The 2015 edition of Summer Slam kicked off at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel poker room today with the first two 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 second flight drew a total of 96 entries, but just 15 players survived through 14 levels of play. Alex Rivera had over 200,000 chips heading into the late levels and looked like a lock for the chip lead. However, he dusted off a substantial portion of his stack and local rounder Jason Nablo out-chipped him at day's end, bagging 174,200 for the Day 1b lead.
All 15 players will return for Day 2 Sunday at 11 a.m. local time to play down to a champion. They will be joined by the 19 survivors from Day 1a and anyone who makes it through 14 levels of play from two more starting flights set for 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will return to cover all the action from those flights beginning Saturday at 11 a.m.
Alex Rivera has pushed past the 200,000 chip mark now and into the lead.
First he took a huge chunk of chips from Peter Raimondi holding . Then, after the break, he busted a shorter stack who shoved into a king-high flop having made second pair.
Peter Raimondi and Jason Zawacki just can't seem to get enough of each other.
Moments ago they were back at it again with Zawaki all in for his tournament life and 12,500 chips with a pot of some 18,000 sitting in the middle. The board read and after a good minute or two in the tank, Raimondi called with
This time Zawaki had it, felting for trip fours. The river came the and Zawaki doubled through.
Whitby, Ontario, Canada's Debbie Holman has been the beneficiary of some good fortune to start this second flight.
She made a straight over two pair to drag a big pot and has picked up a number of smaller ones thanks to a more than friendly table full of what she calls "non-believers."
They'll likely be believing now that she's on triple the starting stack and among the early leaders.
In the shadow of the world famous Niagara Falls, the 2015 edition of Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam began 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 got 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. Just 19 players survived from a field of 132 entries. The second flight began at 6 p.m. and registration will remain open until the start of Level 9. There is unlimited re-entries as well.
PokerNews promises keep you up to speed on all the action from start to finish and our coverage of Day 1b begins now into the flight's third level.
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and after a good minute or two in the tank, Raimondi called with 
for trip fours. The river came the 
and Zawaki doubled through.
