Hello and welcome to PokerNews' live coverage of the 2014 Western New York Poker Challenge in Niagara Falls, New York! For the next 10 days the Seneca Poker Room will play host to the annual series, and we'll be on the floor providing up-to-the-minute reports from seven of the 16 events on the schedule.
The WNY Poker Challenge begins this morning at 11 a.m. with Event #1, a $200 no-limit hold'em event. Each player will receive 15,000 in chips and the blind levels will increase every 30 minutes. Re-entry will be available for the first four levels. The one-day tournament will end when a champion is crowned later this evening.
Along with live reporting, PokerNews will also be activating the MyStack App, allowing players to directly update their chip counts in the PokerNews blog using their iPhone or Android phone. We'll have more information about how to use My Stack once the action gets underway.
The tournament board reads 77 players so far here in Level 1, but tournament director Jason Brooks says they're expecting around 120 for today's event with registration open for the first two hours.Among the players in today's field include Randy Pfeifer, Tim Kelly, Scott Aitchison, and Justin Brocato. Pfeifer was one of the players we featured on our "Players to Watch" article yesterday.
If you can't make it to play today's tournament, don't worry. There are 15 more tournaments on the schedule through next Sunday, including a ladies event and even a Crazy Pineapple tournament.
Here's a look at the full schedule for the Western New York Poker Challenge:
Shamel Thomas raised to 300 from the button and the player in the big blind re-popped it to 900. Thomas called, the dealer rolled out a flop. The big blind fired 1,200 and Thomas called, bringing the on the turn. After a bet of 2,000 by the big blind, Thomas raised to 7,000. His opponent called, and the completed the board. The big blind checked and Thomas moved all in. The big bet induced a fold and Thomas scooped a nice pot without a showdown.
We walked over the Table 5 to find a board reading , Scott AItchison was facing a bet of 1,200 and put in a raise to 4,300. His lone opponent called, and then checked on the river. With the board showing a straight, Aitchison moved all in and his opponent reluctantly called, tabling the . Aitchison rolled over the , meaning his turned straight was counterfeited by the two-outer on the river. Chop it up.
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flop. The big blind fired 1,200 and Thomas called, bringing the 
on the turn. After a bet of 2,000 by the big blind, Thomas raised to 7,000. His opponent called, and the 
completed the board. The big blind checked and Thomas moved all in. The big bet induced a fold and Thomas scooped a nice pot without a showdown.
, Scott AItchison was facing a bet of 1,200 and put in a raise to 4,300. His lone opponent called, and then checked on the 
river. With the board showing a straight, Aitchison moved all in and his opponent reluctantly called, tabling the 
. Aitchison rolled over the 
, meaning his turned straight was counterfeited by the two-outer on the river. Chop it up.