Five players put in 300 each to see a flop of . The player in the small blind led out for 300, the big folded, and Ryan Rivers raised to 600 from the under-the-gun position. A player in middle position quickly folded, and then Justin Villa flatted from the button. The small blind called the additional 300 and it was three-way action to the [ turn.
The small blind checked, as did Rivers, and then both players folded to a bet of 2,000 from Villa.
Despite losing that hand, Rivers is still up a bit from the starting stack.
We're not sure of the action, but we do know that some fireworks occurred on an flop. We saw two players with 650 out in front of them with 1,100 in the middle. Another player had moved all in for 12,450, and only Paul McDonald made the call.
McDonald:
Opponent:
McDonald had flopped two pair, which was ahead of his opponent's top pair. Neither the turn nor river posed any threat to McDonald, and he took down the pot while sending a player to the rail.
We just received word that the plan for the day is to play 13 levels here on Day 1, with a dinner break scheduled in there somewhere. We're not sure when it'll be exactly, but there is a rumor going around (and we have it on good authority that it's true) that Seneca Niagara will be catering for all of the players.
If it's anything like their refreshment table — which has coffee, soda, juice, pastries and fresh fruit — we're guessing it's going to be a meal fit for a king!
In the last hand before the level went up, there was 2,650 in the pot and a board of flop when Adam Cacciotti checked from the hijack. Barry "The Beast" Kruger then bet 3,000 from the button, Cacciotti called, and the completed the board on the river.
Cacciotti checked once again, and Kruger fired out 4,000. Cacciotti snap-called and Kruger rolled over the for a flopped flush, but it was no good as Cacciotti had flopped a bigger flush with the .
We're in the home stretch of the 2014 WNY Poker Challenge. Thirteen of the 16 events on the schedule are in the books. In addition to the Main Event today there's a $200 no-limit hold'em event this evening, followed by a $300 no-limit hold'em tournament tomorrow morning. Here's a look at the winners so far, as well the the rest of the schedule:
Last year, Matthew Sande bested a field of 172 entries to win the 2013 WNY Poker Challenge Main Event. Sande, from nearby Rochester, NY, defeated Ray Smalls to capture the $44,582 top prize — the biggest live score of his career.
Sande just took his seat at Table 1 with notables Johannes Mueller and Art Demmerley. Also joining us in the past few minutes was Cam Bartolotta, who finished third in yesterday's Event #12: $200 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Turbo.
We're not even a level in and already the Seneca Niagara Falls 2014 Western New York Poker Challenge has surpassed its $100,000 guarantee. The tournament staff just announced the field is up to 105 players, which means right now there is $105,000 up for grabs. Of course those numbers are sure to go up as players continue to make their way to the tournament area.
We'll have official numbers and payouts when they're solidified in Level 5.
. The player in the small blind led out for 300, the big folded, and Ryan Rivers raised to 600 from the under-the-gun position. A player in middle position quickly folded, and then Justin Villa flatted from the button. The small blind called the additional 300 and it was three-way action to the [
turn.
![[user153906]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. We saw two players with 650 out in front of them with 1,100 in the middle. Another player had moved all in for 12,450, and only Paul McDonald made the call.
turn nor 
river posed any threat to McDonald, and he took down the pot while sending a player to the rail.
flop when Adam Cacciotti checked from the hijack. Barry "The Beast" Kruger then bet 3,000 from the button, Cacciotti called, and the 
completed the board on the river.
for a flopped flush, but it was no good as Cacciotti had flopped a bigger flush with the 
.
