The second and final starting flight for the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $600 Main Event was a busy one inside the Niagara Falls Poker Room on Saturday.
The flight itself drew a whopping 291 entries, filling the venue all day and bringing the total number of entries for the event up to 475. This more than doubled the $100,000 guarantee, creating a $252,106 prize pool that will pay the top 45 players. A min-cash is worth $1,361 and a $59,248 first-place prize awaits the winner.
By the time 15 levels were through, just 52 players survived this day.
Building a stack in the late levels, then applying maximum pressure until the final hand was over, Downtown Buffalo's own Tom Taylor (394,500) grabbed the flight chip lead. Day 1a leader Joseph Elia (420,500) will still come in with the overall lead when a field of 86 combines Sunday, with plans to play into the money and down to a winner.
Bill Hardy and Michael Ferrer also built stacks over 300,000 in this flight, with Chris Meyers and Steven Solodiuk sitting right below that mark when play ended.
2016 Summer Slam $1,000 High Roller champ and 2015 Seneca Fall Poker Classic winner Kurtis Boutelle also bagged big today.
Tune in tomorrow at 11 a.m. local time for PokerNews' coverage of Day 2 of the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $600 Main Event, which promises to be a great day of poker in the shadow of the Falls with some big money on the line.
Kurtis Boutelle busted a player calling down a three barrell bluff with top pair on a ten-high board, then he bluffed Brett Collson off a set on a super-wet board to win a more-than 40,000-chip pot.
He's now got over 180,000 and will be taking the chip lead into a 45-minute dinner break that starts in just a few minutes.
Play will resume at approximately 7 p.m. local time, and when it does, the registration and reentry period will officially close.
They go to dinner with the board reading 262 entries with 147 remaining.
The second and final starting flight for the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $100,000 Guaranteed $600 Main Event will kick off at 11 a.m. local time on Saturday, just blocks from the Falls.
Last year Toronto, Canada's William Liang crossed the bridge, took down the title and a $61,535 first-place prize, getting the best of a 504-entry field that absolutely crushed the event's guarantee.
Weeks of satellite qualifiers and another eight days of prelims leading up to this Main Event should ensure the guarantee is exceeded again this summer, as the popularity of poker continues to grow in the Western New York area and beyond.
Friday, the first starting flight drew 184 entries, putting the event well on the way to smashing its $100,000 Guarantee.
Joseph Elia (420,500) set the pace, grabbing the overnight lead, with $90 satellite qualifier Julie Billiteri, who went from around 20,000 to almost 400,000 in the last two levels of the night, hot on his heels.
Once again, players will start the event with 30,000-chip stacks and plans to play through 15 levels of 40-minutes each. Registration and unlimited reentry is available until the start of Level 11, and even players who bagged up chips Friday can try again, carrying their best stack forward to the final day on Sunday.
There will be a 45-minute dinner break at the end of Level 10, where the registration and reentry period remains open. The $600 price-point should make for a ton of action and plenty of reentries.
As always, the area's best and brightest are expected turn up for this one, and PokerNews will be on hand to catch all the ups and downs. Strap in, the last chance to get in the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam $100,000 Guaranteed $600 Main Event starts now.
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