Alan Findlay Wins the 2016 Seneca Fall Poker Classic $300 NL for $19,546
Alan Findlay is the winner of Event 1 at the 2016 Seneca Fall Poker Classic for $19,546. Findlay made a three-way deal with chip leader Amin Akhlagi and Maurice Sussem.
Event 1 featured a guaranteed prize pool of $75,000, however the poker tournaments held at Seneca Niagara Hotel and Casino generally have a reputation for smashing guarantees. The buy-in was $300 and the prize pool grew to just over $151,000 - more than double the guarantee. With 603 entries in Event 1, the structure paid out 63 players with a min-cash of $546.
Sandra Boyle was the 'bubble girl' in 64th place after she ran ace-queen into the pocket aces of Daniel Wagner, who eventually finished in 25th place for $896. Notable players who made it through in the money included Leo Kaplin (40th - $698), Cameron Bartolotta (35th - $835), Randy Pfeifer (31st - $835), Joe Ciffa (27th - $896), Scott Aitchison (22nd - $956) and Maria Parlatore (12th - $2,383).
Mike 'The Mayor' Rellinger finished in 11th place for $2,383 on the final table bubble after seeing his ace-king get crushed by Derek Schaud's ace-jack after he hit a jack on the river.
Final Table Action:
The final table started off fairly slow, but picked up after the elimination of Darrin Bracken (10th place - $2,383) when he shoved jack-ten into Sussem's ace-king and couldn't get there. Blake Napierala was the next to go in ninth place, pocketing $3,036. He was chopped down to just a few big blinds after he made a move on Sylvester in a blind-on-blind situation and couldn't recover from it.
Play carried on for a little while longer until eventually John McLean found a suited ace to move forward with, but Jeffrey Hobrecker turned a gut-shot straight and it was all over for him in eighth place for a payout of $3,795. Derek Schaud was next to go after he became short stacked and got his money in with ace-jack suited. It was no match for a hot Akhlagi who out-flopped him and sent him packing in seventh place with $4,554 in hand.
Akhlagi won a massive 2,500,000 chip pot against Jason Garofalo when he called a big bet on the river with third pair and was good. He took a large lead and never really looked back. Shortly after, Garofalo fell in sixth place for $5,419 as he was unable to win a flip with king-queen against Sussem's two red tens. Sylvester finished in fifth place ($7,211) after getting his money in as a huge favorite against Akhlagi but could not dodge a three-outer.
Hobrecker was the last to go before the deal and jammed 
into Sussem's pocket aces. He turned a straight draw but the river was a brick, sending him to the rail in fourth place for $9,655.
The Deal:
Akhlagi took home the most money after the ICM chop, pocketing $27,710. Sussem was second in chips and took home $21,838 for his efforts. Findlay was last in chips among the three players and settled on $19,546 for close to second place money. The three players agreed to play the tournament out for the trophy, but quickly ended up deciding to play one hand to decide the winner.
Findlay held 
, while Akhlagi tabled the best hand with 
, and Sussem showed 
. The board ran out 
and Findlay took it down with a pair of eights.
That's it for PokerNews' coverage on Event #1 at the 2016 Seneca Fall Poker Classic. The next event we will be covering is Event #6 $300 Pot Limit Omaha with $15,000 guaranteed, which will run on Thursday, November 10th at 11:00AM.