Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic
Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$239,212
Entries
271
Level
28
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
5,000
![[user127999]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Nine months after winning the 2017 Western New York Poker Challenge Main Event, Buffalo, NY's own Guy Klass took down the 2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event in dramatic fashion inside the Niagara Falls Poker Room at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Resort Monday.
Klass, a 46-year-old heavy-duty truck salesman, actually started the final nine on Monday last in chips. He tripled up early, and ran good all day to make a miraculous comeback and earn the event's $58,608 first-place prize. His winner photo will now grace the cover of an upcoming issue of CardPlayer Magazine.
The tournament drew 271 entries over two starting flights, creating a $239,212 prize pool. The top 27 players got paid. A total of 57 started Day 2 Sunday and they played into the money and down to the final nine.
Middletown, NY's Ernie Guardarramas came into Monday's final table with the chip lead, but it didn't last. All the short stacks doubled up early, and by the time Cleveland, OH's Tommy Tomasello busted ninth, Canadian Jason Sagle had moved into the lead.
Guardarramas chipped his way back on top and busted North Collins, NY's Rob Bourkney eighth to extend the lead. However, after British expat Bradley Girdler was eliminated in seventh, and Klass busted Syracuse, NY's Lou Procopio sixth, Guardarramas was no longer in the lead.
Rochester, NY's Hassan Jamil held it for a while, but Klass just kept on coming, moving over the two-million-chip mark in the event's 26th level to take the lead. He really never looked back.
Klass busted Guardarramas fifth to extend the lead, and kept his foot on the gas the rest of the way. By the time Sagle busted fourth he had come from five big blinds to start to more than half the chips in play and was running away with the title.
Fellow Buffalonian Mark Roberts had played a controlled game throughout, laddering up until he doubled through Jamil in a classic race to leave Jamil short. Ultimately Jamil busted third to Klass, giving Klass a 3:1 lead heads up.
It looked like Roberts was going to snatch that lead away when he got it in with aces up versus Klass' ace, but in a day, or perhaps a year, where Klass can do no wrong, he hit the better two pair on the river to win it all.
| Place | Winner | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guy Klass | $58,608 |
| 2 | Mark Roberts | $36,839 |
| 3 | Hassan Jamil | $26,553 |
| 4 | Jason Sagle | $19,615 |
| 5 | Ernie Guardarramas | $14,592 |
| 6 | Lou Procopio | $11,004 |
| 7 | Bradley Girdler | $8,612 |
| 8 | Rob Bourkney | $6,698 |
| 9 | Tommy Tomasello | $5,382 |
That wrapped up the 2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic, another well attended event at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Resort that was first Klass all the way. Pardon the pun.
Look for PokerNews to return to Niagara Falls in the Spring, when Klass will have the chance to defend one of his two Seneca Niagara titles in the 2018 Western New York Poker Challenge.
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Mark Roberts bet 300,000 on an 
flop and Guy Klass called.
The turn came the 
and Roberts bet 900,000. Klass shoved in and Roberts made the call for his last one million with the 
. It was good at the time as Klass had the 
.
Suddenly and decisively, the river came the 
, and Klass made the better two pair. Roberts took second while Guy Klass went from almost zero to start the day, to hero ending it, winning the 2017 Seneca Fall Poker Classic Main Event.
A recap will follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
8,130,000
1,730,000
|
1,730,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Hassan Jamil shoved and picked up the blinds. Then he shoved 390,000 and Mark Roberts and Guy Klass both called.
Roberts and Klass checked down the board and it ran out 
. Klass' 
made two pair and Jamil showed 
on the way out third. Roberts had the 
.
It's now heads up, Roberts versus Klass, with Klass holding a better than 3:1 chip lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,400,000
1,300,000
|
1,300,000 |
|
|
1,700,000
-300,000
|
-300,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Mark Roberts pushed all in for one million over a Hassan Jamil 200,000-chip bet.
Jamil called with the 
. Roberts had the 
. It was a classic showdown. Eddy Williams would have been proud.
The board ran out 
and Roberts locked up the double up, leaving Jamil short.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,000,000
400,000
|
400,000 |
|
|
300,000
-1,100,000
|
-1,100,000 |
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Guy Klass made it 210,000 and Hassan Jamil went all in for 430,000 more than that.
Klass made the call to put Jamil at risk.
Klass: 
Jamil: 
The 
flop gave Klass the best hand, and the best draw. The turn missed them both, but the river came down and saved Jamil's tournament life, giving him two pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,100,000
-800,000
|
-800,000 |
|
|
1,600,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
|
1,400,000
800,000
|
800,000 |
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
If there's one player not handcuffed by the pay jump it's Guy Klass.
He's pushing the other two players around, playing the big stack bully and taking down the blinds again and again.
It also helps that he seems to have had an ace in his hand almost 80 percent of the time. The lead just keeps getting bigger.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,900,000
1,150,000
|
1,150,000 |
|
|
1,500,000
-650,000
|
-650,000 |
|
|
600,000
-400,000
|
-400,000 |
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Playing poker when you're facing a $10,000 pay jump can be a tricky proposition.
In fact, it basically has these three players handcuffed and the action has slowed down considerably. No one wants to be the next to go. No one wants to commit ICM suicide. There have been just a few flops lately, and the only turns and rivers have come after a series of checks.
Here's how the stacks look as they trade small pots:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,750,000
-250,000
|
-250,000 |
|
|
2,150,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
|
1,000,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
Level: 28
Blinds: 30,000/60,000
Ante: 5,000
Level 27
: 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante
Jason Sagle got his last half million in super good with jacks versus Mark Roberts' 
.
Roberts spiked an ace and the very dangerous Canadian, who has over $1 million in tournament cashes, is now out.
Three handed, Roberts is now the closest to Guy Klass with Hassan Jamil on the short stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,000,000
300,000
|
300,000 |
|
|
2,100,000
700,000
|
700,000 |
|
|
800,000
-200,000
|
-200,000 |
|
Busted |