The 2015 edition of Summer Slam kicked off at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel poker room today with the first of four starting flights for Event #1, a $200 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament featuring 30-minute levels, 15,000-chip starting stacks and a $50,000 guarantee.
The flight drew a total of 132 entries, but just 19 players survived through 14 levels of play. A late rush from local rounder John Stempien saw him push over the 200,000-chip mark and into the chip lead.
All 19 players will return for Day 2 Sunday at 11 a.m. local time to play down to a champion. In the meantime, three more starting flights will bloat the prizepool substantially with the second already underway and two more set for 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday.
Darren D'Agostino limped under the gun before the player on the button made it 3,000. The big blind then shoved for some 9,900 and D'Agostino called.
The button promptly shoved for 47,000 total and after a minute or two in the tank, D'Agostino made the call with . He was ahead of the button's and the big blind's .
The board rolled out with D'Agostino's jacks holding to scoop and vault him into a spot at the top of the counts.
Robert Lucas has moved to the top of the early leader board after cracking one opponent's aces.
He called all in on the turn of a king-high board holding against one heads-up opponent on . Lucas was headed for the exits before a jack came on the river to give him two pair, the knock out and the chip lead.
In the shadow of the world famous Niagara Falls, the Seneca Niagara Casino is set to host the 2015 edition of Summer Slam today.
The annual multi-event series will run through August 2 with three major events culminating in the $600 NLHE Main Event with a $150,000 guarantee and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on the floor providing coverage of it all.
Things will get going at 11 a.m. with the first of four starting flights for Event #1, a $200 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament featuring 30-minute levels, 15,000-chip starting stacks and a $50,000 guarantee. Registration is open until the start of Level 9 and there is unlimited re-entries as well.
The 2014 edition of Summer Slam saw Scott Hosbach win the the first event on the schedule, a $200 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Turbo tournament which attracted 108 entries and ended following a five-way chop.
The loyal local poker community should turn out in droves for the multi-entry event kicking things off this year and PokerNews promises keep you up to speed on all the action from start to finish.
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. He was ahead of the button's 
and the big blind's 
.
with D'Agostino's jacks holding to scoop and vault him into a spot at the top of the counts.
when he made a pair on the flop and two on the turn.
against one heads-up opponent on 
