Rochester Chiropractor Wins The 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam Main Event

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Jul 31, 2016 2 min read Last updated Jul 25, 2018

A 42-year-old Chiropractor from Rochester, New York won the 2016 Seneca Niagara Falls Summer Slam Main Event title at the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino on Sunday.

Russ Campanella ultimately beat a field of 475 entries, that created a $252,106 prize pool, to capture a $26,500 first place prize, chopping the prize money seven-handed, four-handed, and eventually heads-up until the title and trophy was his.

After two starting flights Friday and Saturday, 86 players returned to play down to a winner Sunday. They moved relatively quickly to past the money bubble, but nor before start-of-day chip leader Joseph Elia blew up his stack, giving most of it to $90 satellite qualifier Julie Billiteri.

By the time they got into the money and down to a final table of ten, Campanella had grabbed the chip lead, and although he did not go wire-to-wire, he was in contention throughout.

Shane Pierce, Jason Kanel, and Billiteri were all eliminated before a seven-handed deal was struck, with plans to pay the seventh through third-place finishers $20,000, the runner-up $30,000 and the winner $35,000.

2015 Seneca Fall Poker Classic and 2016 Summer Slam $1,000 High Roller winner Kurtis Boutelle busted seventh, Seneca legend Jason Nablo took sixth, and Torontonian Matt Fergenbaum went out fifth, before another deal was struck. This time they each would take $26,000 and leave $27,000 and the trophy for the winner.

Shawn Edinger blind shoved his way out the door fourth, and Ray Larouech took third before Chris Harker and Campanella chopped again, handing the title to Campanella.

Deal or no deal, it was a solid three days of poker leading to the Campanella win and he played like a champion throughout. With that, PokerNews says goodbye from the Niagara Falls Poker Room and another successful series at Seneca Niagara.