Cameron Bartolotta just got the lucky double nearing the bubble ruining a good start to the day for James DiPasquale.
It was DiPasquale's tens versus Bartolotta's sevens and Bartolotta was out of his chair, packed up and ready to head back to Canada when a seven spiked.
DiPasquale was a little miffed, and from the sound of it, if things keep running this way, Bartolotta may just get chased back over the Peace Bridge.
In the meantime, Brian "XXX" Patterson has maintained his spot among the leaders picking off two or three shorter stacks to climb up to 600,000. The biggest pot so far saw jacks hold for Patterson against top pair eights for 40,000-plus.
Overnight chip leader Matt Brunskole has lost half his stack somehow. It's likely Hayden Glassman picked up a chunk, sitting to his left with 100,000 more chips than he started with.
In the meantime, Veerab Zakarian has been moved over to that table with 550,000.
He joins the chip leaders after starting the day with a paltry 80,000.
The first level saw Zakarian run blazing hot, first doubling with queens versus fives, then using some kind of Jedi mind trick to get almost 400,000 more chips without showdown.
Nice guy Andy Spears didn't exactly finish last, but he is finished, getting his aces cracked in a massive chip-lead pot versus Jeff Hobrecker.
Hobrecker had two jacks and made the miracle runner-runner flush to push up near 600,000 in chips and into the lead. Spears went home to roll around on a bed full of $100 bills and forget today even happened.
In the meantime, Hobrecker's looking to make it a memorable one, having solved the first half of the get lucky-play good winning equation.
Coming up next on Hobrecker's radar should be WSOP bracelet winner Michael Malm, who bluffed someone off kings to push up to 400,000 and was just moved two to his left.
Dennis "Batman" Fleig came in wearing Batman pants, a Batman T-shirt and a color coordinated glow-in the dark Batman jacket he bought on a rollback sale at WalMart. He had the hat. He had the sunglasses. For all we know he was wearing Batman underwear.
He came ready to shine today. It was his time. Unfortunately for him, that time was only about 20 minutes. He got it in good with a weak ace on an ace-high flop. Always the joker, Chris Gaddi looked him up with a small pair and a back-door heart draw.
He went runner-runner for the flush, slaying the caped crusader with a smile.
"It felt good," said Gaddi, chuckling maniacally as Batman headed back to the cave.
Joining him were nine others who busted in the first half of the first level today, leaving 45 remaining.
The day began with chip leader Matt Brunskole betting James Goertz off a pot to extend the lead a little.
Speaking of overnight chip leaders, everybody was here for the call to shuffle up and deal outside of Jeff Hobrecker.
He was only a minute or two late, and didn't miss much. No stranger to Day 1 leads in Seneca Main Events, Hobrecker comes in with a top five stack and a determination to hang on to it.
In the past, Hobrecker may have had a little trouble delivering on the promise the early big stack brings, but he's dedicated to turning that around today. He refused to sell action, took 100 percent of himself in this event, and even went as far as to call his shot.
It's move up or move out of the way day at the 2017 Western New York Poker Challenge Main Event.
After two starting flights went off at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino Friday and Saturday, drawing 267 entries and creating a $235,681 prizepool, just 55 players return Sunday to play down to a final table.
The money starts at 27th place, and they should get through the bubble quickly before the chase for the big cash continues.
Niagara Falls, Canada's Matt Brunskole grabbed the overall lead after the second starting flight, but growing local legend Budwey Salhab is hot on his heels. Plus, a long list of local heroes stand within striking distance and WSOP bracelet winner Malcolm Malm has a top four stack.
Play will resume at 11 a.m. local time with plans to play down to the final nine and perhaps even beyond. Today, the levels increase to 60 minutes in length giving the field a little more wiggle room.
It should make for some exciting poker action and PokerNews' coverage will follow it all, from the call to shuffle up and deal until the last few players decide it's quitting time.
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