block, a former champ here at the Seneca Fall Poker Classic who is looking to add a Main Event title to his resume. Block's biggest career win came last year in a World Series of Poker Circuit event in Atlantic City for $28,000. He could double that with a victory today.
Block has more than double the amount of chips of anyone else at the final table. His next closest competitors are Anthony Sgroi and Dave Grana, both of whom fell just short of 1 million when they bagged up Sunday night. Also at the final table is 19-year-old young gun Veerab Zakarian, who had to drive back to Toronto last night, take a school exam this morning at 8 a.m. and drive back to Niagara Falls for the final table.
Today's action resumes at noon ET with 13 minutes remaining in Level 24. The blind levels will remain 60 minutes until Level 31, at which point they will be increased to 90 minutes.
Stay tuned in to our coverage all day as we bring you live updates until a champion is crowned!
We're underway here at the final table. The blinds will remain at 12,000/24,000 with a 300 ante for 13 minutes. Good luck to the players!
Level: 24
Blinds: 12,000/24,000
Ante: 3,000
Rick Block raised to 50,000 from early position and Randy Lingenfelter defended his big blind to see a flop. Both players checked and the hit the turn. Lingenfelter bet 80,000 and Block called, bringing the on the river. Lingenfelter checked, Block bet 125,000 and Lingenfelter thought for a minute before pusing in a call.
"Flush," Block announced as he tabled the . Lingenfelter mucked, and Block increase his lead.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Rick Block | 2,700,000 | 212,000 |
Randy Lingenfelter | 230,000 | -269,000 |
Veerab Zakarian opened to 50,000 from middle position and Randy Lingenfelter shoved for 222,000 from late position. It folded back to Zakarian, who asked for an exact count before announcing a call.
Lingenfelter:
Zakarian:
Lingenfelter was dominated and he failed to improve on the board. He wished the rest of the table good luck before heading to the cage to collect his winnnings.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Veerab Zakarian
|
1,100,000 | 248,000 |
Randy Lingenfelter | Busted |
Level: 25
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 4,000
Rick Block opened to 60,000 from early position and Thomas MacKenzie shoved for 550,000 from directly behind. Block crunched the numbers in his head, cut chips out of his stack and made the call.
MacKenzie:
Block:
Block was pleased to see he had two live cards. The flop gave each player a straight draw, and the turn moved Block into the lead with his top pair.
"Hold," Block pleaded. "Brick! Brick!"
The river was exactly that and MacKenzie was eliminated in eighth place.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Rick Block | 3,300,000 | 600,000 |
Thomas MacKenzie
|
Busted |
Veerab Zakarian raised to 65,000 from the hijack, Anthony Sgroi called on the button and Rick Block three-bet to 175,000 from the small blind. Zakarian and Sgroi quickly released their hands, giving Block another pot.
"Big stack bully," said Zakarian, which prompted Block to show his .
"I knew it," said Zakarian with a grin. "I knew it"
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Rick Block | 3,700,000 | 200,000 |
Andre Smith has now doubled twice at this table and is becoming a contender. He just doubled through Anthony Sgroi with the against Sgroi's on a board, increasing his stack to nearly 700,000.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Anthony Sgroi | 950,000 | -270,000 |
Andre Smith | 690,000 | 370,000 |