Hello and welcome to PokerNews' coverage of the 2014 Western New York Poker Challenge. Eleven of the 16 events are officially in the books, and today we'll be covering Event 12: $200 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Turbo.
Friday morning's event feature a different format than what we've seen thus far in the WNY Poker Challenge. The blind structure will remain the same, but each player will receive 30,000 in chips and the blind levels will increase every 20 minutes instead of the usual 30. Registration will be open until the start of level 4, and re-entries will be available until the start of Level 7. Players 18-and-over will be permitted to play in this event.
Last night, Thomas Keeper took down Event #10 after a four-way chop at the final table. Keeper defeated the red-hot Ryan Rivers heads up; Rivers won the Bad Beat Jackpot here at the Seneca Poker Room on Wednesday night for $72,000, and added another $6,000 to his bankroll on Thursday.
Event #12 begins at 11 a.m. on the balcony of the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, and the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be bringing you hand updates, photos, chip counts and more from the floor. We will also be activating the MyStack App for this event, allowing players to directly update their chip counts in the PokerNews blog using their iPhone or Android phone. You can even write up hand recaps yourself to update your family and friends of your progress.
Sharman Olshan called us over to tell us that her son, Aaron Olshan, had made a queen-high straight flush and got paid off on it. Sharman is seated two seats to the left of Aaron, so she had a good view of the big pot.
When browsing through our Player Updates section, it appears Sonny Rattan was the victim of the straight flush. Here's Rattan's report:
"Just lost with K high flush, to a straight flush. Gotta get some back."
With the board showing , Hoss Colao bet an unknown amount and Dean Metzger raised to 12,700 total. Colao went into the tank, and eventually opted to let technology decide his fate. He opened up a Coin Flip app on his phone.
"Heads I call, tails I fold," he told Metzger.
It landed heads, and Colao stuck to his promise.
"Good call," Metzger said as he tabled for ten-high. Colao revealed his winning
"Does it always come up heads?" someone at the tabled asked.
We were just handed the official payouts for Event #12. The 142 entries created a prize pool of $22,933, and the top 15 finishers will earn a minimum payday of $390. The eventual winner will take home $6,422.
Dan Piccioli is the proud father of poker pro and WSOP bracelet winner Bryan Piccioli, and he's looking to follow his son's path to success on the felt here in Event #12. Picking up pocket kings in a four-way all in usually helps.
Piccioli open shoved for 33,000 from early position, and the player in Seat 6 re-shoved for 35,000. The next player to act called all in for less, and then Barry Kruger called as well, having them all covered.
Piccioli:
Seat 6:
Seat 7:
Kruger:
According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Piccioli was a 55% chance to more than triple up, and he did just that after the board rolled out . Piccioli credited his masseuse Denise for the luck as he raked in a massive pot.
Not long ago Aaron Olshan was sitting on a big stack of 140,000. He is now out of the tournament. We're not sure what happened to crippled Olshan, but we were there to catch his final hand.
It happened when Sonny Rattan opened for 21,000 to, according to him, "pick up the blinds." Instead, Olshan ended up calling off his last 17,000 from the button. The blinds both folded and the cards were turned up.
Olshan:
Rattan:
The flop was interesting it that it gave Rattan top pair with a gutshot straight draw, but it also provided Olshan an open-ended straight draw.
"Don't give me two pair," Rattan told the dealer knowing full well a would give Olshan a straight. The dealer listened and instead put out the on the turn to give Rattan the straight. Olshan could chop with a ten on the river, but it wasn't in the cards as the peeled off.
We missed the preflop action, but we do know that a raising war resulted in Art Demmerley getting his stack of 170,000 or so all in against Glenn Pawlowski.
Demmerley:
Pawlowski:
Demmerley was behind and in need of some help. The flop didn't hit him directly, but it did give him an open-ended straight draw. Unfortunately for him, neither the turn nor river completed it.
Demmerley was sent out the door in 27th place while Demmerley hit 400K in chips!
In the first, Mueller opened for 40,000 and was met by a three-bet to 85,000 by Kevin Volz from the button. The blinds folded, Mueller elected to call, and the flop came down . Mueller then paused a moment before moving all in, which Volz snap-called.
Volz:
Mueller:
"I picked the wrong hand to bluff," Mueller lamented. Indeed he had as Volz flopped middle set. The Jh} turn locked up the hand for Volz, and after the was run out on the river, the stacks were verified. Volz doubled his last 118,000 while Mueller was left with just 24,000.
In the very next hand, Mueller put it in blind under the gun and received calls from Barry Kruger and Greg Long in early position and the big blind respectively. Both active players checked it down as the board ran out and Mueller mucked at the showdown. Kruger then showed the , which was good enough to beat Long's .
Meanwhile, Ted Blaszczak was also eliminated from the tournament which means we are now hand for hand.
Andy Spears opened to 32,000 from early position and Josh Knight shoved for around 100,000 from middle position. Action folded around to the chip leader, and he called.
Knight:
Spears:
The flop looked safe for Knight, but the turn and river gave Spears a runner-runner straight to eliminate Knight one spot away from the money.
Each of the 15 players are now guaranteed at least $390.
Action folded around to the active Glenn Pawlowski on the button and he raised to 60,000. Dennis Danielski, who has been nursing a short stack for a long time, decided it was time to commit his last 13,000 from the small blind. The big folded and Danielski turned out to be in great shape to double.
Danielski:
Pawlowski:
The flop gave both players a pair of kings, but Danielski's kicker had him out in front. The dealer then burned and turned the .
"Oh come on," Danielski said upon discovering his opponent made two pair. The then blanked on the river and Danielski was dispatched in 14th place.
![[user153906]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, Hoss Colao bet an unknown amount and Dean Metzger raised to 12,700 total. Colao went into the tank, and eventually opted to let technology decide his fate. He opened up a Coin Flip app on his phone.
for ten-high. Colao revealed his winning 
. Piccioli credited his masseuse Denise for the luck as he raked in a massive pot.
flop was interesting it that it gave Rattan top pair with a gutshot straight draw, but it also provided Olshan an open-ended straight draw.
would give Olshan a straight. The dealer listened and instead put out the 
flop didn't hit him directly, but it did give him an open-ended straight draw. Unfortunately for him, neither the 
turn nor 
river completed it.
was run out on the river, the stacks were verified. Volz doubled his last 118,000 while Mueller was left with just 24,000.
and Mueller mucked at the showdown. Kruger then showed the 
flop looked safe for Knight, but the 
turn and 
