According to our Ones to Watch preview, the Seneca Poker Room has been Spears' personal playground for the past year. Last August he took down the Summer Slam Series Main Event for $23,700, and a few months later he went wire-to-wire to win the $1,500 Fall Poker Classic Main Event for $52,410. In addition, back In September he claimed his first World Series of Poker Circuit ring in Cincinnati, winning a $365 Turbo tournament for $10,801.
Spears was in today's event looking for another win, but his 2014 Western New York Poker Challenge has officially come to an end after he was on the wrong end of a set-over-set hand (his eights lost to jacks).
"I would if I could," Spears replied when another player jokingly asked him if he would be rebuying. Alas, registration is done, which means Spears is too.
Level 5 just began, which means registration is officially closed for Event #16 $300 No Limit Hold'em. Right now the tournament clock says there were 71 entries, but we're still waiting on official numbers. We'll be sure to post those just as soon as they become available.
The tournament clock currently reads 25 entrants, but of course that number will go up as player filter in through Level 4. We'll be bringing you periodic updates on the tournament throughout the day, while subsequently bringing you live updates from the Main Event.
We've already spotted quite a few players who played and busted the Main Event on Day 1.
For anyone playing Event #2 of the WNY Poker Challenge, PokerNews has activated the MyStack App for this event, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting blog using your iPhone or Android phone.
You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.
Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.
Be forewarned, however, that any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.
For the past week, the 2014 Western New York Poker Challenge, an annual series that takes place within walking distance of the world famous Niagara Falls at the Seneca Niagara Casino, has hosted 15 events. Today, they will host their 16th to close out the series. In addition, the $1,100 Main Event, which attracted 183 entries, will conclude today. You can follow updates from that event by clicking here.
We'll be bringing you live updates from both the Main Event and Event #16: $300 No-Limit Hold'em, but our primary focus will be on the former until a winner is crowned. We will also be activating the MyStack App for this event, allowing players to directly update their chip counts in the PokerNews blog using their iPhone or Android phone. You can even write up hand recaps yourself to update your family and friends of your progress. So if you're playing, be sure to take advantage of that.
Here's a look at the 2014 WNYPC winners so far, as well the the rest of the schedule:
