The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit $10,000 Western Regional Championship is well underway, and featured player Daniel Negreanu has made it down to the final 18, finding himself in eighth place. The tournament, being played in San Diego, has a prize pool just short of $1 million. With a $10,000 buy-in, it attracted 98 players. By the end of day 2, however, most had hit the rail and gone home.
The final 18 players have outlasted a whole slew of big time pros who busted out early on in the day. Famous names were taken down left and right today, from Phil Hellmuth and David Williams to Victor Ramdin and Eddy Sabat.
The champion, to be crowned on Wednesday, will take home a grand prize of $282,242, including a seat in the $1 million freeroll WSOPC National Championship. The top 9 will win a seat in the WSOP main event in Las Vegas, along with their cash prizes ranging from $19k and up.
Negreanu is playing fresh off of his victory of Isildur1, when he made a surprise comeback against the pro in the PokerStars Superstar Showdown Sunday. Sitting at 173,800 in chips, Negreanu is well behind chip leader Kwinsee Tran, who sits on a stack of 269,100 chips. Dwyte Pilgrim is also still in play, and worked his way up to a close-call second place with 236,500 chips. Other notable names still alive in the tournament include Scott Montgomery, Tim West, and Kyle Bowker. Tim West is just coming off of a big win at the 2011 Wynn Classic, and is tipped to cash big in this tournament. These remaining final 18 make up a thick crowd to beat, and whoever pulls out the win will have deserved it.