Seneca Fall Poker Main Event Final Table Set; Guardarramas Leads

After two starting flights drew 271 entries and reentries in the $1,000 buy-in 2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event, just 57 players returned to the Niagara Falls Poker Room at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino Sunday to play into the money and down to a final table of nine.

They hit the money after just a few levels of play when Alan Findlay's comeback effort fell short on the stone bubble. At the time, Leo Kaplin was in complete control, becoming the first player over the one-million-chip mark before anyone was even close.

However, things went south for Kaplin from there. Suddenly, he couldn't win a hand. A few tables over, Ernie Guardarramas couldn't lose one, and he moved into the chip lead. He traded that lead with start-of-day leader Paul McLean for a while, as the shorter stacks around the room began exiting at a brisk pace.

But by the time they got down to two tables remaining, Guardarramas took control and moved over the one-million mark himself.

Kaplin got bluffed off half his stack by Bradley Girdler, then lost a race to Lou Procopio to say goodbye 16th.

Guardarramas added to his lead busting Dave Grana 13th and it looked like he was running away with it all, until he got in a massive race with Procopio. After a series of preflop raises saw them get in a 1.3 million chip pot, Procopio's queens held over big slick to put him in the lead.

Guardarramas was still healthy, and continued to pluck away until he was back on top.

That's when McLean slow played aces at the wrong time and busted to a Mark Roberts flush to put the survivors at one table of ten.

Minutes later, Thomas Mader ran queens into Guardarramas aces to bow out tenth and the final table of nine was set with Guardarramas holding a healthy lead again.

Here's how the final table will look when play resumes at 12 p.m. local time in Niagara Falls Monday:

Seat	Player	Chips
1	Bradley Girdler	213,000
2	Ernie Guardarramas	1,855,000
3	Jason Sagle	1,290,000
4	Mark Roberts	1,048,000
5	Tommy Tomasello	746,000
6	Guy Klass	139,000
7	Rob Bourkney	435,000
8	Hassan Jamil	1,297,000
9	Lou Procopio	1,110,000

PokerNews continuing coverage of the 2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event will resume at 12 p.m. Monday and won't conclude until a winner is crowned. Tune in then to see who can capture the coveted crown.