They call him Batman, and he certainly played like the caped crusader today.
In fact, Dennis "Batman" Fleig dominated the final table on the way to winning the 2017 Western New York Poker Challenge $300 Pot Limit Omaha event inside the Niagara Falls Poker Room at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino Thursday.
While the final three chopped the remaining prize money evenly at $3,825 each, Fleig earned the trophy and title by putting on a display of power PLO throughout the event and particularly short handed.
The event drew 48 entires leaving the tournament fees to cover an overlay making up the $15,000 prizepool guarantee. The plan was to pay five spots, but they originally took money from the first three places to pay sixth as well.
Position
Player
Prize
1
Dennis Fleig
$3,825
2
Paul Bitterman
$3,825
3
Mark Roberts
$3,825
4
Dave Grana
$1,500
5
Jay Clark
$1,125
6
Alex Rivera
$900
By the time they got down to six, Alex Rivera and Jay Clark both got short and busted out in order. Four handed, Fleig raised a good 80 percent of hands and picked his spots carefully whenever someone dared play back at him. At one point he had half the chips in play and appeared to be dominating.
A three-way all-in hand at the end saw Roberts get it in with a chance to knock out both Dave Grana and Paul Bitterman. In fact, Roberts would have taken a lead into heads-up play with Fleig had his straight held. However, Bitterman rivered a flush to stay alive.
Grana took fourth and with the three remaining stacks looking relatively even, the deal was struck.
PokerNews' coverage of the 2017 WNYPC will continue Friday with the first of two starting flights in the 2017 WNYPC Main Event beginning at 11 a.m. local time.
Dennis Fleig had half the chips in play before Mark Roberts all but doubled through him.
Then Roberts, Dave Grana and Paul Bitterman got it all in three ways. Roberts had a straight, Grana a lower straight and Biterman a club draw with one card to come. It came a club and with Grana going out the three stacks remaining were suddenly pretty even.
Welcome Back to PokerNews' continuing coverage of the 2017 Western New York Poker Challenge.
Today we shine the spotlight on the great game of Pot-Limit Omaha with the $15,000 Guaranteed $265+$35 PLO Re-Entry Event #7.
It's four cards instead of two. Two cards must play at showdown and the limit is always the pot.
It's a single-day event and the levels are 30-minutes each. Players get 20,000 chips to start and can enter and reenter freely, all the way up to the start of Level 9. PLO tournaments have no antes.
Like a lot of card rooms across this great country, here at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino, PLO cash plays higher than Hold'em. That means the best of the best in Western New York all have a great grasp of four-card poker and should to turn up to chase this title.
Last time around, at the 2016 Seneca Fall Poker Classic, a 27-year-old roofer from Depew, NY took down the $300 Pot Limit Omaha. Jeff Salhab earned $5,897 and the title getting the best of an 80-entry field that created a guarantee-smashing $20,140 prizepool.
They are expecting similar numbers today.
Play begins at 11 a.m. local time and although things may start a little slow, they're bound to heat up quickly.
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