Event 5 Kicks Off at 2015 Western New York Poker Challenge; Snead and O'Brien Lead
On Monday, Event 5: $50 No-Limit Hold'em kicked off at the 2015 Western New York Poker Challenge. The Niagara Falls Poker Room was abuzz all day long as two starting flights played out and a combined field of 249 entries was generated.
After Day 1a, the field of 113 was whittled down to just 13. Leading the surviving pack was Billy Snead with 154,100 in chips. He was trailed by Tyson Yu (134,900), Mike McKeever (125,700), Chuck Friedman (104,300), and David Whyte (101,300) as the only others to accumulate six-figure stacks.
Snead grabbed the chip lead when he took a chunk of chips from the man who has been the story of the series so far, Jerry Calvaneso. Calvaneso won the first event and placed seventh in the second event. Calvanesco lost with AxQx to Snead's set of fives, but still finished with 98,200 in chips.
On Day 1b it was Jeremy O'Brien who climbed to the top with his finishing stack of 182,000. At the end of this flight, O'Brien was trailed by Jeffery Joseph (139,500), Gregory Belliotti (127,500), and Aaron Obstein (110,000) as the only players to gather over 100,000.
Just 17 players advanced from the 136 entries in the Day 1b flight.
Although two starting flights have passed, there are still four more on the schedule in this one — two more on Tuesday, and then the final two on Wednesday. This event does boast a guarantee of $25,000, and it's well on the way to surpassing that number given the healthy turnouts already.
To follow along with PokerNews Live Reporting from the event, click here.
Here's a look at the rest of the 2015 Western New York Poker Challenge schedule:
For more information on the WNY Poker Challenge, which dates back to 2012, either visit their Facebook page or contact their poker room at (716) 278-6300.
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
