He won a 35,000-chip pot when he woke up with pocket kings and four limpers in front of him. Walker raised and one limper spazzed off 15,000 with the . A number of medium sized pots later he defended his blind against a James Miller raise, turning a flush with the and getting paid.
In the meantime, Andy Spears cracked the six-figure mark the easy way.
He three-bet with the preflop and got a call. The caller checked the flop, but check-raised all in after Spears made it 9,000. Spears called it off and was disappointed to see the .
The turned changed little, but Spears spiked on the river to felt another unlucky player and move to a spot near the top of the counts heading into Level 8.
Max Droege moves into the lead now as the midway point approaches.
He's got 145,000 after flopping a Broadway straight with on an board with two spades. Two players with spade draws got it in against Droege and he faded all trouble to move into the top spot.
In the meantime, Bradley Girdler is playing any two and it's working. He's cracked the six-figure mark getting there too many times to count already.
Bryan Irish-Jones also joins them above six figures after running red hot in the early levels. He made the nut flush over a nine-high flush, turned Broadway to stack a player and found a set of queens on an ace-high flop to collect another big pot on his way to 110,000.
David 'Dae Dae' Battaglia leads heading into the second break of the day.
He raised it up with the old , getting three callers before flopping a gutshot and a flush draw on a board with two spades.
He check-raised a flop bet and got the call to go heads-up to an turn that now gave him a double-gutter. A bet and a call saw them go down to the river where Battaglia piled it in for 22,000 after the came down, making him the nut-low straight.
He got the call and the muck to start the push towards six-figures faster than anyone else in the room as they head into a 10-minute break starting now with the board reading 167 entries and 137 remaining.
A hot start for Andy Spears sees him double up before the second break as he looks to make good on yesterday's promise to show up and punish this Day 1b field.
The 2013 Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event champ managed to get it in with tens full of nines against a rivered queen-high straight to take one opponent's full stack and cruise through Level 6 above 60,000.
Nick Walker has found a double up without having to get in any major confrontations.
The 2014 Western New York Poker Challenge champ has had a flush over a flopped straight, top two pair and even managed to get one street of value out of Scott Aitchison with pocket aces, along the way to 60,000.
In the meantime, local tourney grinder Carol Leonardi had one big hand shoot her up the ladder. She had versus when an flop rolled out.
All the money got in on the river and after a dealer change at the table, Leonardi decided to take a break with a full level to go before the next official one.