The 2015 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam continued this evening with the second of six starting flights in Event #3, a $50 No-Limit Hold'em tournament with a $25,000 guarantee.
This flight drew a total of 173 entries, playing down to just 24 remaining players as Level 15 came to a close. Top local rounder Travell Thomas bagged up 173,400 and the chip lead after turning into trip sevens and busting a player with top pair as the flight wore on, then using the big stack to apply pressure in the late levels and chip up.
However, Day 1a chip leader Kyle Jeffery still holds the overall lead as the only player over 200,000 in chips.
These 24 survivors will join the 15 from the first flight this morning to come back and play down to a champion Thursday.
However, there are four more starting flights set to go off, beginning with Day 1c at 11 a.m. local time Tuesday. PokerNews' coverage of the 2015 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam will continue at that time.
With $477,559 in career live tournament earnings, Travell Thomas is easily one of the most accomplished players in the Western New York area.
He's now among the most accomplished players in this tournament as well, having hit trips sevens holding on a queen high flop and getting his heads-up opponent to commit all his chips with top pair.
Jiten Surwade just entered the biggest pot of the flight so far and came out the other end with the chip lead.
It was a classic cooler with Surwade holding versus one opponent's . Just for good measure, Surwade made quad aces and after flopping three jacks a hand or two later to rake in some more chips, he's the first player past the 100,000-chip mark.
2015 Western New York Poker Challenge Event 3: $300 No-Limit Hold'em champ Pat Tighe has moved into the chip lead here.
He flopped a boat holding and got full value, then picked off a bluff with over to move over and above 70,000.
In fact, Tighe told PokerNews he just went on a massive four or five hand rush to build his stack, and would have had even more if he didn't just lose a pot to start Level 10.
Sal Guercio, who actually bubbled Event #1 on the Summer Slam schedule, chopping 54th place money with an empty chair, is the chip leader here heading into the break.
He's hit two sets and made a full house over the nut flush to bust multiple players on his way to close to 40,000 in chips already.
North Tonawanda, NY's Jim Haynes found himself on the right side of a set over set situation early on.
He made a set of aces versus an opponent's set of sevens and when they both made a boat, his was bigger. As a result, he's now among the early leaders and smiling about it.
The 2015 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam continues this evening with the second of six starting flights in Event #3, a $50 No-Limit Hold'em tournament with a $25,000 guarantee, kicking off at 6 p.m. local time in Western New York.
The six starting flights will also include four more over the next two days with any and all survivors coming back to play down to a champion Thursday. At this price point, and with this many chances to get in, this event should attract a bevvy of local rounders firing multiple bullets and recreational players taking shots, creating a massive prizepool that will surely dwarf the guarantee.
The last time Seneca Niagara tried something like this was at the 2015 Western New York Poker Challenge in March. The event saw 1,026 entries over six different starting flights creating a $41,040 prizepool. By all accounts it was a smashing success with veteran local rounder Randy Pfeifer being crowned the champion.
Today, players will start with 10,000 in tournament chips with plans to play 15 full 20-minute levels. Registration and unlimited re-entry is available until the start of level 13.
Stay tuned for a glimpse of all the action from the falls as the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand for it all.
![[user127999]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
into trip sevens and busting a player with top pair as the flight wore on, then using the big stack to apply pressure in the late levels and chip up.
and got full value, then picked off a bluff with 
over 
to move over and above 70,000.
