2018 Western New York Poker Challenge

$200 No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1d
Event Info

2018 Western New York Poker Challenge

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
$18,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$200
Prize Pool
$128,877
Entries
798
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000

$200 No-Limit Hold'em

Day 1d Completed

Day 1d Sees 30 Survivors Bag Chips as Day 2 Field is Set

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Chris Babula (from a previous event)
Chris Babula (from a previous event)

That's a wrap on the Day 1 qualifying flights for Event #1: $200 No-Limit Hold'em $50,000 guarantee at the 2018 Western New York Poker Challenge. Day 1d gathered the largest field yet closing registration with 229 entries. After 14 30-minute levels, just 30 were left with chips to carry into Day 2.

Sitting atop of the counts for most of Day 1d, Chris Babula finished with the largest stack, bagging 302,700. Babula will return to action on Day 2 with the third best stack chasing overall chipleader Daniel Wagner with 325,000.

Tyler Dietz surged late in the day to end with the second-best stack of 248,500 while Andrew Streit (244,000), Blake Napierala (221,600), and Robert Falanga (184,300) round out the top five.

With all four flights combined, a total of 798 entries were accumulated creating a prize pool worth $128,877, smashing the guarantee by more than 150%. Day 2 will begin with 104 hopefuls provided nobody qualified through multiple flights.

Day 2 will get underway at noon local time on Sunday in the Seneca Niagara Falls Poker room and play down until a champion is crowned.

PokerNews will be here throughout the festival, bringing you all the news and live updates. Follow @pokernews on Twitter, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Tags: Blake NapieralaChris BabulaDan WagnerTyler DietzRobert FalangaAndrew Streit

End of Day Chip Counts (full)

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Player Chips Progress
Chris Babula us
Chris Babula
302,700 27,700
Tyler Dietz us
Tyler Dietz
248,500
Andrew Streit us
Andrew Streit
244,000 139,000
Blake Napierala us
Blake Napierala
221,600 221,600
Robert Falanga us
Robert Falanga
184,300 -18,700
Justin Quinn
Justin Quinn
168,200
Dylan Lavner us
Dylan Lavner
153,300 -36,700
Anthony Koch us
Anthony Koch
150,400
Geoffrey O'Connor
Geoffrey O'Connor
145,900
Dai Dang ca
Dai Dang
139,100 -10,900
Greg Miller us
Greg Miller
120,800 -19,200
Rich Crandall us
Rich Crandall
119,900 -42,100
Russel Schiess
Russel Schiess
116,600
Vincent Palma us
Vincent Palma
99,700
William Gebera
William Gebera
93,200
Philip Sassaman
Philip Sassaman
91,700
Richard Cadwallader
Richard Cadwallader
81,300
Justin Wolf
Justin Wolf
79,500
DJ Mackinnon us
DJ Mackinnon
78,700
Russ Campanella us
Russ Campanella
78,000 57,000
Scott Murawa us
Scott Murawa
78,000
Richard Block us
Richard Block
71,600
Aaron Soulliere
Aaron Soulliere
70,800
David Battaglia us
David Battaglia
62,700
Keith Kramer
Keith Kramer
60,000

Read full

Five More Hands

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante

The clock has been paused and each table will play five more hand before bagging their chips for the night. Full chip counts and a recap of the day's event will follow.

Dang Chips Up Allott

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante

Dai Dang opened to 7,500 from early position and Mark Allott three-bet to 15,500 a couple seats over. Action folded back around to Dang who moved all in for about 70,000 and Allott called off, having about 60,000 behind.

Dai Dang: {q-Spades}{q-Diamonds}
Mark Allott: {k-Hearts}{q-Clubs}

The board ran out {10-Hearts}{7-Hearts}{10-Diamonds}{3-Spades}{8-Spades} sending Allott to the rail and a lot of chips towards Dang.

Player Chips Progress
Dai Dang ca
Dai Dang
150,000
Mark Allott us
Mark Allott
Busted

Tags: Dai DangMark Allott

Final Level of the Night

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante

The 14th and final level of the night has kicked off with 37 players still in the hunt. The magic number to end play for the night is 28. If the field does not reach that number, the clock will be paused with 10 minutes remaining and each table will play a set number of hands that will be drawn at the time.

All the Day 1d survivors will bag their chips and return Sunday at noon to play down to a winner.

Lavner Pulls in a Pot

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante

Dylan Lavner opened to 5,500 on the button and got called by the player in the big blind. The flop came down {9-Spades}{j-Diamonds}{2-Hearts} and both players checked to see the {k-Hearts} on the turn.

The player in the big blind bet 7,000 and Lavner called seeing the {8-Clubs} complete the board. The player in the big blind fired another barrel, worth 13,000, and folded when Lavner raised to 37,000.

Player Chips Progress
Dylan Lavner us
Dylan Lavner
154,000

Tags: Dylan Lavner

Level: 13

Blinds: 1,200/2,400

Ante: 300

Babula Finds a Call

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

The player in the cutoff limped in, Chris Babula also limped from the small blind, and the player in the big blind checked his option bringing a {2-Clubs}{6-Clubs}{k-Clubs} flop. Babula led with a bet of 10,000 finding a caller in the big blind.

The {4-Spades} hit the turn and Babula continued for 20,000 getting another quick call from his opponent. Babula slowed down when the {a-Clubs} landed on the river checking the action. Babula's opponent immediately moved all in and after getting a count of about 36,000 Babula made the call.

His opponent looked defeated and Babula obliged showing the {3-Clubs}{4-Clubs} for a flopped flush and his opponent mucked as he got up from the table.

Player Chips Progress
Chris Babula us
Chris Babula
230,000 120,000

Tags: Chris Babula