March 31 2011, Eric Ramsey

On Wednesday, the final nine players at the World Series of Poker Circuit Western Regional Championship set up shop under the bright lights of the Versus cameras to play down to a winner. It took about ten hours to meet that goal, and in the end, it was Ali Eslami left standing with all 2.94 million chips.

During the first full level of action, the nine-handed table was reduced by one, as short stack Miller Dao was the first to go under. Dao moved all in with , but Dylan Wilkerson woke up with , in the big blind. When the board ran , Miller was parted with the rest of his chips and was whisked away to the interview booth to tell everyone what happened. Dao’s story was one of the most intriguing of the week as he turned an $80 satellite into a $10,000 entry, and eventually, a payday of $24,235. Even better, he’ll continue the parlay in Las Vegas since this result was good enough to earn him one of the 100 seats in the WSOP-C National Championship in May.

Despite that knockout, Wilkerson was still short on chips, around the twenty big blind mark, and he was the next to fall, in eighth place. Wilkerson got it in with , flipping for double or nothing against Dana Kellstrom and his . The board failed to find Wilkerson’s overcards, and he was out, with more than $30,000 to show for his efforts this week. It was the second time in two days that Big Slick betrayed Wilkerson. Very late in Day 3, he lost a huge pot and the chip lead when his ace-king ran into Tim West’s pocket aces.

About 90 minutes of seven-handed poker went by before another player dropped out of the mix. It was one of the favorites, too. Dwyte Pilgrim, one of the many huge success stories to come out of the WSOP’s little brother tour, is no stranger to Circuit wins. Pilgrim made another charge through the field at Harrah’s Rincon (a building in which he’s tasted victory before), but this time, his run came to an end in seventh place. On the turn of a board, Pilgrim shoved his ten big blinds in with . Chip leader Ali Eslami called with his out in front, and Pilgrim could not find the card he needed, as the river ushered him to the exit. If the table didn’t know it then, they soon realized that they needed to get used to the sight of Eslami sending players home early.

Kellstrom, for one, was presented with that truth just moments later when, in a cooler of a hand, he was eliminated in sixth place. It was Eslami in the pot again, and he called a continuation bet on the flop. When the hit fourth street, Eslami check-raised all in, and Kellstrom quickly called with for the wheel. As it turned out, he was already drawing dead to a chop. Eslami’s had made the bigger straight with that same turn card, and the river was no help to Kellstrom. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s not as experienced as some of his table mates, but Kellstrom certainly held his own on the felt over the last four days. This cash moves him over $200,000 in tournament earnings as his 2011 has gotten off to a career-best start.

Eslami was well in control of the match by the time Kellstrom left, and he went ahead and took care of the next elimination, too. Short stack David Peters shoved with , and Eslami’s was plenty good enough for him to call with. The flop was a disaster for Peters, and it looked like he wouldn’t even be able to manage a chop. The turn was no help to him, and the river was nothing but a needle in his side. Two pair was good but not good enough in that spot, and Peters hit the rail to leave four players on the felt. That number would shrink to three a couple hands later.

Another of the pros, Full Tilt Poker Red Pro Steve Brecher, never once had a big stack to play with over the course of this four-day event. Still, he played his middling chips with great precision, and he picked through a few all-ins on the final day to work his way to a fourth-place finish. There wasn’t much he could do on the flop, sitting with in the hole and less than ten big blinds. His last 155,000 chips went all in, and it was — you guessed it — Ali Eslami doing the deed with his superior . The turn teased Brecher with chop outs, but the river was all she wrote.

When the players broke for dinner, Eslami had close to 60 percent of the chips in play, but West would draw to within striking distance just minutes after their return to the table. The man stuck in the middle was D.J. Blanchard, starting the after-dinner session with just over twenty big blinds. He didn’t waste much time getting those chips into the middle preflop, holding , and it was West’s three-bet with that forced his hand. Off to the races they went, and West’s horse ran faster on the board. Blanchard was out in third place with a six-figure cash, and West and Eslami were heads up for the ring.

The battle figured to be a marathon with the stacks deep and the play particularly methodical. For about two hours, the two men traded jabs as they bantered back and forth and felt each other out. The match was either going to end quickly in a cooler or wear on laboriously for six hours. It was a cooler.

At the 4,000/12,000/24,000 level, West opened to 62,000, and Eslami stuck in a rare three-bet to 138,000. After some consideration, West shoved all in for about a million chips, and Eslami couldn’t have called quicker. West was working with , and he was in all kinds of trouble as the rolled over on the other side of the felt. The at-risk West couldn’t even find anything to sweat as the board ran to put the final punctuation on the third Regional Championship of the 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit season.

In his interviews with the television crew, Eslami was very gracious in victory. He chose his words carefully so as not to sound arrogant and over-sure while he explained that even as early as Day 1, he knew he’d be in this spot come Wednesday. He went on to thank Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Chad Brown, his poker mentor, for the encouragement and motivation he needed to make it to this point. The victory comes as a double celebration; Eslami celebrated his birthday this week in Rincon.

Even with all his confidence, he probably didn’t expect to get a diamond ring for his birthday, but this is one present Ali Eslami won’t soon forget.

Final Table Payouts

That’s all from Harrah’s Rincon, but the WSOP-C keeps on rollin’, and so do we. We’re heading to St. Louis next, and in the meantime, you should follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to keep tabs on bits of poker news from all the world around.

2010 December 22, Eric Ramsey

The calendar goes all the way to December 31st, but Wednesday was the final day on the poker calendar for 2010. Harrah’s Atlantic City welcomed nine players back to the felt at the World Series of Poker Circuit Eastern Regional Championship to play it out for a major title under the bright lights of the television set. From a field of 136 players, Chris Klodnicki had risen to the top of the pack to lead the finalists into the decisive day as he looked to add to his résumé that already boasts a 2009 WSOP-C Main Event championship in the very same building. After 12 hours of card playing, he was drawing live for the chance to close it out, but Chris Bell won the final hand of the day to snatch the gold ring and his second WSOP title of 2010.

With the average stack sitting at a hefty 75.5 big blinds to start the day, it was no surprise to see all nine players still seated when the first full break hit. They were all still there at the second break, and the third break also came and went without an elimination. The fourth break was for dinner, and Klodnicki was still leading as the nine-man table exited together for their evening meal.

The chip average finally dipped under 30 big blinds as the next level kicked in, and the eliminations began to come at a quickening pace. Seth Fischer three-bet shoved his into Jason Burt’s just a few hands into the after-dinner session to exit in ninth place and cue the processional to the payout desk. Nick Mitchell doubled his short stack a moment later, but he was next to fall in eighth place. Micah Raskin had been the aggressor on the flop and turn of a board, but he checked the river. When he did, Mitchell shoved his ten remaining big blinds into the pot with , and Raskin’s (two pair) sent “agriffrod” to the exit.

Burt (seventh place) couldn’t last much longer either, shoving his into Chris Bell’s , and the dead-man’s hand struck another player down as the sealed the day’s third elimination. Just a few hands later, Andy Frankenberger and Klodnicki got it all in on a flop, and Klodnicki’s had Frankenberger and his drawing slim. The turn put him in an even bigger hole, and the blank river cued his exit in sixth place just prior to the end of a brutal level.

The fifth break of the day saw five players return with the chip stacks becoming polarized. Todd Terry was on the bad end of that disparity. He had just over 6 big blinds when he shoved with against Klodnicki’s . This time, the dead-man’s hand pulled through. The was “not a good flop” as Terry astutely noted, and the turn and river and sent him off in fifth place.

Raskin was the shortest stack down under 100,000 at one point today, but he rallied back over 800,000 within a few orbits to put himself back in contention. That stack was eventually whittled back down to half of its former self, and the last 396,000 of his chips went into the middle on a three-bet with . It was Klodnicki doing the deed again as his held up on the board to eliminate Raskin in fourth place.

Klodnicki was soon over 2 million chips (of 4.08 million in play), and his lead was safe from there on out. Well, almost. It was Bell who took care of Ketan Pandya in third place when the two men each found a pocket pair in the hole. Klodnicki claimed he folded a pair as well, but Pandya and his fell to Bell’s to pull the match nearly square as heads-up play began.

The exchanges were mostly small during the course of the duel apart from one large split pot in which both men made jacks full of aces. Chip stacks were nearly even when a 4-million-chip pot erupted on an innocuous-looking flop. Bell had opened the pot to 75,000, and Klodnicki three-bet to 225,000. Bell called and checked the flop, and Klodnicki continued out with 260,000 chips. Bell paused for a bit before announcing an all in check-raise, and Klodnicki double-checked his cards and called to put one of the two men at risk. The chips were close enough that nobody was certain which of them was, in fact, all in. Bell was definitely ahead in the hand, however, tabling for the set. Klodnicki showed up , likely needing to fill his straight to win the pot. The turn and river sent the chips to Bell, though, and when the stacks were counted down, it was all over.

So then, it’s Chris Bell of Raleigh, North Carolina who wins the Eastern Regional Championship. Along with it comes some serious bragging rights and $358,295 in cash. Bell also snagged his first gold bracelet at the WSOP this summer by taking down the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event. This $10,000 Regional Championship is worth just a tad more money, and it boosts him up over $1 million in earnings on the year. Even better, it comes with a diamond-laden gold ring to add to his 2010 WSOP trophy case.

Here are the full payouts for the final table:

We’ve closed out our Live Reporting for 2010, and we want to take a moment to thank you all for joining us and following along with our coverage throughout the year. Our next stop is a big one — the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that runs from January 6-16. We’ll see you back on the Live Reporting page in 2011, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with all the goings on in the poker world in between now and then!