William Ho built a competitive stack early on, but after Leo Kaplin sucked out on him two hands in a row, Ho is on the rail.
The first hand saw Kaplin crack Ho's aces with the 
. He did it the real dirty way as well. No straights, no flushes. Just an eight on the flop and another on the river.
Next, Kaplin held on to the 
after hitting an eight on a king-high flop. Ho had the 
and lost the last of his chips calling all in on a river.
Chris Neusatz had just busted from one seat, bought back in and moved into to another when he limped in under the gun.
The hoodie, sunglasses and hat in seat one made it 2,600 and Cameron Bartolotta shoved the button for his last 6,600.
Nick Walker then made it 17,000 from the small blind and Neusatz flatted. Seat one forced the rest of the table to endure an epic tank before shoving all in for 44,000 total. Walker called with 6,000 behind and Neusatz called all in.
Bartolotta: 
Walker: 
Neusatz: 
Seat 1: 
Neusatz was ahead with aces and they held on a brick-like board, sending Bartolotta to Saturday's second starting flight whining about his luck, and leaving Walker hurting. The hoodie, hat and sunglasses won a side pot, but he's pushing peanuts now as well.
Level: 9
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Defending Seneca Niagara Summer Slam Main Event champion Russ Campanella has begun to assert himself here in Level 8.
He got in a 65,000-chip three-way all-in pot with aces versus kings and Arthur Gates' heat-check 
. Aces held and Gates' heater is officially over now with Campanella's title defense just getting started.
In the meantime, top local rounder DJ Mackinnon has decided to leave a budding career as Esther Taylor's pool boy behind to sign up for this $600 Summer Slam Main Event, and he has more than doubled up already in the ten minutes since he got here.
Level: 8
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 75
There was a raise under the gun and four callers before Blake Napierala woke up with two black kings and made it 3,500 to go.
It went four ways to a 
flop and Napierala made it 11,500. Only the under the gun raiser called, and when an offsuit six came on the turn, Napierala shipped it in for 25,000 effective.
UTG called it off with 
, then whiffed the river and headed for the exits. As a result, Napierala is closing in on six figures and in familiar position among the leaders.
Chris Damick picked up kings and loved the flop.
The only thing nearer and dearer to his heart was the fact his heads up opponent wanted to bluff off his stack.
Damick now joins Roberts at the top of the counts here in Level 7.
Level: 7
Blinds: 250/500
Ante: 50
At one point or another, Veerab Zakarian has had a big stack in almost every event on the 2017 Seneca Niagara Summer Slam schedule.
So why should the Main Event be any different? It certainly should not.
The Young Wizard raised aces under the gun and after one opponent made it three bets, he slid in a fourth. The call was made and they got it in on a ten-high flop. Turns out Zakarian's foe had kings and after that classic cooler, he's sitting on 70,000.
In the meantime, the room is considering changing the name of the event to the 2017 Mark Roberts Open, as he continues to set a blistering pace and all late entries are starting to feel like a donation to Roberts' mortgage fund.
He's got 135,000 and will take a massive chip lead into the second break of the day.
People are beginning to wonder if Arthur Gates has even left the Poker Room over the past 24 hours.
He spent most of the afternoon and evening Thursday winning the 2107 Summer Slam $125 Reentry event. This morning he was also seen winning a seat into the Summer Slam Main Event through a $90 satellite.
Plus, the hot streak only continues as he finds himself among the leaders here in Level 6.
This Niagara Falls local held with queens versus big slick, picked up kings to drag another pot, and even when he's wrong, things go right. A few minutes ago he misread his hand after one short stack shoved 6,000 into a 
flop.
Gates called with the 
.
"i thought I had a pair and the ace of clubs," he said. No matter, the shorty had the 
and missed on a 
run out to give Gates the ace-high victory.
Momentum is real.
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