Rochester, NY's Mike Sweeney will take the chip lead into the break after good fortune and Marcy Jo Phillips smiled on him a little over the last 30 minutes.
Sweeney flopped a ten-high straight with the and even managed to turn an open-ended straight-flush draw.
He three-bet all in for 17,000 on the turn and Phillips called it off with naught but draw to chop.
She bricked, Sweeney collected the 42,000-chip pot and he is now on top of the leader board.
The event's $100,000 guarantee has been laid to waste already, with four levels of registration and re-entry still available in this flight, and another flight still to come this evening.
In fact, the 135 entries on the board already have pushed the total prizepool over $100,000 and the rest, as they say, is all gravy.
Marcy Jo Phillips fired again, joining a wave of Seneca regs hopping in the action a tad late today.
This includes a table half full with people named Olshan - Another completely random table draw that was likely the work of floor supervisor and noted local fixer Brian Bartoe.
After turning a straight, Grand Island, NY's Joe O'Keefe had the unique pleasure of being able to four-bet all in.
He got called by a woman with top-top and a raising war fetish, cruised to victory, and more than a full double up, vaulting him into the Level 3 lead.
Jerry Calvaneso is no stranger to success at the Western New York Poker Challenge, having cleaned up here in 2015.
He's back now looking to add another trophy to the case, and on what amounts to a special day for the Calvaneso family, he's grabbed the Level 2 chip lead.
It's the 10-year anniversary of the death of Calvaneso's father and today he's doing it for Dad.
Calvaneso grabbed the lead taking most of Marcy Jo Phillips' chips in a bit of a set up. He made nines full of queens against trip nines and got what has to be considered full value out of it. Phillips busted a short time later.
In the meantime, Calvaneso is also the "chip" leader on the rail today, having brought in a 30-pack of Frito Lays for the tournament staff to enjoy. Nice guys don't always finish last.
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and even managed to turn an open-ended straight-flush draw.
