Cards Hit the Felt Today for the 2018 Western New York Poker Challenge

The 2018 Western New York Poker Challenge (WNYPC) kicks off this morning at the Seneca Niagra Resort & Casino with the first of eight events played over the course of the next 11 days. Running through April 6-16, poker fans in the area will be treated to some low buy-in, big value events culminating with a $200,000 guaranteed Main Event set to get underway on April 13.

The first event of the series features a buy-in of $200 and a guaranteed prize pool of $50,000. Players will have four shots to qualify for Day 2 with starting flights scheduled at 10:00 A.M and 6:00 P.M local time today and tomorrow with the survivors returning on Sunday to play down to a champion.

Players will start with 15,000 in tournament chips and play either 14 30-minute blind levels or until the field gets down to 12% remaining. Registration will remain open until the end of the eighth level and players are permitted to play any of the Day 1 flights with only their top stack carrying forward to Day 2.

In 2017, Nick Walker claimed the victory in the kickoff event topping a field of 638 entries en route to a cash prize worth $17,404. Though, with a deal made between the final four players, Matt Heiligenthaler actually banked the top prize walking away with $23,000.

Here's a look at the schedule for the 2018 WNYPC:

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

Tags: Nick Walker