Fourteen hours ago Andy Spears took down Event # 12 of the WNY Poker Challenge, topping a field of 141 entries to claim the top prize of $6,422. Now, Spears will attempt to win the third straight Main Event of a major series here at the Seneca Niagara Falls Casino & Hotel.
Last August Spears took down the Summer Slam Series Main Event for $23,700, and a few months later he went wire-to-wire to win the $1,500 Fall Poker Classic Main Event for $52,410. We were on hand to witness his dominant performance in the Fall Classic; Spears doubled up with aces in the first level of the tournament and never looked back, eventually defeating a tough final table that included Scott Gaddi, Jason Nablo, Alex Barker and Travell Thomas.
We'll see if he can navigate another big field and three-peat.
On a flop of , Mike O'Halloran checked from the big blind and the under-the-gun players did the same. The hijack followed suit, and then Ryan Rivers bet 800 from the cutoff. O'Halloran responded with a check-raise to 1,900, the UTG player folded, and the hijack called. Rivers then three-bet to 4,000, O'Halloran called, and the hijack got out of the way.
O'Halloran proceeded to check-call a bet of 6,000 on the turn, and then checked once again on the river. Rivers did the same, and showed why as his flopped two pair had been counterfeited. Sure enough, O'Halloran tabled the for aces and queens.
With 1,800 or so in the pot and a flop of , Rick Block checked from middle position and Chris Meyers did the same from the cutoff. Both players then called a bet of 425 from the button, and the dealer burned and turned the .
Block liked it and quickly led out for 2,600, which inspired Meyers to raise to 6,200. The button got out of the way, and Block responded by moving all in for right around 14,500. Meyers snap-called and Block discovered the bad news.
Block:
Meyers:
The turn had given both players a straight, but as you can see Meyers' was best.
"Wow, nice hand," a stunned Block said. The was put out on the river, and Meyers pulled in the pot.
Block immediately made his way to the registration desk and reentered the tournament.
Shortly after eliminating Rick Block and chipping up, Chris Myeers gave a good portion of his chips to Kyle Gay.
It happened when there was about 2,000 in the pot on a flop of . Meyers was first to act and bet 1,100, which was met by a raise to 3,100 from Gay. Not to be outdone, Meyers three-bet to 7,800 and Gay wasted little time in moving all in for 15,825 more.
Meyers eyed his foe suspiciously, but eventually folded the face up. Gay declined to show his holdings.
PokerNews' Chad Holloway isn't the only World Series of Poker bracelet winner here today. Greg Ostrander is seated directly behind our media desk at Table 3. Ostrander won Event #41 of the 2012 WSOP, a $3,000 no-limit hold'em event for $742,072. He denied Aussie poker pro Jackie Glazier of her first WSOP bracelet, overcoming a three-to-one chip deficit in a lengthy heads-up duel to claim his own first piece of WSOP hardware.
According to the Hendon Mob poker database, Ostrander has $934,000 in career live tournament winnings, so it is possible that if he took this one down he would eclipse the $1 million mark.
Life is just gravy for Brian Bergeron. While enjoying a massage, he became involved in a big hand that saw him send an opponent to the rail.
We missed the details, but we do know the unknown players shoved his last 6,925 preflop holding the only to run into the of Bergeron. The board ran out a clean , and Bergeron got a good boost to his stack.
He turned right around and won the next hand with the on an ace-high board, at which time his massage came to an end. Bergeron thanked the massage therapist, paid his $40 bill, and gave her a $10 tip. Needless to say, Bergeron is feeling good.
After John Aga checked a flop of from the small blind, Glenn Pawlowski moved all in for his last 5,000 or so from middle position. Another player folded, and then Aga made a quick call.
Aga:
Pawlowski:
Aga had the good with trip aces, but Pawlowski was drawing live to a king. The close was close, but not quite what Pawlowski needed. The river also failed to produce, which meant Pawlowski's day came to an early end (unless of course he decided to reenter in the next 40 minutes or so).