Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$239,212
Entries
271
Level
28
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
5,000
Just 19 of 95 Survive Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event 1a
![[user127999]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 15
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
The first of two starting flights for the $200,000 guaranteed 2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event drew 95 entries at the Niagara Falls Poker Room inside a stuffed to the gills Seneca Niagara Casino & Resort Friday.
The turnout was almost as large as last year's Fall Classic Main Day 1a when the tournament went on to set a new record of 300 entries for a Seneca Niagara Main Event. However, a new record remains a possibility with a normally large Day 1b field expected tomorrow and the satellites drawing big tonight.
No matter how you look at it, the $200,000 guarantee should be just an afterthought.
By the time 15 levels of play were done today, a total of 19 players survived. 2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic $300 Opening Event runner-up Leo Kaplin continued to run hot and bagged the biggest stack. Apparently he owes it all to his eight-year-old son, who told him to call with good hands and fold bad ones. Sage advice.
Kaplin notched 358,500, but that was just 50,000-chips ahead of Illan Kandiah, who will also carry a big stack into Day 2 after winning a massive cooler in the later levels.
The entire group of 19 will return Sunday to play down to a final table, and they will be joined by any and all survivors from tomorrow's Day 1b.
PokerNews will be back with coverage of tomorrow's flight beginning at 11 a.m. local time. Hasta mañana.
End of Day 1a Chip Counts (full)
Level 15
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
358,500 | -21,500 |
|
336,500 | 11,500 |
|
301,200 | 51,200 |
|
212,500 | -12,500 |
|
183,500 | 63,500 |
|
169,500 | -200 |
|
157,500 | 2,500 |
|
135,000 | -31,400 |
|
122,000 | 2,000 |
|
118,000 | |
|
|
118,000 | |
|
116,500 | 16,500 |
|
110,000 | |
|
|
102,000 | |
|
95,500 | 35,500 |
|
66,000 | -14,000 |
|
|
65,500 | |
|
42,000 | -47,000 |
|
40,000 | -156,000 |
Kaplin Again!
Level 15
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Leo Kaplin has done it again, taking most of Alan Findlay's chips making the nut flush versus two pair.
He now looks like a lock to bag the overnight lead and is running like a Norse god.
They'll play five hands and bag. We will return with a brief recap of the day and all the relevant chip distribution information.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
380,000 | 130,000 |
A Bitterman He Was
Level 15
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
After waiting all night for two queens, Paul Bitterman busted a two-big-blind stack getting it all in preflop versus Blake Napeirala's 
. He literally had five chips left. Napierala made a straight.
Bitterman left the table more bitter than the two-hour-old cup of coffee sitting in front of him, but then couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
In the meantime, Joe Catalano joins the top of the counts here late after doubling up with aces over kings versus Blake Napierala to get to 250,000. Napierala still has 150,000 though.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
250,000 | 250,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 15
Blinds: 1,500/3,000
Ante: 400
Master Of Disguise
Level 14
: 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
As usual, the details are sketchy as to how Leo Kaplin accumulated the chips, but what we can tell you is that there's 300,000 of them sitting in front of him right now. He's claiming a bunch of big pairs and a set of deuces, but other than that, we got nothing.
Master in the art of deception, Kaplin is apparently fooling everybody again tonight, showing down minimal hands and having it every time he's been forced to.
Heading into the last level of the night he'll be looking to put a big number in the bag to follow up on his second-place run in last weekend's massive $300 Rentry that opened the Seneca Fall Poker Classic.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
250,000 | 150,000 |
Kandiah With A Kicker
Level 14
: 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Ajax isn't just a popular brand of bleach, it's a town in Canada where Illan Kandiah lives, and that's relevant because Kandiah has suddenly vaulted into the chip lead on over 300,000 in chips after a huge hand with one-time big stack Brian Jamesgaard.
Jamesgaard turned the 
into trip queens, and after a series of raises, pushed all in for heaps with huge kicker problems. Kandiah called with the 
to make it a 300,000-plus chip pot and when the dust settled, he was on top of the mountain with Jamesgaard out.
Kandiah is now the favorite to bag the lead heading into the night's last level.
Anne Jones used to be a favorite to bag big as well, but she just flopped a set of jacks against Ernie Guardarrah's aces. They ultimately got it in after trading raises for a while and Guardarrah hit an ace on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
325,000 | 325,000 |
|
|
225,000 | 225,000 |
|
|
60,000 | -90,000 |
Level: 14
Blinds: 1,200/2,400
Ante: 300
Salhab Winning Hearts And Minds, Not Chips
Level 13
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Proving it's possible to play poker in a walking boot cast, Paula Rassmussen has barely any chips and two chairs.
She's got one chair to rest the foot on and another to nurse her short stack as they head into a break before the last two levels of the night. Cue the comeback when they come back.
Speaking of comeback's, Budwey Salhab is hanging in there with that stack he bought at dinner. He's now a favorite to bag small but spin it up Sunday. The whole room is rooting for it. Give the people want they want. Give them what they need.